All Ireland competition win for Naas U13 Hurlers
All Ireland competition win for Naas U13 Hurlers
January 01, 1970
Naas U13 Hurlers Win Prestigious All-Ireland Competition
Naas U13 hurlers had a historic win in The KIlmacud Croke All-Ireland 7's U13 11-a-side Competition on Saturday 7th September. This U13 11-a-side All-Ireland Competition is a part of the One Direct All-Ireland Hurling 7's tournament event held on the eve of the All-Ireland Final each year. As well as the Naas team the U13 competition featured 7 other teams from around the country who provided strong U13 hurling squads. The clubs attending were from Dublin, Kilkenny, Cork, Galway along with Naas from Co. Kildare, all seeking victory in this prestigious competition. The eight teams were initially divided into two groups of four with each team playing three games in a round-robin qualifying series. In the round-robin stages of the competition Naas produced hard-fought wins over Sarsfields (Cork) and Erins Own, Castlecomer (Kilkenny) while losing narrowly to Whitehall Colmcilles (Dublin) to finish runners-up in their group and face winners of the other group, Kilmacud Crokes, in the competition semi-final.
The semi-final was a tough encounter where every effort was put in by both teams to win. After a highly entertaining and exciting game Naas ran out eventual winners beating Kilmacud Crokes on a score of 1-11 to 2-1.
In the final Naas played against a strong and skilful Midleton team who beat Whitehall Colmcilles (Dublin) in the other semi-final. The final took place in front of a large crowd attending the All-Ireland 7's Competition. It was a very close and hard-fought contest, where every ball was fought for fiercely by both sides. After some great battling by both teams in a tense and exciting game, Naas eventually triumphed with a score of 1-3 to 0-2. This was the first time a team from outside the strong hurling counties of Dublin, Kilkenny, Cork, Tipperary and Galway have won this competition.
This was a great underage performance from the Kildare club to take on strong teams from the traditional counties and win a very prestigious All-Ireland competition.
Naas (Panel) : Sean Burke, Al Bergin, Ian Blackbourne, Conall Byrne, Harry Carroll, Luca Conroy, Luke Griffin, Colm Joyce, Kevin Kellher, Daragh Kirwan, Rian Monaghan, Sean O'Neill, Ben O'Reilly, Eoghan Prizeman, Brian Tobin, Craig Kennedy, Ross Waters
Mentors : Sean Tobin, Austin Bergin, Declan O'Reilly, Matt Byrne
Competition Results :
Rd 1 : Naas 1-08, Sarsfields (Cork) 1-01
Rd 2 : Naas 1-03, Whitehall Colmcilles 1-04
Rd 3 : Naas 4-08, Erin's Own, Castlecomer 2-02
Semi Final : Naas 1-11, Kilmacud Crokes 2-01
Final : Naas 1-03, Middlelton 0-02