20 Sport
Tuesday | 18 November 2008 | An Focal
Club
Killarney Kerry - the Kayaking ’08: OPC Kingdom Living the Dream Siobhan Hinchy
Fergal Dempsey
The Morning of All Saints Day saw quite a few walking dead as a group from OPC left the campus to go climb Ireland’s highest mountain and enjoy a weekend of debauchery along with it! The group some showing up in costumes from the previous’ nights festivities were not long getting ready for the day that lay in front of them. The hike itself was a trek up Caurantoohill the highest peak in Ireland standing at 1039m above sea level. Due to weather conditions the brave posse from the OPC couldn’t hit the top that day but that was OK. Everyone still got to stretch their legs and admire the beautiful Hags Glen and the roof of Ireland as it was blanketed in snow. That night the gourmet chefs employed by the OPC conjured up a traditional Spag Bol that warmed the cockles of every heart that had been in the hills that day. Halloween
was once again celebrated with people breaking out in costumes such as Cavemen and Monkies. We were even graced with the Statue of Liberty all the way from the US of A. The next morning saw a few fuzzy heads but these were swiftly forgotten. The weather had cleared and it was now good enough for us to head to the top of Ireland. Some of the more experienced guys headed for a day of Rock Climbing as the weather had turned out that good. Needless to say with the wind at our backs we reached the Summit. The group photo taken we trekked back down the mountain contented that we had achieved two great days of hiking and had gotten some good experience under our belts for future trips, namely Scotland ‘09. We practice our skills every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night’s at the climbing wall in the PESS between 7 and 10pm. More info can be found on www.ulopc. com.
November 1st – November 2nd saw more than 30 UL kayakers heading off in the early daylight hours for the kingdom of Kerry for the first big whitewater trip of the year. The cold weather and low river water levels did little to deter the enthusiastic kayakers from the 8am Saturday departure after the previous nights Halloween festivities.Despite a few delays en route, there was a colourful display of people and boats at the starting point or “get-on” of the Lower Carragh River, located just outside Glenbeigh in Co Kerry. The Lower Carragh is a friendly grade 2 beginner whitewater run and the perfect introduction to an exhilarating sport. The new members of ULKC styled their way down the river with only a few wet heads by the end of it all. After getting changed, the scenic route was taken home in a bid to find the Upper Carragh, a higher, more advanced section of the same river and determine if water levels would allow another run. This wasn’t the case, unfortunately, so the group headed back toward Killarney for the evening. A few navigational anomalies led to a scenic bus ride through some of the best parts of the ring of Kerry, a treat for both the native and overseas
kayakers on the day. The UL Outdoor Pursuits Club also shared the hostel in Killarney for the night so there was plenty of familiar faces and banter for the evening. Sunday morning caused a change in direction, back to Limerick and the club stopped at a river closer to home, the Deel, located in Askeaton. Water levels were much better here, due to the constant rain cloud that hangs over Limerick, much to the kayakers delight. This was a slightly trickier grade 3 run with a number of weirs to negotiate before a challenging gorge section. It was a really step up from the previous day’s adventure but one that was handled really well with a bus load of paddlers grinning from ear to ear the whole way home. The next trip away is the whitewater weekend to Wicklow Friday 28 November – Sunday 30 November. It’s the end of week 12 and the perfect release before hitting the books for study week. This will be followed by a weeklong trip to Snowdonia in Wales in the first week of January. Sign up at pool sessions every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9:45pm – 10:45pm in the sports Arena or on the website www.ulkayak.com.
ULKC in the Kerry waters
Senior hurlers stroll on Liam Togher
UL 0-16 GMIT 1-9 A four-point victory over GMIT in their final group game at Pitch 1 took UL senior hurlers into the knockout stages of the League. Both teams had won one and lost one prior to this meeting, so the objective was mutual – victory or elimination. UL were slight favourites to come out on top, although a GMIT side who reached last year’s Fitzgibbon Cup semifinals and could boast Andrew O’Shaughnessy in their line-up were never going to be taken lightly. On a bitterly cold afternoon UL took the early initiative with scores from Brian Carroll and Ainle O Cairrealain. The home side had complete control of proceedings
in the opening minutes as keeper Paddy McCormack watched the game in comfort. By the quarterhour mark UL had four points without reply and then hit a fourminute scoring streak to double their convincing lead. GMIT could not even do the simple things well and had a litany of UL wides to thank for not being further adrift. At least the visitors managed a couple of points at the end of the half, a deficit of 0-8 to 0-2 not doing justice to the home team’s domination. UL hit the ground running after half-time as Martin Walsh and Ryan O’Dwyer restored the eightpoint gap. GMIT slowly managed to assert themselves a little more but the Limerick side could still
glide through the gears whilst keeping their opponents at bay. UL manager Ger Cunningham introduced several substitutes with 15 minutes to go and a lead of 0-13 to 0-5. They began to ease off just as GMIT went on a salvage mission that yielded 1-2. UL needed a strong finish to ensure that they didn’t throw the game away in spectacular fashion and ultimately came out on the right end of a 0-16 to 1-9 scoreline. Aside from the ten-minute spell near the end when they took the foot off the gas, UL played excellently. All of their starting forwards scored with Carroll helping himself to 0-6. Their work rate was enviable, they had far more of the possession and they
forced numerous errors from GMIT. However, the home side hit a worrying number of wides and such profligacy might cost them dear in the latter stages of the competition. It was an ideal all-round performance from UL, who will surely be taken seriously by any team they meet this season. UL: P McCormack, S Wynne, P Codd, B Fox, K O’Gorman, JB McCarthy, S O’Brien, C Mahon, F Galvin, M Walsh, R O’Dwyer, E O’Mahoney, B Carroll, A O’Cairrealain, G Scales. Subs: A Ryan for O’Cairrealain, J Campion for Galvin, P O’Dwyer for O’Mahoney, D Stapleton for Wynne, J Mackey for Mahon.