Southern Gaels Hurling Club Notes
November 17, 2014
On Sunday last Southern Gaels Hurling club ran their annual hurling tournament for the John Martin Memorial Cup, John Martin was a member of and indeed Captained a great Athlone team to Senior Co Hurling Titles in 1905, 1907, 1911 and 1912 with the cup itself showing several similarities to the legendry Liam Mc Carty Cup .
Southern Gaels welcomed both Cullion (Westmeath) and Brosna Gaels (Offaly) U15 sqd 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 3 sides getting on the score sheets with such regularity that every game was played in a very highly competitive and entertaining manner.
1st game of the evening was to be the home team v their Mullingar based counterparts Cullion. Cullion led by their High profile County players Owen Fox and Shane Broghan beginning the game in a very prominent fashion scoring 3.06 without reply.
However the 2nd half provided the home crowd with a much improved performance by the home side with Kevin Dolan, Diarmuid Martin and Sean Dowd starting to get to grips with their opposite opponents while in defence Stephan Lonergan , Stephan Mc Gonagle and Kieran Mc Dermot all contributed to stemming the treat of the Cullion forwards, as the 1st game of the night reached it s conclusion the standard of Southern Gaels play had improved dramatically from the 1st half which gave Manager and Coach Pat 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 wide's were a rare occurrence and scores were of the highest quality.
On the Cullion side Jack Gillen in goals , helped by Jamie Kindregan and 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 Eoin Fox who gave a player of the tournament performance at centre half forward with assistance from Diarmuid Cahill and Rory King. Jack Cahill worked hard as did Shane Broughan .
Cullion secured their second victory of the night and now had the luxury of sitting back to watch the 3rd and final 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 1st were very quickly dismissed , with some great combination play between D.Martin ,K. Dolan and S. Dowd resulting in Southern Gaels taking a 1 pt lead into the 2nd half, the opening 1st half being remembered most notably by the fact that the 1st pt of the game being 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 puckouts from the goals played a significant part in the Athlone outfits competitiveness throughout the game, along with the ever improving Joe Reidy, Connor O Driscoll, Gary Fitzpatrick and Brien Dolan all made telling contributions to what turned out to be a very competitive and entertaining game. With the result in the melting pot and Brosna Gaels pushing to reduce a 1pt deficit some resolute defending led by Miles Duffy and the very dependable Padraig Mc Dermot saw the home side hold out for a very well deserved and hard earned victory for the home side. Chulainn Dowd being the youngest member of the home sqd made a very telling contribution to both games when introduced during the games.
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 Cullions captains with the John Martin Memorial Cup.
Southern Gaels Hurling Club would like to thank: Dermot Broughan, Gerry Gillian ( Cullion) Mel Ryan, Don Carrol 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 go to Noreen Dolan, Mary Fitzpatrick, Kiera Dowd, Gerry Cokely and Ruth Martin who made a telling contribution to the post game feeding of players and selectors with Supermacs, tea and sandwiches with the big clean up afterwards being finished in record time by the aforementioned above. A huge thank you must be reserved for sqd Manager and Coach, Patrick Flynn whose commitment to these players in providing training sessions never faltered throughout the year. Pat assembled this squad for 3 very good training sessions in the run up to these games which resulted in a satisfactory 1st game 2nd half and a great overall display by the lads in their 2nd game. Full credit must go to Pat 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 to promote hurling and to remember 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.
