Our U16s finished their season on Saturday November 18th with a championship quarter final away to Ballinora. We were very tight for numbers going into the game as our U15s weren’t available due to their hurling county final the following day. We got off to a wonderful start with some neat interplay between Mike and Shayne resulting in a super point to kick things off. Unfortunately, against a very strong wind, we struggled after that with Ballinora cleverly using the wind to their advantage and kicking some fine scores. That said, every time we went forward we looked dangerous but it was tough against the wind. At half time we were facing a ten point deficit, losing on a score-line of 1-10 to 0-3. Given the chances we had made in the first half we still felt there was a way back into the game and so it proved as we pegged it back to five points and held Ballinora scoreless for the first twelve minutes of the second half, with a brave goal from Shayne after an incisive pass through by Billy bringing us to within touching distance. However, with Ballinora able to bring on fresh legs and our lads beginning to tire it got difficult after that, and as hard as the lads tried the game slipped away from them, eventually losing on a scoreline of 3-13 to 2-5. The scoreline didn’t reflect the game at all, the boys showed tremendous heart and couldn’t be faulted for their effort throughout. Given that we had to dip into out U14 panel to make the numbers for the game it was great to be able to start a team without any of the U15 hurling panel, particularly given that we were at the end of November. On a tough day there were a number of very good performances, Shayne deserving special mention on this occasion scoring 2-3 from centre-field. Team and scorers: C.Sheehan; C.McHugh, O.Whelan, L.Sheehan; L.Doran-Goode, S.O’Leary, R.Kelleher; B.Ryan (0-1), S.Curtin (2-3); C.Buckley (0-1), M.O’Riordan, A.Hennessy; A.O’Reilly, E.Hartnett, R.Horgan.

As this group signs off after a long year, they can all reflect on a fantastic year of football. Many of them played U18 league from February through to May, we won a U16 North Cork Division 1 league on a memorable night in June against Glanmire, the majority of the players were part of the U17 team that reached an East Cork final in October, and we also fielded U17C3 and U16C3 teams which ensured there was plenty game time for everyone over the course of the year, during which it was fantastic to see the development of players. With the championship re-vamp in 2024 where U16 and U18 revert to being the primary age groups it remains to be seen how the U17 age group will be catered for next year, hopefully we can find competitive games to keep these young men engaged in the sport and keep them developing as they did in 2023.