This morning, Shamrocks travelled to St. Brigid’s Park in Kildare town to take on the might of Round Towers GAA. These two teams had met earlier in the year in a challenge match with Shamrocks taking the win by the narrowest of score lines.

Under another sunny Sunday morning, the game started at a fast pace which continued without easing for the entire opening 30 mins.

Shamrocks opened their campaign with focused and consistent attacking of the Towers backline and where unlucky with a number of wides before finally opening their account with a fine point by Rory Aylward which started from the midline and made it’s way with a number of precision passes before Rory sent it over.

Shamrocks continued to dominate the first half of the game with a number of well taken goals and points with the halftime tally of 3-2 coming from the half backline onwards.

The second half started with the same pace as the first and again Shamrocks were unlucky with a number of wides before Rory Aylward made his presence felt when he shot a rocket into the back of the Towers net followed very quickly by his second point of the afternoon.

From there the game looked like a done deal for Shamrocks but bad luck struck with a number of on-field injuries. Shamrocks found themselves emptying their bench very quickly as injuries and tiredness set-in. This allowed Towers to pull back a few scores but Shamrocks didn’t sit back and let it get to them, instead they kicked it up a further couple of gears to finish the game on an impressive 6-7 to 2-2 scoreline.

Fulltime scores came from Rory Aylward (Kilcullen), Dermott McGreevy (Athgarvan), Adam Farrell (Two Mile House) and Harry O' Sullivan (Athgarvan).

Today’s hurling showed how much this newly formed team has come in a short space of time. Feedback from the spectators spoke of a very entertaining game with one saying it was better than any game in Croke Park. Every one of the Shamrocks gave 100% and can hold their heads up high with pride with their performance and commitment to each other on the pitch.

Well done to players, management and supporters for cheering the boys on this morning. The next game is in two weeks’ time against Broadford GAA on Sunday 4th September. This one will make for an interesting game as the Shamrock U14 play Broadford GAA this Wednesday coming (KO 7.30pm in Athgarvan) in the league and will play them again in the U14 Championship final (TBC). Broadford GAA no more than Shamrocks will have a number of their U12 playing with their U14 as well.

Finally, best of luck to the Shamrock U14 team and in particular to Dermott McGreevy, Harry O’ Sullivan, Odhran MacDonald and Cian Brennan (holidays) who are part of the U14 panel. Let them know you’ll see them real soon… 😊.