Some standout moments of 2012

Each and every one of us will have our moments each year that will stick out for us for some time to come.

Some of these memories will be good ones, others maybe not so good.

Listed below in no particular order are some of my G.A.A. highlights of 2012 both locally and nationally.

Game of the Year:

There are those that are actively trying to ensure that plans to introduce all county competitions in Waterford do not happen. I would ask these people to please think of what you are doing. I ask these people are they against all county competitions because they genuinely believe that they are not good for the future of the G.A.A. in Waterford or are you against them for personal reasons.

If those again all county competitions because they believe they would bring or are bringing the county in a backwards direction, can you do some careful thinking.

Please read county secretary Timmy O’Keeffe’s report to the most recent county convention. In the report the Clashmore man asks some very interesting questions and makes some valuable comments. In it he asks how come our senior champions each year are able to compete with the champions of other counties, but our Intermediate and Junior Champions cant. To me, and many others the answer is very simple, unfortunately not everyone can see the solution.

Those against the all county championships should look at the last two minor hurling county finals. In both years, the Minor ‘A’ Final was possibly the game of the year in all grades of hurling.

This year’s final was a classic. Dungarvan came out on top but just about, against a Saint Carthage’s team that fought right to the end.

If the competition was played on a divisional basis, one of these sides could not have made the final and what a travesty that would be.

This years minor ‘a’ county final was a final be-fitting any grade.

Throughout the field there were some outstanding performances for both sides. For Saint Carthage’s Seanie Barry in the goals was outstanding making at least two saves that any goalkeeper would be proud of. Stephen Bennett hit 2-9 of his sides tally, while for the Old Boro, the Curran Brothers, Cathal and Patrick had excellent games as did Ryan Donnelly and in the second half when the pressure was on at times Kevin Daly at centre back was a colossal.

Dungarvan controlled the opening minutes of this game. Cathal Curran hit a brace of points to give them the lead with under three minutes played.

Shane Bennett hit a free for Saint Carthage’s which was blocked in the Dungarvan goal mouth but the danger was not clear and Adam Flynn reacted quickest to react to bury to the net.

Cathal Curran and Shane Bennett swapped scores before Cathal Curran levelled from a free. Curran added a brace of points to give Dungarvan a two point advantage with twelve minutes played.

The same player extended Dungarvan’s lead to three points at the end of the opening quarter and it was beginning to look as if Dungarvan were going to win the game fairly easily.

Darragh Prendergast and Shane Bennett within seconds of each other hit points for Saint Carthage’s to bring Dungarvan’s lead down to one.

Points from Cormac and Patrick Curran extended Dungarvan’s lead with nine minutes of the opening half to play.

Stephen Bennett and Ryan Donnelly swapped scores with four minutes of the first half still to play. Patrick Curran and Stephen Bennett were next to trade scores and shortly afterwards Ryan Donnelly and Stephen Bennett did likewise.

Cathal Curran pointed two minutes from the half hour mark but seconds later a long range Stephen Bennett free went all the way to the net for a second Saint Carthage’s goal of the game.

Dungarvan finished the half the stronger of the two and retired leading 0-15 to 2-6 after Cathal Curran converted a brace of frees in added time at the end of the opening half.

Aaron Donnelly extended Dungarvan’s lead to four just after the restart. However, Saint Carthage’s in the minutes that followed proved to be the better of the sides. Stephen Bennett hit four points in a row to draw the sides level, but Dungarvan ended the third quarter leading by a single score after Patrick Curran put over a good score.

Just as the fourth quarter commenced Dungarvan stretched their lead to four points after Cathal Curran finished to the net after some good work by Ryan Donnelly.

However, this score was quickly wiped out as Saint Carthage’s attacked from the restart and Adam Flynn finished a movement to the Dungarvan net for his second goal of the game.

Cathal Curran hit a brace of frees to give them a three point lead with seven minutes to play, but a brace of Stephen Bennett frees soon followed to leave one between the teams with four minutes to play.

