Our Summer Hurling Session Finale in August was a big success and it was quickly followed by our second Summer Camp with approximately 140 boys and girls taking part! It was great to see so many kids pick up their new STAR hurleys and partake in the skills competitions on Saturday the 19th August as part of the Summer Session finale. Many thanks to Dave Tennyson from the Under 9 hurling squad for coming up with the Summer Hurling concept and coordinating the various master classes with coach Naoise Waldron. Also to Graham Akroyd from the Under 10 camogie squad and coach Liam MacCuirc for coordinating a session. The kids have definitely benefited from this initiative.
It was a bust few weeks for the adult championship sides as we had 3 hurling teams, 2 camogie teams and 1 rounders squad in action. The Junior A hurlers beat Faughs on Sunday the 20th August in Tymon North making it 2 from 3 and putting us in a strong position as we prepared for their next game against Cuala. The lads had a good win against Cuala in a sun soaked Dolphin Park on Sunday the 3rd September. Leading 0-13 to 0-2 at half time the most controversial moment arose when the referee removed an umpire for waving numerous Cuala wides as points. Kevin’s started the second half with a quick goal from McKenzie who sliced through the Dalkey defence. Kevins teamwork on show throughout was top class with Brian Og Flannery finding space from start to finish. Kevin’s certainly looked trimmer than this time last year when they struggled to put Cuala way at home and as the home side pushed ahead Stephen Harrington was sprung from the bench and showed the management squad that he was up to the pace with 2 quick points, one of which was a fabulous overhead from the left corner forward position. Kevin’s ran out winners 1-22 to to 0-10. While the scoreline looked good, Cuala’s first touch was not great throughout, missing a number of frees and scoreable chances in the first half which killed off their efforts, so it’s difficult to gauge where the 1st team are really at. However, you can only play the 15 players on the pitch and so the lads are now preparing for a top of table clash against the unbeaten Clan na Gael in Ringsend. For more information on Junior A championship including fixtures, results and tables click here. The Junior D hurlers shipped a heavy loss against Trinity Gaels in August but replied with a good win over St Patricks Donabate at home. For more information on Junior D championship click here. The Junior G hurlers received a walkover against Clontarf in August which put them in a strong position, but a loss to O’Dwyers on Sunday opens this competition up. This squad also play at home on the 3rd September and face O’Dwyers at 3pm. For more information on Junior G championship click here
Our Junior 5 camogie side was established in recent weeks and it’s the first time in the clubs history that we have fielded 2 adult teams. This brings the number of competitive teams in the club to over 30 and is a fitting way to celebrate 30 years of camogie in the club. The girls have won their opening 2 games against Kilmacud Crokes and Naomh Maur. For more information on camogie championship click here.
Sunday the 27th of August was a busy day for the ladies. The Intermediate 2 Camogie squad beat Naomh Padraig in the morning in their opening round. Then 3 of the women swapped their hurleys for rounders bats and headed to Clonguish in Longford to play St Clares in the semi finals of the Ladies Intermediate Semi-Final. St Clares have proved to be difficult opponents for the Kevins girls in the past, but the Kevins girls dug deep and pulled off their first win against the Cavan outfit on a final scoreline of 27-26. Emma Young who was flat out throughout the game had the honour of of the last bat, as she hit an almighty wallop to get Erica Meslin home and finally beat the Cavan girls. Our Intermediate camogie squad play Lucan Sarsfields at home on the 10th September and our Rounders side will play in the All-Ireland Final the day before in Kinnegad and will take on Michael Glaveys of Roscommon at 1.30 pm on Saturday the 9th! Many of our female players who will represent the club in this week-ends final would never have joined a GAA club like ours if it was not for Rounders. We are delighted to see such diversity in the club. The Intermediate Ladies panel is made up of players from Ireland, USA, Canada, Estonia, Spain, Serbia and the Czech Republic and they hope to make up for last year’s disappointment of losing the Ladies Junior final.
The Under 14 camogs played their opening division 2 cup game in a breezy Dolphin Park on Sunday the 27th. The U14s lined out against Lucan and playing with a strong breeze in the first half we had a small lead by half time. After the break Lucan came out intent on regaining advantage and were rewarded with some scores, especially 2 quick goals about midway through the 2nd half. However we managed to break through for another goal and tagged on 2 points to win the game. CBC 5-5 Lucan Sarsfields 3-2. In the second game of the day our U13s in division 4 took on Shankill who settled quickly and they had 2 early goals in the net and we were under a lot of pressure in defence. We managed to get some scores and turned around at half time with a slight lead. We added some second half points but Shankill got through for more scores and one more goal. That put us under pressure in the last 5 minutes but we held on to win on a score line 3-11 to 4-2.
Our underage hurlers were busy on Saturday the 2nd of September. We had 2 great results for our Under 13 hurling squads. Our division 2 side beat St Jude’s 2-8 to 1-10 and our division 9 side beat St Oliver Plunketts / Eoghan Ruadh 6-8 to 2-4. Our Under 14s also had a good win today over Kilmacud Crokes. Shout out to Seán Gregan who kept a clean sheet including a penalty save! It was wasn’t to be for our Under 16 hurlers who were beaten in in their opening round of the championship, but the Under 15s followed up the next day with a strong win against Raheny and remain unbeaten in their league. Many thanks to James Burke – captain of the Kildare senior hurlers who paid our Under 15 and 16 hurlers a visit on Thursday night prior to the games. We had a great session and learned loads.
Another big success of the Summer was the Caman N’Chats initiative. Gemma Kealy from the Donore Credit Union ABC Nursery had a brain wave to set up a recreational camogie session which sent a scatter of people running in the opposite direction. However, as some people reflected on the idea they slowly warmed to the concept and with the assistance of some club legends an absolutely brilliant few sessions were run for mothers and beginner camogie players. This led to entering 2 events run by the Camogie association, the most recent being last Saturday morning out in Abbotstown
What’s coming up? Our Donore Credit Union ABC Nursery is back in action since last Saturday and our Go Games hurling for Under 8-12s returns this Saturday. Check the link for fixtures. After that we head to Kinnegad for our Ladies Intermediate All-Ireland Final at 1.30 pm! Our next Healthy Kevins event is on the 5th September and it’s a Women’s health event. Check here for more information. https://www.kevins.ie/2023/08/25/all-about-periods/
Next weeks Lotto draw will be for a jackpot of €3,700. You can play online using the secure Clubforce link by clicking here. Funds raised go towards the running of the various club activities. Many thanks as always for your continued support! All funds raised go towards the great initiatives we run for the benefit of the local children and members.
The club is growing at a rapid rate and we now have 30+ teams competiting in competitions in addition to social groups and our Donore Credit Union ABC Nursery. We are looking for more help on the administrative and PR side. If you think you can assist with social media etc, or have club news or would like to have your team photos, match results, or reports etc mentioned please contact pro.kevins.dublin@gaa.ie. If you haven’t already, please ensure your team has a representative in the PR & Comms Group so we have the correct updates for matches, changes to matches and other updates etc. The majority of updates we receive get posted on our social media, but if you don’t send them in they don’t get posted
