Well done to our Minor hurlers who captured the Mid B title today for the first time since 2016 with an eight point victory over a strong Upperchurch Drombane outfit earlier today in Holycross, winning out in the end by 1-19 to 1-11.

We trailed 1-7 to 0-9 at half time having played with the aid of the breeze, the Upperchurch goal coming after a brilliant Rob Gleeson save off the initial effort but he was unable to keep out the follow up.

Osin Cleary opened our account with a point from play and this was quickly followed by a Jack Atkinson effort from play, this kick started what would be an inspirational performance by Jack over the hour, Oisin added 2 more frees as the sides went score for score until the Upperchurch goal late in the half

Points from play from Jack, Dillon Butler and Liam Hayes along with some nice frees from Darragh Maher from distance left it 1-7 to 0-9 at the break in favour of Upperchurch

Playing into the breeze in the second half seemed to suit our lads and they worked some great scorers, the supply from backs was excellent and indeed 2 of the half Back line got in on the scoring act with Brian Maher & Johm Lanigan raiding forward early in the half for scores. Upperchurch continued to put the pressure on with scores of their own.

Then came the turning point in the game when another strong run by Jack Atkinson caused panic in the Church defence before he offloaded to the on rushing Jamie Barnaville who crashed it to the net from a tight angle.

Our next 5 scorers came from placed balls courtesy of Darragh Maher & Oisin Cleary but it was our backs who were to the fore in this period as Charlie Tobin & Cormac Moloney won ball after ball and calmly distributed it to the half back line who carried it out from trouble.

With the team starting to smell blood they drove it home brilliantly in the last few minutes with Oisin Cleary knocking over 2 in a row from play, one of which came from the excellent corner back play of Aidan Moloney in turning over possession & another from some excellent work out of defence by Paddy Campion.

Indeed the defence held tight under 2 65s which were lobbed into the square near the end as Upperchurch desperately chased a goal, Robbie Gleeson plucking one from under the cross bar before clearing.

And it was fitting that Man of the match Jack Atkinson Lynch would contribute the final score of the game in what capped an immense performance.

The team tackled hard all day from Cian Barnaville, Mikey Mahoney and Jamie Barnaville in the full forward line right back to the full back line and this was the foundation for the victory.

Team & scorers

1. Robbie Gleeson
2. Aidan Moloney
3. Cormac Moloney
4. Charlie Tobin
5. Paddy Campion
6. Brian Maher (0-1)
7. John Lanigan (0-1)
8. Darragh Maher (0-4f)
9. Liam Hayes (0-1)
10. Dillon Butler (0-1)
11. Jack Atkinson (0-3)
12. Oisin Cleary (0-8, 0-5f)
13. Cian Barnaville
14. Mikey Mahoney
15. Jamie Barnaville (1-0)

Joint captains Dillon Butler & Brian Maher accept the cup below

Jack Atkinson picks up his man of the match award below

Thanks to the management team of Michael Cleary, Martin Lanigan, Davy Nolan, Gearoid Fahey & Fionn Cleary for all the work put into this team.

Also thanks to all those who supported the team in numbers today

#honthehoe