Kieran Bennett brought the sides all square with just over a minute of normal time to play and the large crowd present were wondering if they would have to come back and have the two sides do it all over again.

Ryan Donnelly set up Aaron Donnelly for a Dungarvan goal with seconds of the hour to play, which looked as if it was going to hand Dungarvan the title, but two minutes into stoppage time Stephen Bennett hit his second goal of the game to level matters once more.

There was still time to play and in the time that remained it was Dungarvan that proved to be the hungrier of the two sides. Patrick Curran pointed with the help of the posts to give Dungarvan a one point lead the Old Boro followed it up with a Ryan Donnelly effort which secured for them their first championship success at this level since 1984.

Dr Harty Cup:

Compared to the four other hurling counties in Munster, Dr Harty Cup wins by Waterford teams in the competition are like hens teeth. Heading into 2012, just Mount Sion in the early 1950’s and De La Salle in 2007 and 2008 had won the competition, so when success comes it is to be savoured.

In February Colaiste na nDeise, a combination of Dungarvan C.B.S. and Saint Augustine’s College reached the final for only the second time. When they reached the final previously, Blackwater Community School fro Lismore were also in the combination.

Colaiste na nDeise winning the competition was done the hard way. After a defeat in their opening game back in October 2011 against Midleton CBS meant that if they were to reach the knockout stages of the competition they had to win their remaining league games against Saint Caimin’s from Shannon and Our Lady’s from Templemore.

Win the games they did meaning that when the draws for the knockout stages of the championship before Christmas they were in the hat.

Colaiste na nDeise were paired against Saint Flannan’s from Ennis in the quarter finals and were dealt a hammer blow before the game started when Kieran Power was sent off for and off the ball incident.

This meant that the other fourteen players that were on the field and any player sent on during the game would have to up their performance and they did and after sixty minutes they came out on top with a small margin to spare.

In the semi finals Colaiste na nDeise were paired with De La Salle at Fraher Field and for the second game running they had a player sent off before the game. First half goals from Michael Kiely and Michael Harney helped Colaiste na nDeise to a good first half lead and despite De La Salle coming more into the game in the second half, the group side were able to hold off for a deserved win.

In the final Colaiste na nDeise went into the game for the third game running as the underdog. Both Colaiste na nDeise and Nenagh CBS went in search of a first ever final victory and it was the West Waterford side that got off to the best start racing into an early lead.

They held the lead at the break and while they never lost it in the second half, they had to fight hard as Nenagh CBS came more into the game in the second thirty minutes.

Goal of the Year:

TG4 recently announced the result of their goal of the year competition in both hurling and football.

The fact that Wexford’s Ursula Jacob’s second goal in this years All-Ireland Senior Camogie final made the final cut was hardly a surprise to most. I have to admit that I am more than a little bit surprised at the amount of goals that were judged to be better in the public vote.

To me, the Orlart the Ballagh clubs players was if not the best goal of the year, it was defiantly in the top three.

Her goal just past the midway point in the second half was a magnificent one. Fiona Rochford was not long on the field of play having replaced Lisa Bolger. She sent in a high probing ball around the Cork goal which the advancing Cork full back and Wexford full forward missed, having gone over both of their heads. However the Wexford corner forward kept her eye on the ball like all good players should and was able to get to it before any other player on the field and gave it a slight flick to her right away from goal before striking a magnificent ground stroke high into the roof of Cork goal keeper Aoife Murray’s net.

There can be no doubting the ability of the Wexford sharp shooter. Here father Michael was Wexford’s first All-Star winner in 1972 and in the same year Breda (McCleane) played with Wexford in the Junior Camogie All-Ireland final. Her sister Helena is also in the Wexford Camogie panel while here brothers Michael and Rory have both played hurling for Wexford.

The Wexford player in the last few years has made a bit of a name for herself winning many honours including four Senior All-Ireland medals, three National League Medals, Six county titles, one Leinster Club medal, two Ashbourne Cup medals, two senior and one junior Colleges all-Ireland medals and two Féile na nGael medals.

