Dancing At The Cross Roads

As the bad weather started to hit mid-week outdoor training sessions from Thursday onwards were beginning to be postponed, but thankfully we had some indoor activities planned. The 3rd and final week of Healthy Handball continued in the TK2 Community Centre on Friday night. Our Under 10-11s gathered at 6.30 pm and enjoyed a novel game of Baseball5 as part of the session. Baseball5 is basically a game of Rounders played with a handball and is great fun way to improve teamwork and communications! At 7.30 pm the adults gathered. Thanks to the Brian Boru Handball Club for facilitating!

The big event of the week-end was the Kevin’s Céilí on Friday night!! Chaotic scenes ensued as our dancers moved left and right and tried to keep time, but it was a great night of fun where players, parents and mentors gathered and after a few attempts we got into a rhythm at the crossroads of Crumlin and Sundrive Road in Loreto School Hall. Many thanks to Gabrielle Breathnach for organising this event and thanks to everyone who joined in the fun. We also raised €440 for the UNICEF Earthquake Fund. A big thank you goes to the local Bretzel Bakery for their donation of cakes to help raise funds. A little known fact is that the Kevin’s Céilí was a regular annual event in our earlier and hopefully we will see another similar event again.

Our Under 10 camogie squad’s first game of 2023 against Beann Eadair was cancelled due to unplayable pitches in Howth, but thankfully Thursday’s snow had cleared and Loreto College was open for business on Saturday morning. This allowed our Under 8-12 teams to train. Our Kevin’s Heroes and Donore Credit Union ABC Nursery also went ahead on the Astro area and it was great to see so many kids down exercising. After an early morning pitch inspection, Dolphin Park was also open for Saturday activities, thus allowing our Under 13 (D13) and 16 squads tog out. While the pitches were playable, the playing conditions were tough. Our Under 16s fought hard in the second half coming back from a 7 point deficit, but eventually lost out by 2 points on a final Score of 1-5 to 0-10 with Christopher Tuite picking of Kevin’s scores. Our Under 13 hurlers also suffered defeat in the afternoon.

After a 2nd pitch inspection later on Saturday a decision was taken to close Dolphin Park for Sunday, resulting in 2 of our 3 home adult games being postponed and 1 being moved to UCD. Our AHL10s and AHL7 games versus St Marks and Castleknock were off and our AHL4 was moved to UCD Astro as luckily Kilmacud Crokes had the all-weather pitch booked.

As it turned out it was a lovely mild morning for a game. The AHL4 game threw in at 9.15am and the all weather surface proved challenging for both sides as they struggled with their first touch. Kevin’s were dealt a big blow early on as Matthias Allen departed the field with a ligament injury, but after a low scoring start to the game Kevin’s edged ahead and lead 0-9 to 0-3 at half time. The 6 point lead didn’t reflect the balance in the game, as Kilmacud Crokes had squandered a number of scoring chances throughout the first half. The Stillorgan outfit made a number of changes at half time and their substitutions had a significant impact on the game. Crokes came out in the 2nd half with a much sharper focus and pulled back Kevin’s lead back within minutes of the restart. Crokes momentum was flowing as their wing forward blasted the ball past Stephen Harrington in the nets. However, some tactical switches from Pat “The Cat” Power on the side-line directed balls away from Crokes dominant players and some top class scores from Kevin’s talisman David Reid helped regain Kevins confidence. Joey Mowlds had a towering presence at centre back and Ritchie O ‘Donoghue was making some good interceptions at wing back, but Crokes continued to bombard the goal lines throughout the 2nd half. A close range 21 yard free was stopped, but the referee had spotted an infringement and ordered it to be retaken. There was approximately 5 minutes left on the clock and Crokes were 3 points down. Their free taker decided to blast it again, but Harrington and the Kevin’s defence were on hand to deal with the pressure for the second time. With the clock winding down Kevin’s nudged ahead with a few more points and were unlucky not to grab a late goal.  Kevin’s ran out 0-19 to 1-12 winners and picked up their first 2 points of the league. Some Under 10s popped up to watch an nominated Stephen Harrington as Man of the Match. A steady presence throughout the game, pulling off some vital saves and steadying the backline with good calls earned him the honour! Next up are Skerries Harps at home on the 26th March.

What’s coming up? A number of parents have been enquiring about the Easter Camp. Details have been announced and you can check them out here. If you would like to book onto our Easter Camp, members can book online by clicking here.

An bhfuil aon gaeilge agat? do you have a little bit of Irish and would like an opportunity to use them, or would like to learn? all standards of Irish welcome! Our Irish & Cultural Officer is organising a Pop Up Gaeltacht in partnership with Griffith Barracks Multidenominational School on Thursday the 23rd March at 8pm. This is an over 18s event being held in the Circular in Rialto.

We also have the Dublin Social Rounders Winter League finale on the 25th March! Further details to follow!

As games have resumed we would like to remind all members that memberships renewals are due for 2023. There are many options which you can check out here. This weeks Lotto Jackpot is €1,100. You can play online up to 7pm on Monday night using the secure Clubforce link by clicking here. All funds raised go towards the running of the many club activities. Many thanks for your continued support.

Finally if you have club news or would like to have your team photos, match results, or reports etc mentioned please contact pro.kevins.dublin@gaa.ie. If you haven’t already, please ensure your team has a representative in the PR & Comms Group so we have the correct updates for matches, changes to matches and other updates etc.