The Senior Footballers put in a great effort again in 2010/2011 but fell short in all three competitions. While no doubt they will be disappointed with the performances in the League ¼ Final, 1st rnd Sigerson Cup and 2nd McGrath Cup defeats, this is a very young and inexperienced team fielding just a handful of players from the previous number of years. With the majority of the panel available to them next season they will have gained valuable experience from the year. Great credit must go to the players and the management for their commitment and dedication throughout the year and for the professional manner in which they prepared. The Intermediate Footballers too have put in a huge effort and many of these lads would have been very committed to the Sigerson Training and subsequent Intermediate Championship campaign. The provision of adequate games at national and provincial level is well below what these young lads should be getting. Many of these lads will no doubt break through to seniors in the next year or so and would be every bit as committed to their football. Having beaten last year’s champions IT Sligo in the semi-final they are now forced to wait for a suitable date for the final. They also have to play UCC in the Final of the Munster Championship. The Junior Footballers is provided for lads who want to play “Social Football” and as such it works well in playing it in a Blitz format for the long distance opponents and one offs for the local colleges’ games. This year while we had good numbers and did unearth a number of lads who subsequently went on to play intermediates we didn’t make the final two having only gained 3 league points out of a possible 8. Yet it did serve its purpose and it is a competition that has potential to serve the needs of recreational games The Fresher 1 Footballers had a great year, winning out the league and very unlucky to have been beaten in the Championship Final. Fresher 1 Football is of a huge standard and is almost on par with inter-county U21 football so to do so well is a credit to the players and the management for the tremendous efforts of the year. This competition is unique in the GAA as it is the only competition that you can play only once so to take a trophy here is something that the players will show on their playing CV. In all they played 10 competitive games and lost only the Championship final which is a feat that won’t be copied to easily. Many of these young lads will no doubt go on to become household names in their counties in the years to come and we’d hope that might break through to the Sigerson team over the next two years. The Fresher 2 Football team competed in the Division 2 League to allow us to enter our third team in the B Section. While the 3rd held their own the Fresher 2’s certainly highlighted the talent that came into the college with some credible performances before bowing out to a very strong St Pats Side in the ½ Final. Their championship preparations were hampered by the month off in January as most of these lads would have been long distances – yet they managed their 1st round win before coming a cropper against a very strong UUJ side. We would hope to get many of these to play intermediate and junior next year. |
Football >