Kilpeacon GAA have completed their journey to Wexford as Limerick representatives in the National Feile Peil 2015 U14 competition.

We began our journey on Friday morning heading to Wicklow / Wexford and Carlow . With a stop on the way for lunch and a light kick about at Naas GAA we headed for Rathnew in Wicklow to play the hosts in our first game .

On a very warm afternoon the first half was a close affair with Rathnew ahead by 3 points at Half Time . We started the second half well and went into the lead early on but 2 quick goals by Rathnew sealed the game for them in a very sporting game between 2 evenly matched teams.

Our second game was against Fermanagh kingpins Tempo McGuires and again we were slow to start with Tempo definitely on top at half time with a 6 point lead however after the break the Kilpeacon team shifted a couple of gears and in a 10 min spell rattled the net 5 times to deservedly win the game on a scoreline of 6 – 2 to 2 – 8 .

Following this game we headed down to Gorey to march along with 40 other teams in the Feile parade and then we headed to our host club Kilrush-Askamore for the evening.

Saturday mornings game V Kilrush Askamore would decide which of us would compete in the Cup quarter finals or the shield competition . The first half was a nervous affair with only 2 points separating the teams at half time however once again Kilpeacon kicked on and closed out the game with some great scores including a fine point from Fergal Egan to win on a scoreline of 2 – 8 to 1 – 1 .

This guaranteed us a Cup quarter final game which we later found out would be against Mhuine Bheag (Bagnelstown) on Saturday afternoon. We were now in knockout competition so could not afford any slip-ups and we began the game with gusto and belief and had 3 – 3 to 0 – 1 on the board at half time however we would face a strong breeze in the second half and were now playing high quality teams and Mhuine Bheag definitely threw everything at us for the second half however out players showed some real determination with our backs in fine form and held out on a scoreline of 3 – 9 to 0 – 2 .

We had now reached our aim which was to be playing on the final day in Feile and a Semi Final awaited us on Sunday morning . Our opponents turned out to be Carrick Sarsfields from Longford and this team had some very big wins under their belts all through their group stages so we were under no illusions about this game , it was going to be one tough dog fight and our guys knew they had to leave everything out on the field . Carrick took a very early lead right from the throw in with a great individual effort and rattled the net however Kilpeacon came back with 2 goals and a point and despite Carrick being rewarded with 3 penalties in the second half , one right at the end to win the game , a fabulous save by Sam Riordan maintained our 2 point lead and the final whistle saw scenes of sheer delight putting us into the Cup final in the afternoon. Our players had left body and soul on the field of play and with a 1 hour turn around to the final it was always going to be a difficult one .

We came up against a very strong Armagh team played in Dr Cullen park in Carlow , Silverbridge , and despite once again putting everything into the game Kilpeacon came up short in the final.

Every credit must be given to this great panel of players and coaches for the heart , determination and belief they showed during a wonderful weekend of Football , this is what memories are made of and Kilpeacon represented their club and county with great honour and pride and I’m sure we will see much more from this group of players in the years to come.

Panel for the weekend as follows:
Sam Riordan, Padraig Byrnes, Joshua Skehan Fitzgerald, Eoghan O Connor, Colin Haigney, Philip O Toole, Patrick Dolphin, Cathal O Neill, Richard Murph , Cian Enrigh, Jack Dalton, Killian Scanlon, Darragh Foley, Colin Coughlan, Brendan Power, John Bourke, Ciaran Kennedy, Chris Shanahan, Darragh O Keeffe, Michael Maher, Fergal Egan, Rian O Byrne, Rory Hannon, James Conheady. Mentors: Ger Riordan, Noel Kennedy, Caimin Dolphin, Jack Dalton and Paddy O Neill.

 

if you have some photographs from the weekend send them to photos@crecoramanistergaa.com and we’ll add them here:
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