John Martin Memorial Tournament
November 17, 2014
On Sunday Nov 9th Southern Gaels Hurling club ran their annual hurling tournament for the John Martin Memorial Cup. John Martin was a member and indeed captained the great Athlone team to Senior Co Hurling titles in 1905, 1907, 1911 and 1912. The cup itself shows several similarities to the legandary Liam Mc Carty Cup .
Southern Gaels welcomed both Cullion (Westmeath) and Brosna Gaels (Offaly) U15 squads to Athlone GAA on what has to be said was a perfect Autumn evening for hurling. The games were to be played as a 13 aside competition with the pitch closed in slightly from each side. This proved to be a master stroke by the organisers as the games turned out to be a scoring spectacular with players from all three sides getting on the score sheets with such regularity that every game was played in a very highly competitive and entertaining manner.
The first game of the evening was between the home team and their Mullingar based counterparts Cullion. Cullion led by their by their high profile county players Owen Fox and Shane Broghan began the game in a very prominent fashion scoring 3.06 without reply.
However, the second half provided the home crowd with a much improved performance by the side with Kevin Dolan, Diarmuid Martin and Sean Dowd starting to get to grips with their opponents while in defense Stephan Lonergan , Stephan Mc Gonigle and Kieran Mc Dermot all contributed to stemming the threat of the Cullion forwards. As the first game of the night reached its conclusion the standard of Southern Gaels play had improved dramatically from the first half which gave manager and coach Patrick Flynn cause to look forward to their remaining game v Brosna Gaels. Cullion finished the game well deserved winners and after a small break returned to action against their Offaly opponents Brosna Gaels. This game provided a scoring bonanza for all the spectators, both teams played with such intensity and passion that it was compared to a very recent All Ireland Final where wides were a rare occurrence and scores were of the highest quality.
On the Cullion side Jack Gillen in goals, helped by Jamie Kindregan, Conor Shaw, Taylor Daly, Sean Whelehan and Ryan Cleary were rock solid all afternoon and gave little away. At midfield Michael Cahill, Marc Reilly Watters and Cathal Molloy, won a lot of ball. Half forwards Michael Drury and Connor Regan showed well while Owen Fox who gave a player of the tournament performance at centre half forward. Also there was great assistance from Diarmuid Cahill and Rory King with Jack Cahill and Shane Broughan working hard throughout.
Cullion secured their second victory of the night and now had the luxury of sitting back to watch the third and final game of the tournament in the knowledge that the much sought after silverware that was on offer for the night had being secured.
Any fears that the locals would begin their last game in the same fashion as their first were very quickly dismissed , with some great combination play between D.Martin ,K. Dolan and S. Dowd resulting in Southern Gaels taking a one point lead into the second half. The opening half being remembered most notably for the fact that the first point of the game was scored by Eamon Martin who along with his brother Diarmuid, who goaled for the home side, are the great grandsons of the tournaments namesake.
Stephan O' Connors puck-outs played a significant part in the Athlone outfits competitiveness throughout the game, along with the ever improving Joe Reidy, Conor O' Driscoll, Gary Fitzpatrick and Brian Dolan all made telling contributions to what turned out to be a very competitive and entertaining game. With the result in the melting pot at the end and Brosna Gaels pushing to reduce a one point deficit some resolute defending led by Myles Duffy and the very dependable Padraig Mc Dermott saw the home side hold out for a very well deserved and hard earned victory. Chulainn Dowd, the youngest member of the home squad made a very telling contribution to both games when introduced.
Jack Quinn, Stephan Buckley, Sean Farrell, Gary Colgen and Patrick Farrell for Brosna Gaels all played their part in a great game.
The post match presentations were led by Ruth Martin who presented the Player of the Tournament to Owen Fox of Cullion, Eamon Martin then presented Cullion's joint captains with the John Martin Memorial Cup.
Southern Gaels Hurling Club would like to thank, Dermot Broughan and Gerry Gillian (Cullion) and Mel Ryan, Don Carroll and James Farrell (Brosna Gaels) for all the work they put in to ensure this tournament was played in such an entertaining and competitive fashion. Many thanks must also go to Noreen Dolan, Mary Fitzpatrick, Kiera Dowd, Gerry Coakley and Ruth Martin who made a telling contribution after the game feeding all the players and selectors with Supermacs, tea and sandwiches and helping with the big clean up ensuring it was finished in record time. A huge thank you must be reserved for squad manager and coach ,Patrick Flynn whose commitment to these players in providing training sessions never faltered throughout the year. Patrick assembled this squad for three very good training sessions in the run up to these games which resulted in a satisfactory first game second half and a great overall display by the lads in their second game. Full credit must go to him for his half time speech which saw all players excel and keep their momentum up until the final whistle.
Finally, many thanks to Eddie Martin and his family whose enthusiasm in promoting hurling and remembering the great players and history of our past has never waned in times where there is so many distractions vying for peoples attention.
The club would like to wish Betty Martin a speedy recovery from a recent hip operation
