Our U12 hurlers travelled to the CJ Kickhams festival of hurling tournament in Mullinahone last Saturday (Aug 25th).
Following a pre-tournament parade our team started their tournament against Cork club Fermoy.
An early goal from PJ McCarthy, after good work by James Donnelly to secure possession, settled our lads but the remainder of the first half was dominated by both defences with the half time score 1-0 to 0-1 for Clooney Quin. The Cork team showed their quality in the second half registering 3 points in response to points from Paddy Gardiner and PJ McCarthy. With a couple of minutes left on the clock a defensive lapse let Fermoy in to score a goal. But Clooney Quin heads never dropped and following some excellent work by Tommy McNamara and Cormac Hale, Adrian Moloney pounced to fire home the decisive goal. FT score 2-2 to 1-4.
Next up for Clooney Quin was a match against St. Marys Clonmel who also won their opening game. Buoyed by the their first win, the Clooney Quin performance improved and they were in control of this game from start to finish. An excellent point from out on the sideline by Dylan Browne was the highlight score and goals from PJ McCarthy and Adrian Moloney  supplemented by points from PJ, Euan McGowan and Paddy Gardiner kept Clooney Quin in front from start to finish. Clonmel certainly had good players but they struggled to make a dent against the Clooney defense of Fionn O’Gara (goals), Matthew Jordan Allen, David Larkin, Darragh White, Aidan Beirne and Andrew O’Neill. Our defense worked extremely well together, hooking and blocking, to ensure the Clonmel players had very few opportunities to shoot at goals. Clooney Quin won out 2-4 to 1-2.
The final group game pitted Clooney Quin against Naomh Eoin, Belfast. Again our boys improved their performance levels and never looked like losing this one. Aidan Beirne dominated from half back and any threat on goal was quickly snuffed out by Fionn O’Gara. Up front, Tommy McNamara scored a goal that John Conlon would be proud of, catching from a long delivery, rounding the full back and firing to net almost all in one movement.  A second goal from a powerful rising ground stroke by Euan McGowan cemented the Clooney Quin dominance. Close to the end, Naomh Eoin scored a consolation goal to leave the final score 2-4 to 1-3.
Passage from Waterford provided the semi-final opposition. The Waterford team contained a number of physically imposing players who hurled with no little skill. Passage showed their ability with several long range points from their strong midfield. Gradually our midfield of Paddy Gardiner and Dylan Browne got to grips with the Passage boys and after conceding 4 early points managed to start the fight back. Half time score 0-4 to 0-1 in favour of Passage. Passage started the second half much like the first and raced into a 1-8 to 0-3 lead. The deficit would have been worse but for a number of super saves from man-of-the-match Fionn O’Gara. But our boys have character in abundance and goals from PJ McCarthy and Adrian Moloney along with a point from Darragh White set up a nail biting finish. Clooney Quin pressed hard in the closing minutes and looked to have levelled the match but Aidan Beirnes pile driver shot came back of the post. It wasn’t to be Clooney Quins day as they lost out on a scoreline of 1-11 to 2-4.
Overall, it was a great day out. The boys, excellently led by captain Paddy Gardiner produced their best hurling of the year.
Clooney Quin U12s: Fionn O’Gara, Matthew Jordan Allen, David Larkin, Andrew O’Neill, Darragh White, Aidan Beirne, Paddy Gardiner, Dylan Browne, Euan McGowan, PJ McCarthy, Adrian Moloney, Cormac Hale, James Donnelly, Tommy McNamara.
Conor McCarthy (injured), Conal O’Donovan (injured), Euan Begg (holidays).