CLUBS 27
THE HURLER 2012 |
SALLINS - NA SOLLAIN
WORDS: MARCUS LOONEY, PAT KINSELLA
MIXED YEAR AS SUCCESS REMAINS ELUSIVE Adult 2012 was a mixed year for the adult hurlers in Sallins. While the club continues to grow at an impressive rate, the lack of silverware persists, hanging over the club and its more senior players. Tipperary native Sean Darcy took over the reigns as manager and ably supported by Eric Hardiman and Tom Coughlan hopes were high of ending the long wait for a county title. A policy of seeking and nurturing young native Sallins hurlers was promoted early in the year and this proved hugely successful as the year progressed. Training was reenergised and reinvigorated by new faces and methods and there was a renewed life in the club. Pat Smyth was selected as club captain while Paul Kelly was named vice captain. On the playing field, the year was launched with a “team bonding” trip to Gorey to play Naomh Eanna, the home of the clubs founding father, Tony Molloy. Early league form was good with an opening day draw with St. Laurences, an away win against Naas followed by a home win against Maynooth. Having already qualified for the semi final a depleted panel lost out to Clane in Clane. A home league semi final against Naas was the reward for finishing second in the league. On a fine day for hurling, Sallins came out well on top against their near neighbours. Despite injuries, the home team took full advantage of the good conditions to power home to victory on a score line of 2-14 to 8 points. A final against Maynooth was next on the horizon. Sallins travelled to their northern Kildare opponents full of belief and expectation. A tough, hard tussle ensued with neither side giving way. The game swung in many different directions before Sallins opened up some daylight between the teams midway through the second half, however a late Maynooth rally looked to have sealed victory with time nearly up only for Sallins to point a last gasp equaliser off the hurl of Ronan Dowling to send the game to extra time. Again extra time was a tight affair but eventually Sallins, who were still much depleted by injury, just ran out of gas at the death and Maynooth went on to record a victory on the score line of 3-17 to 4-9. While a loss was disappointing, the future looked bright. The Championship started only four days after the heartbreak of the league final. A
nervous away win to St. Laurence’s was only guaranteed with the help of some desperate, last ditch defending in the final few minutes. A trip to Donore and a poor defeat to Éire Óg/CorraChoill in round two emphasised the necessity to re-evaluate the direction of the team. Round three provided the moral boost and confidence needed to banish the demons of a sluggish start to the championship. A good win over Naas was backboned by a young spirited Sallins team. The mix of youth and experience proved just right on the day. That confidence was to become even more evident in round four when the team produced their best performance of the year to beat Maynooth in Maynooth. The win was made possible through pure guts and determination. These attributes, added to the undoubted skill and ability of the panel, make the Sallins team a force to be reckoned with and makes people outside the club sit up and take notice of the good things that are happening in Kildare’s smallest club. With semi-final qualification already assured, an experimental team took to the field against Clane. For the most part Sallins were the better team but a late surge by the Clane men saw them claim a draw with the last puck of the ball. Everything going well, Sallins looked in great shape going into a semi-final against Maynooth, but as usual not everything went well. The worst nightmare for a small club is a long layoff between matches towards the end of the season. With challenge matches hard to come by, the impetus or momentum that was building was lost during the six weeks without a game. Still, confidence was high leading up the day. Injuries were clearing up and the mood in the camp was, as usual, very good. Unfortunately the performance on the day was flat but to the credit of the team, Maynooth, who were the better team, were made to fight all the way to the end for their triumph. While the end to the season was disappointing, the club is stronger today than we were in January and growth has been a continual feature of the club, year on year. Of the fifteen that started in the Championship Semi Final, seven were Under 21 and a few more experienced championship action throughout the summer. Management’s policy of bringing through players like Emmet Ralph, TJ Gordon, Philly Cluxton Curley, Conor Herbert and Oisin
and Ruairi O’Domhnaill along with already established youngsters Brendan Moran, Dave Quirke, Frankie Quinn and Eoin Ennis has fortified the club into the future. The first Sallins Under 21 team in many years has been formed this year under Pat Kinsella, Marcus Looney, Paul Smyth and Paul Kelly. The aim of this team is to promote the game even further and give unseen or hidden talent a chance to blossom. The seniors will also experience there first involvement in representative hurling as they carry the hopes of Kildare hurling in the Leinster Special Junior Hurling Championship. It is a great honour for our club to be able to take our place at the provincial table and hopefully represent both club and county as best as we can and maybe even bring home a trophy to the county. The mission for 2013 and beyond is to strengthen the bond between the club and the village and more importantly the schools in the area to develop a club that can build on the past 10 years. Sallins Hurling Club has for a long time relied on local “ex-pats” for the survival of the club; it is now time to start the hand over to the next generation. Added to this young tide are many of the earliest members of the club who are still very active. Club stalwarts like Brendan O’Brien, Mick Dagg, Michael Minchin, Eric Walsh, Mark O’Dwyer, Conor Williams, Gerry Glendon, Conor Bracken, Bryan Coen and Mark Dillon will not be satisfied to end careers without some honours which surely should add even more determination and resolve to bring silverware back to the banks of the canal in 2013. UNDERAGE Underage Hurling in Sallins continues to grow in terms of participation and on field success. In 2012, Sallins entered hurling teams at all ages from Under 8 to Under 13. At Under 14 & Under 15, Sallins & Kill entered a combined team, St. Patricks. In addition, mini-games were organised during the year with neighbouring clubs for our Under 6s & 7s. On the playing field, the highlight of 2012 was the victory of St. Patricks in the Kildare Feile Division 3. This group of lads played in the same competition in 2011 while they were still under 13 and in spite of a number of heavy defeats, they came back in 2012, won all of their group stage games followed by a comprehensive victory over St Conleths
in the final. The Under 14 panel was Ciaran Fannin, Sam Raggett, Eoghan Noonan, Jamie Rawlins, Paul Farrelly, Darragh Doyle, Kevin Foley, Michael O’Mahoney, Joey Kirwan, David Foley, Sean O’Domhnaill, Scot Chamney, Aaron Croke, Conor Dalton, James Collins, Cian O’Doherty, Padhraic Ennis, Mathew Farrelly, Darragh Brennan. Special congratulations must go to Kevin Foley in making the Kildare Under 14 hurling squad. This is the first time in many years that a member of our club has played on a Kildare county hurling team. We hope that Kevin will be the first of many. The highlight of the year for our Under 8 hurlers and their parents was their trip to Croke Park in August organised by club mentors in conjunction with Kildare GAA Games Development. Almost 30 boys and girls got the opportunity to play a game on the Croke Park pitch as well as visiting the dressing rooms, the presentation area and having their photographs taken with InterCounty hurling stars. Our Under 11 Community Games hurling team retained their Kildare Championship this year before being defeated by the very strong Dublin champions in the Leinster Championship. The clubs key objectives are to give the children the skills required to play hurling, to ensure that all players get as much match time as possible and above all ensure they are enjoying themselves. The club organised a very successful two day Hurling Camp at Easter with over 100 boys and girls aged from 6 to 14 attending coaching sessions over the two days with a number of Kildare County Hurlers as well as full time coaches from around the country. This was a great learning experience for our own coaches who attended. In addition to the Hurling Camp, during the year the club organised a number of other coaching sessions with external coaches. One of the highlights was the visit of Wexford legend George O’Connor who passed on his vast hurling experience to both our underage players and our coaches. The club is fortunate to have a group of dedicated hurling coaches, many of them parents of juvenile players and we would like thank these coaches and mentors for all of their hard work during 2012.