U14 Hurling League Final

Kilburn Gaels 2-2 Sean Treacys 5-4

The U14 team lost the league final on Sunday 17th July to an older and much stronger Sean Treacys team at Ruislip. Kilburn were missing a few of their more experienced players, making the task on such a big pitch even harder, but credit is due to the whole team who did themselves proud in what, for many of them, was their first final for the club.

Kilburn captain Sean O'Toole worked hard to the very last puck of the ball to keep his team in the game, as did goalkeeper Aaron Kilkenny, who made some vital saves in his (larger than normal) goal! In the forward line, Richard Davoren, Conor Lyons and young Eirean Quilkin battled hard to get scores and keep their team in contention until half time.

In the second half, Sean Treacys came out even stronger and put away a couple of scores to kill off any chance of a Kilburn come back, winning eventually by 5-4 to 2-2.

London Minor Board Secretary, John O'Neill, reflected on a very competitive game and also highlighted how pleasing it had been to see three successful blitzes take place in the run-up to the final. This is the first year in many that a full U12 and U14 league programme had run and was also the year that saw the involvement of five clubs on a regular basis. He praised the clubs, players, mentors and parents for all their efforts in promoting and preserving the game of hurling.

The Kilburn players will be disppointed by the result, but can take heart from the way in which they performed and also from the number of young players on the panel. The influx of new hurlers over the last few months to the Kilburn ranks has strengthened the squad sizes considerably and promises much hope for the next four or five years as these young players develop and gain experience.

Team: A. Kilkenny-Kelly, M. Scanlon, T. Connolly, R. McManus, S. Murray, S. O'Toole (c), P. Hourihan, D. Gillies, D. O'Connell, C. Horan, R. Davoren, E. Quilkin, P. McGovern, C. Lyons, B. Stephenson