Barbara Grennell reports
Saturday 17th July 2010 at St Brigids GAA witnessed the inaugural OZO Dublin Under 14 blitz. It was the brainchild of Paul Beecher and with an enthusiastic committee behind him, turned out to be a mementos day for Dublin camogie.
The weather treated us to its normal summer delights with rain and hail early in the morning, followed by glorious sunshine to dry out those teams remaining in the competition and turning up the heat for the finals. 114 girls represented Dublin at U14 & U 13 level on the day and another 297 proudly travelled from the Counties Tipperary, Cork, Kilkenny, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Waterford. In total 411 players accompanied by parents, grandparents, siblings and mentors were all fed and watered throughout the day with plenty to spare. Whilst this is no mean feat, it was made possible by the generosity of the Dublin player’s parents all pitching in to help.
St Brigids GAA has fantastic facilities for holding such events and we would like to thank them for their hospitality both on the day and throughout the long winter’s months when the Dublin squads trained on the all-weather pitches early on those bitter cold mornings.
Without listing names, thanks goes to the mentors, referees, scorekeepers, Order of Malta, photographers and members of the Dublin County board without whom this blitz could not have taken place. If anyone was omitted, apologies and please return next year for a repeat performance.
In the spirit of fair play, each girl competing received a lovely medal as a memento of day, with both a cup and a shield competition running at each section to ensure that there was not only pride to play for but silverware also. It was obvious to see that camogie is alive and kicking at this underage level.
Camogie was definitely the winner on the day and below are the result of each section. A huge thanks to all the travelling county teams, we look forward to seeing you all next year and hope that more counties will be in attendance also.
THE PAUL BEECHER CUP Final
- Winners Dublin U14 A
- Runners Up Tipperary
Shield Final
- Winners Kilkenny
- Runners Up Cork A
DUBLIN DEVELOPMENT CUP
Cup Final
- Winners Cork B 2
- Runners Up Cork B 1
Shield Final
- Winners Dublin U14B
- Runners Up Tipperary
DUBLIN INVITATION CUP
Cup Final
- Winners Wicklow
- Runners Up Dublin U14C
Shield Final
- Winners Kilkenny U13 B
- Runners Up Kildare