June Update

We are seeing a welcome turn in the weather which means lots of sport and activity and there was plenty of action this week-end. But first well done to all the schools who took part in the first of our June Blitzes! The first blitz was camogie and St Clare’s, Loreto College, St Audeons and Griffith Barracks all took part. Massive thanks to Jenny and team for making this happen and encouraging young girls to participate in sport!

Our Under 14 hurlers and camógs and hurlers were in midweek action. Our camogie squad travelled to Balbriggan on Thursday night and defeated O’Dwyers 5-5 to 0-5. This places them on top of their league table division 4 with one game game in hand and a strong score difference that won’t be matched unless the 3rd placed team wins their next game by over 90 points. The Davin hurling squad were playing on Friday night against St Jude’s and despite the loss put in a good shift.

A massive crowd turned up for Social Camogie and Rounders, but on closer inspection we realised it was local voters arriving to vote in the local and European elections 🙂 Our Under 12 Rounders group also got going with an introduction to the skills of Rounders for our young boys and girls. All groups will be in action again next Friday and all are welcome. You don’t have to be a hurler or camóg to join in!

• Under 12 Rounders @ 6.30 pm on the Astro
• Adult Social Camogie @ 7pm on the grass area
• Adult Social Rounders @ 7.30 pm on the Astro

Saturday’s Mornings Games and Activities

Our Under 8-12 hurlers were in action on Saturday, starting with the 8s who hosted Kilmacud Crokes in Loreto College @ 9.30am. Our older CCC1 teams were on the road. Our Under 9s travelled to Ballyboden to take part in a blitz with St James Gaels and our Under 9s headed northside to play Raheny, our Under 11s to St Brigids and our 12s played their first competitive league game in Portmarnock. Our Under 11 hurlers stayed on in Russell Park to use the St Brigid’s handball walls and had a very enjoyable session with some of the Blanchardstown boys joining in. This would be an ideal activity for our teams to participate in, but unfortunately we don’t have a ball wall of our own. The good news is that we will be running a fundraiser on Thursday the 24th October called the Chaser to specifically raise funds for a ball wall. More details to follow!

There was a couple of other fundraising activities going on in Loreto College on Saturday morning with a clothes Fundraiser organised by Marie O ‘Mahoney and our Kevins Heroes running a very tasty and successful cake sale! Well done to all involved. Now ye need to turn up training and run of all those calories you generously bought.

Saturday Afternoon

Our Ninjas had an exciting trip to Parnell Park where they were given the opportunity to play a game of camogie at half time of the Dublin V Wexford game. We have no doubt that some of these girls back to Parnell Park on the big day, but instead of playing at half time they will be representing to club wearing the sky blue jersey!

Our Under 13 hurlers have been tipping away quietly and climbing the league tables. They are now in Division 3 and hosted St Finians of Swords in their first league game, having received a bye in the first round. Despite the Swords boys having a size advantage against what is probably one of our bigger teams, our lads performed well and won out 7-8 to 2-5. A great start to their league campaign for 2024!

There was a great buzz in the air through out the entire Dublin hurling community and our members travelled in numbers to watch the Dubs play in the Leinster Final. It wasn’t the result we had hoped for, but some Kevin’s members left Croke Park happy as they donned their Offaly jerseys!

Under 15 Camogie Top Their League

After a slow start to the league campaign and an away loss to a strong, well coached and sporting Na Fianna team the U15 camogie players have delivered some incredible results in their following series of games.  As a result, they travelled to their final game at Round Towers Lusk today knowing that that if they won well they might have a chance of topping the League Table.

We played against a strong wind and in the first half and were under pressure throughout from Round Towers Lusk who were very strong in the full backline and at midfield.  The battles were hard fought and respectful and some great scores were made from difficult angles by both teams. We managed to scrape in 1 point in front at half time thanks to 2 goals which gave us the vital edge.

The half time talk emphasised the wind advantage we would have and we changed the team around taking some risks with defensive positions to put high priority on gaining more scores early in the second half to try to run up a lead on the scoreboard.  Chloe Madden, Aisling Fitzgerald, and Meabh Ramos Finnegan, all scored a couple of super goals each to give us a very strong advantage.   At the same time we were also having to defend well at the opposite end to manage to keep Round Towers Lusk from scoring goals as they threatened throughout.   Midway through the half they scored two magnificent points from inside the 21 over the right hand side near the side line.

The last minutes were tense as they chipped at our lead but we added one more goal and in the end we managed to win by enough to ensure we moved from third in the table this morning to being at the top above the other 2 teams who have also played all of their games.  So having started out slowly earlier in the year and to rebound so well to finish top of the table is very rewarding for this very committed and skilful group of players who will take great encouragement from this league campaign as they are due to play Championship in Division 1.

Sunday Games

Sundays activities started with an Under 9 Camogie blitz hosted in Loreto College where we welcomed Ranelagh Gaels and St Olafs.

Our Under 13 camógs followed up on their mid week win against Na Gaeil Óga with another good win against O’Dwyers in the league winning by a narrow margin of 4-3 to 3-2! Our Minor camogie squad also travelled to Ballyboden to take part in a blitz. Well done to all! The more games the better!

Both our adult rounders squads were in senior championship action on Sunday afternoon. Results didn’t go our way with our guests Erne Eagles taking full points in both the mixed and Ladies. Our Mixed team are still in the running for a semi-final spot which would be an amazing achievement having only started the sport 5 years ago. The loss in the Ladies will unfortunately make it impossible for them to qualify, but they have competed well in the senior grade in their first year.

Griffith Barracks Through to Croke Park Finals!

Well done to Griffith Barracks who have reached the final of their Cumann nA mBunscoil competition. The Griffith girls will be assisted by St Catherine’s! We will also have some other club members participating in finals playing for other schools. This is a great achievement for the school and all the boys and girls will have a lifetime memory regardless of the outcome! Best of luck to Coach Ben and Claire and all the teams! Details of our schools finals are:

• 13:20 hrs Griffith Barracks MDNS V Belmayne EDNS
• 14.20 hrs Corn Laighean: Griffith Barracks MDNS V Mount Anville PS, Kilmacud

You can get your tickets here CnmB Hurling/Camogie Finals 2024 (ti.to)

Club Lottery

This week’s club lotto jackpot is a massive €7,500! All funds raised go towards the running of the club and the 30+ teams and healthy club programmes that we now have. Your continued support is really appreciated. You can play online by clicking here.

Play Kevins Hurling & Camogie Club Lotto Online | Clubforce – Managing Member Data

Cúl Camps

As per an earlier notice last week our Cúl Camp in July is now full and unfortunately we can take no more new registrations. Also due to to increased guidelines and regulations regarding camps enforced by GAA , we will be unable to take registrations on the opening day of the camp itself and are strictly prohibited from accepting registrations for any children under the age of 6. Our Camp coordinator Sian is currently recruiting volunteers from within the club to assist on the camp. All our volunteers must be Garda vetted.

PRO

As you can read from above we have a lot going on in the club and with over 30 teams, a vibrant nursery and healthy club programme we need assistance in getting the word out. We ask all teams to have a PR representative to send in their updates to the PR group so at a minimum the stories, updates and pictures can be collected centrally. If you can contribute any time or skills on PR please email pro.kevins.dublin@gaa.ie.

You can check out all the photos from the last few days below!