This article is from page 95 of the 2007-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 95 JPG
THE end of an epic journey for Bal- lyea’s young hurlers arrived at the weekend when they were beaten by two goals in the final group game of
the Féile Roinn A Hurling competi- nee
They had two fine wins earlier in the weekend when they put in two hugely convincing displays but they came undone in the third and final
eroup stage against a physical Castle- knock side.
The Dublin club — with over juve- nile members — went on to win the tournament outright and had their toughest test against Ballyea who
they beat 3-2 to 1-2 to advance to the knock out stage.
Played over quarter hour halves, Ballyea, without the services of Mar- tin O’Leary who fractured his collar bone last week, were always within
touching distance of Castleknock.
“It was disappointing but we always said that if we lost a game, whoev- er beat us would go a long way in the competition and that’s the way it turned out,’ said trainer Fergie O’Loughlin. “We’re just proud of our players and the huge effort they put in to get this far. They’ve mas- sive potential and we’re proud of the work they’ve done over the past few ppeKeyela kona
Though they exited the tournament earlier that they would have liked, they left Kilkenny and headed back for Clare on Sunday with the knowl- edge that the overall experience will stand to them in the years to come.
“It’s a building block along the way, added O’Loughlin. “These lads have fine hurling futures ahead of them. Three of the panel were drawn from the Under-12 team and it’s a great experience for young play- ers like that to compete at this kind of level.”