Hello Cuala Patrons
Last newsletter before the summer break so just like any good championship match – I’m going to throw the kitchen sink at you! Lots of inter-county action with Dublin in 5 inter-county finals in the next 3 weeks, so Croker a must-do pilgrimage for all Dubs supporters:
- After a promising start to the season Cuala Ladies were unfortunate to come out on the wrong side of the score board in their fixtures until Wednesday night that is. Castleknock were the opposition. Castleknock were the only side to score a win over Cuala in the league last year. So the Cuala final tally of 12 points to Castleknock’s 1-07 has thrown a number of monkeys off the Ladies backs.
- Congratulations to the U13 hurlers who represented the club with distinction at last weekend’s PJ Troy tournament. We had two teams in Division One and Two who between them won half of their matches in this prestigious showcase for juvenile hurling in the City. The U13 leagues still have three games to go before the summer break. Well done especially to the B footballers who head Division 5 at the halfway stage.
- The under 14A footballers gave a weary performance against Ballyboden in a 2 point defeat in Thomastown on Tuesday. They have worked very hard all year and the Summer break will give them time to draw breath. Excellent performances from Darragh Spillane and Donal O’Loinsigh.
- The U15s released all that exam pressure with a huge win over Faughs team in the Hurling league last Sunday to put them second in the Div 1 table. They quickly switched codes and went out on Monday night and gave an exhibition of football against Lucan to win comprehensively.
- In a busy week for the U16’s the A Hurlers beat Na Fianna 1-15 to 1-8 on Monday night in Shankill to leave them 1 point clear of Kilmacud Crokes at the top of Division 1. The Hurlers next league match is away to Crokes on July 9th (a date for your diary). On Wednesday night he U16 A Footballers comprehensively bet Ballyboden in a division 1 top of the table clash in Shankill with a scoreline of 2-18 to 0-9.The B Hurlers lost away to Skerries Harps at the Weekend and in their Final Match before the Summer break the B footballer’s will take on Castleknock. The U16’s are taking part in the Carlow Town invitational Hurling Tournament this Saturday with 40 teams from around the Country taking part it will be an opportunity for the lads to see how they measure up against non-Dublin opposition.
- Honourable mention should be made of the Minor A team that defeated a high flying Ballinteer St. Johns side in the league last Sunday by a scoreline of 4-7 to 1-9. Ballinteer scored a late goal and point to put a gloss on the scoreline. Between injuries,holidays and Dublin Minor hurling commitments we were down to a squad of 15 for the game. The squad included 3 of the under 16 As Cillian Sheanon,Niall James and Martin Cahilan. We were down to 14 after 5 minutes when our captain and centre half back Conor Mullaly went off with a groin injury. Conor’s injury came at a bad time for the team and for him personally as he had recently been asked to join the Dublin Minor panel. Martin Cahilan went off after another 20 minutes with a dislocated finger. Our lads battled on and gave a tremendous display of honesty, great work rate and focus. They never looked like losing. It was a trojan effort by all and they deserve great credit. especially one Cillian Sheanon. From that famous production line, Cillian hit 2-2. Cillian then reverted back to his day job with the Under-16’s , kicking 7 points as they beat Ballyboden St Enda comfortably to cement their place at the top of Division 1 Football table (see above)
- On the subject of Conor Mullaly he captained the Dublin under 17 team against Roscommon the previous day in Moate. Is he the first Cuala footballer to captain an all county Dublin football team?
- Cuala shop is now closed on Saturdays and Tuesdays for the summer break.It will be open each Monday of the Summer Camps between 9.30 and 10.30am.
- The start times are confirmed as Leinster Minor Football Final @ 12pm and Leinster Senior Football Final – Dublin v Wexford @ 2pm. Orders to the usual text and email by 6pm next Sunday 3rd July.
- When the referee awarded and Oliver Plunketts converted a last-minute well-struck penalty, it seemed that the Cuala Senior Hurlers would have to settle for a draw in their important Saturday evening league match. But this Cuala team don’t give up easily – winning the puck-out, Cuala clinched the winning point in the dying seconds of the game. Cuala had successfully restricted Plunketts to a mere 5 points in the second half while playing against a very strong breeze and looked poised to win this match when the penalty was awarded. Cuala won the game, 0-14 to 1-10 against a very talented and combative Plunketts side.
- Last week was a very good week for Cuala Senior Hurlers – winning two important leagues matches and retaining their top of the table position. With only 3 matches left, Cuala have built a strong platform to really challenge for and win the league. The following key matches in the month of July will complete Cuala Senior Hurlers’ league programme:
- Vs Setanta(Shankill), 18:30 Weds 6th July
- Vs Naomh Fionnbarra(JohnPaul Park) 19:30 Fri 8th July
- Vs Erin’s Isle (Shankill)18:30 Sat 23rd July
- If you can make any or all of these important games, your support would be very welcome!
- Best wishes to Cuala’a Oisín Gough, David Treacy and Paul Schutte and the rest of the Dublin Senior Hurlers in their upcoming Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final against the mighty Kilkenny. Also to the Dublin minor hurlers Cian O’Callaghan, Colm Cronin, Ben Errity and Ross Tierney who are up against the same opposition on Sunday. Great to see and best of luck!
- More Good work from the Cuala senior footballers who maintained their promotion push with a nine point win over St Marks in Tallaght on Wednesday night. On a blustery night Cuala began well , with an early goal by Kerry’s Ciaran Brosnan. But with the home crowd roaring on St Marks and Cuala struggling in the windy conditions they game was level at half time 1-2 to 0-05 points. The second half started in similar fashion with Cuala dominating play but not on the scoreboard. Then came the turning point albeit a Mark’s goal !! A slip in the Cuala defensive system let Marks in for a goal , and suddenly Cuala were 3 points behind with 20 minutes left playing into the wind. Suddenly everyone on the Cuala team upper their performance , Donal Lehman clipped a point off his left , and then the score of the game, great defensive work by Adam Hudson and Scott O’Brien turned over possession close to their own goal , and a full length ended with Mark Schutte crashing the ball to the net. More points followed from Jason Ellard and Hudson and with Schutte now running the game more goals followed from James Power and Brosnan with his second. Cuala stay in the promotion places , final score St Marks 1-7 , Cuala 4-7.
- Finally well done to Michael Fitzsimons , Mark Schutte and the rest of the Dublin senior football panel after their heart stopping win over Kildare in front of 60 thousand people last Sunday in Croke park.
All until August, enjoy the games, support your teams, stay safe and have a great summer.
Tadhg Murphy
Cuala Club Communications
