Shrone boys and girls took part in the preliminary round of the INTO mini sevens on Thursday 16th in the familiar setting of Barraduff Community field. The Shrone boys needed all hands to the pumps to make up at team, Markus O Brien from 6th class and Shay Buckley 3rd class formed the defence in front of goalkeeper Daniel Lenihan (3rd class) Cathal Cronin and Thomas o Sullivan (5th) brought speed and skill to midfield while Eanna Murphy 3rd and Jack Rogan 2nd spearheaded the attack. A special congratulations to Jack Rogan on making his debut for Shrone.
The boys first match was against Raheen in a tense and tight affair, Shrone never fully clicked in this early match with uncharacteristic errors in defence and bad luck in attack left them behind on the scoreboard despite playing well for the majority of the match.
However the second match played Shrone sparked to life, Shay and Markus were magnificent in defence which seemed to demoralise the Glenflesk attack. Cathal and Eanna put Shrone on the scoreboard while Thomas seemed to be everywhere, carrying ball forward and tracking back to make important tackles. Shrone comfortable winners in the end.
No rest for the wicked, Shrone immediately went into action against Meentogues NS despite having no fresh legs to introduce they produced a magnificent performance, Cathal was simply dominant in midfield and contributed handsomely to the scoreboard Daniel Lenihan stood tall between the sticks when tested and his kickouts were always safely delivered to Shrone hands. However it was the contribution of Jack Rogan in this match that was the stand out moment, winning possion in the full forward line and assisting in a number of scores he also won a free and kicked his first point for Shrone, the first of many we hope. Shrone ran out comfortable winners however as Raheen won all their games they progress to the next round of the competition, congratulations to Raheen and best of luck.
A strong girls panel went into action on the other half of a soggy Barraduff pitch. Jessica Doherty in goals, Danielle Buckley and Laura Cronin backline, midfield Eabhla Murphy and Grace O Sullivan, forward line Roisin McAuliffe and Isabella O Brien. Bainisteoir Carina O Mahony could count herself lucky to have the services of Aoibhinn Creedon, Esme Leonard and Beatrice Leonard to make changes during the games. The first challenge was against Hollymount who looked sharp in their new jerseys, however Shrone showed the sharper football skills on the day, Danielle Buckley solid in defence while Laura Cronin made attacking runs that reminded this reporter of the performance of Kerry's Tom O Sullivan against Rosscommon. Grace and Eabhla proved too quick in midfield for Hollymount while Isabella and Roisin put the scores on the board Aoibhinn and Beatrice were introduced at halftime to see out the win.
Shrone next faced a young Glenflesk side which was a bit of a mismatch, Shrone dominated with goalkeeper Jessica rarely troubled and everyone getting their name on the score sheet. Glenflesk will learn a lot from this game and will prove to be tough opponents in the future.
Finally the big match of the day and the best for last, Meentogues v Shrone winner take all. Shrone were forced to make a positional switch of Eabhla Murphy into the forward line and Isabella to midfield, Meentogues won the toss and played with the wind in the first half, Abbey Dennehy of Meentogues simply magnificent scoring 3 goals before the break while Shrone struggled to find the net but kicked some classy points. In the second half Shrone made good use of the wind Dohertys kickouts finding her midfielders and Shrone getting scores on the board however they were not clinical enough in their goal scoring, opting for points when the chance was there to go for the jugular. Abbey Dennehy kicked two crucial points for Meentogues and when the final whistle went Shrone were on the losing side of a one point game. Best of luck to Meentogues in the next round
This loss certainly hurt the Shrone team however they would feel that with a bit more practice their finishing in front of goals they can overturn this Meentogues side in the near future.
