Underage Medal Presentation Night

Underage Medal Presentation night

Our Winning Captains, Jack Murtagh, Jamie Kelleghan, Aaron Connaire & Niall Brady

On Saturday Night Last 20 January 2024 we presented medals to our successful underage teams from 2023 along with our U13 shield winning team from 2020 (where presenting medals was curtailed by the onset of Covid 19) and our 2022 U17 Shield Winning team. It was great to be able to include these teams along with our successful teams from last year to present all the medals on such an occasion.

Those collecting medals were the two Championship winning teams from 2023, The U17 Minor County Champions and the U15 County Champions. In addition to these we also presented medals to, the U15 League Winners 2023 the U17 Minor Shield winners 2022 and the U13 Shield Winners 2020. In total we had 48 individuals to receive medals, who were presented by Darragh Egerton

2023 U17 Minor Division 1 County Champions

The minor team of 2023 competed in a very competitive competition where any one of 5 teams could have made it to the final. For years this team were knocking on the door of a big win and it finally all came together in winning the Division 1 Minor Hurling Championship 2023. We progressed our way through the preliminary rounds to secure our way to a quarter final against Castletown Geoghegan at home in Clonkill. This brought us to a semi final against Clan na nGael in Castlepollard. This proved to be a very tight competitive game where we were 4 points down with 10 minutes to go, however our lads dug deep and showed great character to turn this to a 4 point victory to secure a place in the County Final against Na Piarsaigh.

The County Final was played in a well-attended TEG Cusack Park on Sunday 8^th October 2023 ahead of the Senior Hurling County Final. Our opponents, the amalgamated Na Piarsaigh who were unbeaten going into the final and were favourites on the day. This turned out to be an epic final played in ideal conditions where we put in a complete team performance. All the lads rose to the occasion and were exceptional from start to finish to come out deserving champions after a hard-earned, but deserved win on a score line of 2-15 to 2-11. After the match, the chairman of Westmeath Coiste na n-Óg, Barry Kelly, presented the Ben Kelly Cup to a worthy recipient in Clonkill’s Jack Murtagh (Referee: Caymon Flynn (St Brigid’s)

Our U17 Panel of players 2023 were (in alphabetical order with scores from Championship Final) Niall Brady, Andrew Brennan, Aaron Connaire, Peter Conneely, Conor Daly (0-02), Liam DeClár, Billy Dunne, Darragh Egerton (0-01), Killian Gavigan, Jamie Kelleghan (0-01), Adam Kenny, Darragh Kenny (0-01 (‘65’)), Kian Loughlin (0-05(5F)), Conor Maleady, Carl McCormack, Luke Meyler (0-02), Pádraig Monaghan (2-03), Enda Moran, Jake Muldoon, Cormac Murphy, Ross Murray, Jack Murtagh, Corey O’Brien, Conor Power & Finn Raeside. Team Management of Dwayne Egerton, Peter Curran & Kevin Muldoon. With special thanks to our U19 team management of Alo Egerton, Christy Doyle and Enda Loughlin who combined our efforts at U17/U19 training to bring on our lads. Another very special thanks goes to Darragh Egerton who brought his County experience to many of the sessions leading up to the final. All of this contributed greatly to this success. With the age grades moving from U17 to U18 means this team remains together for another year with the aim to repeat this success again and we wish them all the very best in this endeavour.

2023 U15 Division 1 County Champions & Division 1 League Champions

A much-anticipated U15 Hurling Division 1 final was held in TEG Cusack Park on Saturday evening 09 September 2023 and the large crowd in attendance were treated to a quite superb game of hurling between two teams who gave it everything they had. It was a superb team performance with a high level of accuracy that contributed to our success. One amazing statistic from the game was that our lads only registered 1 wide in the entire game, and it was that economic use of the ball especially in scoring positions that tipped the balance in our favour along with 2 superb goals from Padraig Monaghan and MJ Long to help seal the win. (Referee: Caymon Flynn (St Brigid’s)

