U14 All Ireland Blitz 2019

U 14 All Ireland Blitz

 

On Saturday the 7^th of September across 6 Dublin venues, 7 u 14 divisions of camogie took place with fantastic displays of skill, athleticism and endeavour evident across all divisions. The day seen 28 counties and 55 teams travel from all corners of the island to the capital to be part of this festival of camogie.

Mary Moran Cup

 

The Mary Moran and Michael Kennedy divisions of the blitz day took place in the National Games Development centre in Abbotstown. The Mary Moran turned out to be a very competitive division with both Galway and Wexford topping their division on maximum points with Tipperary and Cork finishing as group runners up in this division. Both Semi Finals were very tight affairs with Cork and Tipperary prevailing to the finals, with a goal separating them from their respective opponents. Cork and Tipperary contested the Mary Moran final with Cork ultimately wining on a score line of Cork 2-8 Tipperary 0-6.

 

Michael Kennedy Cup

 

The other division contested in Abbotstown on the day was the Michael Kennedy again this was a very competitive blitz division with Kerry and Armagh progressing from their side of the draw and Mayo and Meath going through from their group. The semi final between Kerry and Meath turned out to be a very competitive affair with the girls from the kingdom winning on a score line of Kerry 2-3 Meath 2-1. Armagh and Mayo was a very entertaining game and after a long day of camogie the girls from Mayo tired towards the end of the second half and Armagh ran out as winners. And so, to the final which was contested between Armagh and Kerry who had also met in the group stages earlier in the day. On what was a very competitive fixture Kerry won out on a score line of Kerry 3-3 Armagh 0-4.

Lily Spence Cup

 

Trinty Gaels was the host club for the Lily Spence division of the blitz. The group stages were highly competitive in this division and the 4 semi finals had to battle their way past some very strong teams to come out of the group stages. The semi finals in this group were contested by Cork and Tipperary in one semi and Kilkenny and Clare in the other semi. Both Cork and Kilkenny ultimately proceeded to the final of this division in what turned out to be a very keenly contested match. At the half-time break there was very little between both teams in what was the perfect evening for camogie in the capital. The final was nip and tuck right until the final whistle with Cork winning out in the end.

Mary Lynch Cup

 

O’Tooles was the host for the Mary Lynch division of the U 14 Blitz day. This was the only 7 team division on the day with all other divisions being made up of 8 teams. On the 4-team side of the draw Kildare and Waterford progressed from the group stages and on the 3-team side where games were longer Carlow and Wicklow progressed. The first semi final was contested between Wicklow and Waterford with the girls from the Garden county beating Waterford to secure their place in the final. In the other semi Carlow and Kildare met each other in what turned out to be a very entertaining game, Kildare overcame Carlow in this game to take their place alongside Wicklow in the final. The final turned out to be a very absorbing contest with the girls from Wicklow who were very prominent throughout the day winning out on a score line of Wicklow 4-9 Carlow 1-5.

 

Roisin McManus Cup

 

Croabh Chiarain were the host club to this division of the U 14 blitz day. This turned out to be the most competitive and exciting division on the day. The group games bore witness to some excellent games and the teams that got out of their group were Meath and Cork from group 1 and Galway and Dublin from group 2. Cork and Meath won their semi finals to set up a meeting with each other in the final. Both these teams would have played each other in the group stages where the girls from the royal county ran out convincing winners. The final was a very competitive game and after the allocated time was played nothing could sperate the teams and so to extra where the Cork girls would ultimately win out by the narrowest of margins Cork 1-6 Meath 0-8.

 

Sophie Brack Cup

 

The Sophie Brack blitz took place in St Annes GAA grounds. The semi finalists of this division were Roscommon and Clare in one semi while Kildare and Laois contested the other semi final. It should be noted that group stages here were particularly tight with 3 teams Kildare, Offlay and Clare finishing level on points with Offlay having to be separated from the other two by the head to head results. The semi finals seen Roscommon and Kildare progress to the final. This was an entertaining game in which Kildare ultimately won out on a score-line of Kildare 2-5 Roscommon 1-1. The president of the Camogie Association Kathleen Woods was on hand in this venue to present the cup to the Kildare winning captain on the day.

 

Mairead Meehan Cup

 

Innisfails were the host club for the Mairead Meehan division of the U 14 Blitz. The group stages of this division were highly competitive with a lot of the games being separated only by a green or white flag. The semi final parings of the Mairead Meehan division were Wicklow v Donegal and Westmeath v Louth. The semi finals turned out to be slightly one-sided games with Donegal and Westmeath making their way to the final. The final was competitive throughout and just like the group stage only a flag separated the teams at the final whistle. Westmeath won this division out beating Donegal in the final on a final score of Westmeath 2-2 Donegal 1-2

 

This was great days camogie and credit to all players, mentors and county board officials who put in so much work to prepare their teams for this day. Over the course of the Saturday over 100 games were played in 7 divisions. Nearly 1400 girls travelled to Dublin to represent their County’s, while over 250 mentors looked after these players during the day and prepared them over the course of the year. A big thank you to all the referees and host clubs who without them these games would not happen.

 

The pinnacle of this weekend came for a lot of these players on the Sunday when they were given the opportunity to parade at half time during the intermediate camogie finale in Croke Park.