Mná na Déise:

Waterford’s most recent successes at Croke Park have come courtesy of our Ladies Footballers and Camogie Players.

In the 90’s our Ladies Football team won five senior All-Irelands between 1991 and 1998 while out Camogie team contested three Junior All-Ireland’s in a row before eventually winning it in 2011.

In 2012, our most senior ladies teams can hold their heads very high, and can be assured that further success is just around the corner.

Our Intermediate Ladies Football team beat Tipperary to win this year’s Munster Final and went on to contest the All-Ireland final against Armagh at Croke Park in October.

While defeat was their lot, the side can hold their heads high. On the day they came up against what was a very good Armagh side who had played in the senior championship for a few years previous to this year and contested the Senior All-Ireland a year after they achieved their previous success to this year at Croke Park.

The side are back in training now for the 2013 championship and it appears that team manager Pat O’Brien and his selectors have added to their panel for the year ahead which will strengthen the team and will head into the 2013 campaign as one of the favourites to climb the steps of the Hogan Stand at the end of September.

The Counties Intermediate Camogie side can also be very proud of what they achieved in 2012. A number of the 2011 All-Ireland winning panel were not available for selection in 2012 meaning that some new faces were brought into the set up.

The team narrowly missed out on a place in the league final and in the championship they reached the All-Ireland semi final where they narrowly lost out to Galway.

If like the Ladies footballers, if the Camogie team can be added to for 2013, maybe getting back some of the 2011 panel that were not available in 2012, then its my belief that many of us could well find ourselves in Croke Park come mid September 2013, where hopefully the white and blue flags and banners will be raised very high come presentation time after the game.

Respect:

There is no doubting that the G.A.A. is one of the greatest sporting organisations in the world.

 

You can head to any G.A.A. Ground in the country and no matter what the rivalry there is between the teams that are taking part, you can see supporters from both sides sit side by side and the banter is fantastic.

The respect that G.A.A. Supporters show to each other is fantastic, but of course you will always get the one loose canon that will try and go against the flow.

This respect was very evident earlier this year when Kerry and Tyrone played in the All-Ireland qualifiers at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney.

The game was not one for the purist. Referee David Coldrick, had a very busy evening. He issued no fewer than sixteen yellow cards and one red card over the seventy plus minutes.

Kerry won the game 1-16 to 1-6 and after the game a bitterly disappointed Tyrone manager Mickey Harte was in no rush leaving his players leave the dressing rooms to begin the long coach trip up north.

When he did a plectra of Kerry fans had waited around the dressing rooms. Kerry folk know their football and they wanted to meet the man that guided the Ulster County to so much success in recent years and for younger supporters to get his autograph which he gladly obliged with.

The past year had not been easy for the Tyrone Manager who lost his daughter Michaela while on honeymoon in 2011. As Harte and the Tyrone team boarded the team bus, as it pulled out of Killarney, the assembled Kerry support showed support of Harte and all he had gone through by applauding the team as they set off.

Dr Harty Cup - Again:

Four members of the Sliabh gCua/St Mary’s G.A.A. Club (of which I am a member) were part of the Colaiste na nDeise team that won this years Dr Harty Cup winning team.

Eoin Kearns in goals, Tom Tobin and Kevin Sheehan in defence and Michael Kiely in attack all played a vital part in the side’s success with some outstanding performances throughout the competition.

From the ages of about five to seven, these players and a group of similarly aged players were brought to the Sliabh gCua Community Centre for two hours on a Friday evening where they were given an indoor hurley, helmet and a jersey. For about half an hour those present were asked to hit the ball of both sides, were asked to hook and block each other as they swung the hurley and then for over an hour were left play a game were rules were at a minimum putting into practice what they had learned earlier in the evening.

As the person that had a referees whistle close to my lips for the two hours or so, as these players got older to track their progress winning under 12, under 14 and under 16 county finals, getting selected to play with different county teams, winning a Junior Football Western and County Final with Sliabh gCua and having four of them win a Dr Harty Cup medal, does give you tremendous joy.