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Archive for month: January, 2025
Three All-Ireland winning handballers are the July winners of the Rebel Óg monthly award.
Tadgh O’Connor, Boherbue Handball Club, won U14 All-Ireland 60 x 30 handball final. Jack Hennessy and Seán Dee, Liscarroll Handball Club, recently won their second All-Ireland title in 2024, claiming the U15 60 x 30 doubles title with a tiebreaker win over Wexford.
They also won the U14 40 x 20 doubles title with a win over Kilkenny.
Tadgh defeated Shane Delaney, Tipperary, in a closely fought contest losing the first game 14-15 and winning the next two games 15-8, 15-13 to secure the Munster U14 singles title. He then went on to face Owen Kelly, Tyrone, in the All-Ireland semi-final winning 15-3, 15-4.
Tadgh met Bertie O’ Donohoe, Galway, in the All-Ireland final. Bertie is an accomplished player after winning a number of competitions in different codes but Tadgh showed his class to defeat him by 15-1, 15-12 in the final. Tadgh would like to acknowledge the support he received from his coaches and club mates while training for his title.
Fresh from winning the U14 doubles All-Ireland in the 40 x 20 code earlier in the year, Jack and Sean turned their attention to the traditional 60 x 30 competition, where they played in the U15 grade.
This allowed them train with their older clubmates who really pushed them on, under the guidance of John Hedigan and John Bosco Hurley. Loyalties were tested started early in their season as they faced two of their club mates to emerge as the Cork representatives in Munster.
However, an exciting and sporting game emerged with Jack and Sean winning in two games by only a few aces.
They enjoyed more serene progress in Munster overcoming Tipperary and Clare to progress to the All-Ireland series. They were due to face Mayo in the semi-final but unfortunately it was an injury that saw them advance to the All-Ireland final against the Cash cousin’s from Wexford.
Wexford won the opening game as Jack and Sean took a while to settle, but the boys responded in style, some great serves from Jack and powerful returns from Sean took the game to a tie break.
The Cork boys experience kicked in, and they secured a memorable victory, to the delight of the many supporters who travelled to watch them.
The final monthly Rebel Óg monthly award presentations went to Ballincollig, Donoughmore minor sides and Midleton CBS Dean Ryan team.
Ballincollig were honoured for winning the Premier 1 MFC for the first time since 2011 and only for the second time ever.
Donoughmore won the Premier 2 MFC for the first time and Midleton CBS were Cork’s first winners of the Dean Ryan Cup (Munster U17 A hurling) in more than a decade, when they were also Cork’s last winners of this Munster competition.
Midleton CBS led from start to finish in their win over Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG at Páirc Uí Rinn.
A pair of early goals gave the east Cork school a firm grip on proceedings and two more in quick succession coming up to half-time ensured that they came out on top to secure the title.
Sam Ring, Cormac Deane and Dean Murphy were among their goalscorers as they proved far too strong for their opponents.
Ballincollig defeated Mallow in the county final but their award is for their journey to get there, as much as it is for the final itself.
Having lost out to Éire Óg in their final group game they had to do it the hard way, starting with a win over the title holders Douglas in the quarter-final.
They then faced St Finbarr’s in the semi-final and few, if any, present that night will forget that game for some time. An epic encounter that went all the way to penalties before the Village emerged winners to reach the final.
Ethan Donovan wrote his own little bit of history for Ballincollig, as the corner-back scored the equalising point to first take it to extra-time and then to take it to the penalty shootout.
After those two epic games it seemed destiny was on their side, but Mallow weren’t there just to make up the numbers and made the Village battle all the way to the end before they came out on top.
Donoughmore took on a fancied Castlehaven side in the Premier 2 final. Another close battle but two goals in two minutes helped them get the better of the Haven.Paddy Murphy got in behind the Castlehaven defence to raise the first green and on the next possession substitute Ciaran Lawton took a pass from David McDonnell to put his team in pole position and from here they drove on to victory.
Glen Rovers minor hurlers are the Rebel Óg monthly award winners for October.
They retained their championship title after a battle with Sarsfields in the final and some other tough games along the way.
In 2023 the minor age grade was U17 but it moved to U18 this season for minor and of the four winners at Premier 1 and 2 level the Glen were the only ones to retain their title.
This shows just how difficult a task that is and great credit must go to all involved for their success. The Glen got the better of Aghada in their first group game, before losing to Douglas in their second tie.
They then had to beat Ballincollig to ensure they progressed, which they duly did to set up another meeting with Douglas at the quarter-final stage. This time they reversed the group stage result to face Midleton in the semi-final and what a game that turned out to be.
In a simply sublime second-half showing the Glen came from 10 points down to win by 4-12 to 1-16, scoring the four goals in four minutes. On to the final where they faced a quality Sarsfields side, in a game that all knew there was never going to be much in.
Having been six points ahead with just over a quarter of the game left, the Glen looked to have lost the momentum as Sars outscored them by 2-4 to 0-1 in an 11-minute period.
The Glen, featuring some of the U16s beaten by Sars in the final a week previously, didn’t wilt though.
They were level as Diarmuid Wall drilled a low free to the net, followed by Cian Walsh doing well to set up Michael Tadhg Brosnan’s fifth point from play and then a third of the night for inspirational centre-back Conor McCarthy.
In the end they won by 2-19 to 3-15, the slimmest of margins in a game worthy of the final.
Four U16 sides were honoured with the September Rebel Óg monthly award at the Clayton Hotel, Silversprings, for their success in the Premier 1 and 2 championships and leagues.
All four sides did the double in their respective competitions, the first time that all four league winners went on to win the championships as well.
In the hurling it was Premier 1 delight for Sarsfields with Blackrock taking the honours at Premier 2 level.
In football Douglas won the Premier 1 title, while Clonakilty took home the cup at Premier 2 level.
A goal from Cormac Fennessy helped Sars to secure the title with Tom Huggins also rowing in with crucial points over the hour in their 1-19 to 1-14 win over Glen Rovers.
In the Premier 2 final Blackrock’s outstanding performance all throughout ensured they led from start to finish, as they defeated Douglas by 3-20 to 1-11.
Two goals from Shane O’Shaughnessy, along with one from Jack Punch in the second-half ensure there was no way back for Douglas as the Rockies ran out deserving winners on the night.
However Douglas had a bit better luck in the Premier 1 final as they faced a Na Piarsaigh who had won the U15 title the previous season. Thomas Murray was the hero with a point three minutes into second half additional time to win the game for his side by 1-13 to 1-12, with Ben Herlihy getting their goal.
In the Premier 2 final Clonakilty had a 1-15 to 2-6 win over St Nicholas. Clon, inspired by a 1-4 tally from Tom Whooley, found the crucial scores when the game hung in the balance to ensure the cup headed to west Cork.
Michael O’Mahony, chairperson of Rebel Óg congratulated all sides on their successes and said the championship finals were all top-class games, with all sides deserving winners.
He wished them all the best of luck in their school games over the coming months and looked forward to seeing them playing at minor level next season.
Michael Evans, chairperson of the judging panel, also said it was great to see four different clubs being honoured and praised all for their efforts over the season.
To nominate a team, club or individual for a Rebel Óg award email probng.cork@gaa.ie with details of the nomination.