This same team also tasted success earlier in the year when securing the League title making it a superb year in doing the back-to-back League & Championship double. Again this team remains together for 2024 with the changing of age grades from U15 to U16 and the ambition is to replicate last years performance again for 2024

Our U15 Panel of players 2023 were (in alphabetical order with scores from Championship Final) Niall Brady (0-01 F), Conor Cleary, Aaron Connaire, Eoghan Daly, Billy Dunne, Sean Flynn, Eli Green, Conor Joyce (0-01), Adam Kiernan, MJ Long (1-02), Ben Loughlin, Conor Maleady (0-07 (6F), Sean Maleady, Eoisin McGrath, Kieran McGrath, James McHugh, Pádraig Monaghan (1-00), Enda Moran, Cormac Murphy, Jake Raeside, Conor Raleigh & Peter Raleigh. Team Management of Joe Daly, James Brady, Aidan Coinnaire & Pat O’Toole and another very special thanks to Darragh Egerton who brought his county experience to many of the sessions leading up to the final.

2022 U17 Division 1 Shield Winners

In October 2022 our U17 team reached the shield final played in the Downs GAA against Clan an nGael. It was great to finish the year with this win especially as we had difficulty fielding players and the team was supported greatly with the U15 panel who stepped up when it mattered. For a lot of these young players, this was their first taste of success with the club. For those who moved up to adult levels this was a nice way to see out their juvenile career in the club. For those who remained at U17 for 2023 this was a great result to build upon that help them to take the minor title in 2023. The match was played in ideal hurling conditions and was a hard-fought battle against a very strong side where we managed to get the upper hand on our opponents to finish on the right side of the scoreboard to claim the shield title.

Our Panel of players were (in alphabetical order) Adam Brady, Niall Brady, Andrew Brennan, Sean Colgan, Conor Daly, Liam DeClár, Darragh Egerton, Jamie Kelleghan, Darragh Kenny, Kian Loughlin, Conor Maleady, Carl McCormack, Eoin McGrath, Luke Meyler, Billy Moffatt, Jake Muldoon, Darragh Mullan, Ross Murray, Jack Murtagh, Corey O’Brien, Conor Power, Finn Raeside, Riley Sheahan, Nathan Sleator, & Alex Smith. Team Management of Dwayne Egerton, Chrisy Murtagh & Kevin Muldoon. Referee: Jimmy Weldon (Lough Lane Gaels)

2020 U13 Division 1 Shield Winners

We also had a presentation to be made to our 2020 U13 shield winners. This was played during the height of the Covid 19 epidemic which curtailed a lot of sporting activities along with any gatherings for celebrations and presentations. It was great to have this opportunity to be able to finally present this bunch of lads their deserved medals and it is great to see so many of these lads had progressed from this team to continue through the age groups and to be represented on the U15 & U17 championship panels.

The U13 team was narrowly beaten by Raharney in the premier semi final. As a result we qualified for the shield final where we played Brownstown in Clonkill. The weather was really sunny and the pitch was in its usual splendid condition, the game toed and frowed with lots of fine hurling on show and plenty of excellent scores from both sides. Clonkill ended up winning by 5 points in the end and the trophy was presented to Jamie Kelleghan and to all his delighted teammates. We knew at this early stage this group was going places and time has proved correct as most of that team has now backboned u15 and u17 Premier championships for the club and we have no doubt one day will bring home senior silverware

It is also noteworthy to mention that there were two players from this team that received 5 medals in total as they were on each of the panels receiving medals, and they were Niall Brady and Conor Maleady.

Our Panel of players were (in alphabetical order) Niall Brady, Andrew Brennan, Aaron Connaire, Peter Conneely, Billy Dunne, Sean Flynn, Jamie Kelleghan, Adam Kenny, Darragh Kenny, MJ Long, Kian Loughlin, Conor Maleady, Luke Meyler, Pádraig Monaghan, Enda Moran, Cormac Murphy & Finn Raeside. Team Management of Sean Loughlin, Paul Kelleghan & James Brady

2023 U17 Championship Team