Naomh Fionnbarra GAA Club Cabra, Dublin

The weekend began in the normal way with our underage teams in go game action. This weekend was hurling for them. The U8s played Peregrines in the Bogies while our U9s travelled to Finglas to play in a blitz against Na Fianna and Erins Isle. Our U10s made their way out to Rush to play Maurs and our U11s played Castleknock in the Bogies.

Our U13s and U14s rounded off their hurling leagues on Saturday, with both teams losing out. The U14s had already won their league but were beaten by Raheny and the 13s were beaten out in Faughs. Our U14 girls football also finished off their season with a defeat away to Kilmacud, but can be happy after progressing so much in their first year in the league. Our U16s drew away to Judes in the football league. They now face St Brigids in the semi final on the 2nd of November.

On Sunday our Senior Camogie team made the long journey over to Ballycullen to play BallyBoden in their Shield final. It would have been a great way for the girls to finish off their season, but it was not to be on the day. The girls must now start their preparations for next season. Our junior footballers were beaten in their league game against Cuala in the Bogies despite being 6 points up at halftime. They must now prepare for a relegation play-off in the coming weeks.

The game of the week was undoubtedly the U15 Hurling Championship final against Craobh Chiarain in Blakestown. A large crowd of supporters made their way up to support the lads, and the players responded with a great 2nd half display to win by 8 points, 3-21 to 4-10. The final whistle sparked great celebrations on the field and in the stand. See the match report page for a full account of the game.

Our minor hurlers and junior 10 footballer both received walkovers yesterday. The footballer are now finished for the year while the minors are preparing for a quarterfinal in the next 2 weeks.

Saturday 12th October

U8 Hurling V. Peregrines 10am Bogies

U9 Hurling Blitz V. Erins Isle & Na Fianna 10am Finglas

U10 Hurling V. Maurs 11am Rush

U11 Hurling V. Castleknock 11am Bogies

U13 Hurling V. Faughs 3pm Tymon North

U14 Hurling V. Raheny 3pm St Annes

U16 Football V. Judes 3pm Tymon North

Sunday 13th October

Senior Camogie Shield Final V. Ballyboden 11am Sancta Maria

Minor Hurling V. Crumlin 11am Pearse Park

Junior 6 Football V. Cuala 11am Bogies

Junior 10 Football V. Nh Barrog 3pm Bogies

U15 Hurling Championship Final V. Craobh Ciaran 11.30 Blakestown

As the 2013 season enters its final stages, the games don’t come as thick and and fast as during the summer months, but at this time of the year every game is crucially important. As ever the weekend began with our U8s, U9s and U11s in go game football action in the Bogies. It was great to see over 100 young footballers showing off their skills in the great weather.

Our U13s travelled out to Swords to take on Finians in their football league game. In a high scoring game it was Finians who finished the game much better and took the 2 points, to leapfrog over us in the league standings. We still have a chance to gain promotion from this league with just 2 games to go. Our U14s travelled out to Naomh Barrog for their football league game on Saturday afternoon. Following the excitement of winning the hurling league last week, this game had no real significance to our lads. Barrog, who had already qualified for the semi finals beat us on the day.

Back in the bogies there was 2 big games down for decision. First up was the semi final of the U16 B hurling championship between ourselves and Castleknock. Following the great game between the 2 same clubs in the U15 semi final, hopes were high that this would be a good game, and the two teams didn’t disappoint. In a cracking game that had almost everything we came form behind in the last 10 minutes to win by 1 on a scoreline of 3-11 to 4-7. Both sets of players must be praised for producing such a great game. Best of luck to our lads in the final!

After this it was the Intermediate footballers turn to play their championship game against Good Counsel. It has been a long time since we played against Counsel, and we ran out comfortable winners 3-12 to 0-9. This puts us into the quarter final of the new Intermediate Shield.

On Sunday our minor footballers continued their good run with a 10 point victory over Whitehall. This result means we top our group in the B football championship and will now have home advantage in the quarter finals in two weeks time. Our Junior 7 hurlers travelled out to play Judes in their final league game on Sunday. We still had an outside chance of reaching the playoffs, but it was not to be on the day with Judes running out comfortable winners and going on to win the league.

Saturday 5th October

U8 football V. Beann Eadair 10am Bogies

U9 football V. Erin Go Bragh 11am Bogies

U10 BYE

U11 football V. Peregrines 12pm Bogies

U13 football V. Finians 3pm Rivervalley

U14 football V. Nh Barrog 3pm St Annes

U16 hurling V. Castleknock 3pm Bogies

Inter football V. Good Counsel 5pm Bogies

Sunday 6th October

Minor football V. Whitehall 11am Cloughran

Junior 7 hurling V. Judes 1pm Tymon North

As the dust settles in Croke Park after a great year of Inter County football and hurling Championships, the focus turns back to the club scene across the 32 counties. In Dublin, October will be a very busy month as all the adult and juvenile leagues and championships will be finished. This year our club will also be very busy as we remain in the hunt in many of these competitions.

The weekend’s action got off to a disastrous start in Parnell Park on Friday night with our senior hurlers receiving a big beating from St Vincents. This result ends a good run of 5 wins for the lads and now they’re faced with a relegation play-off in the next fortnight. The draw will be made tomorrow night to see which of: Cuala, Na Fianna and Faughs we will play. The players will need to work hard in the next two weeks to try and get back to winning ways after Friday night.

We had much better results on Saturday, and the highlight of the weekend was the U14s winning Division 2 of the hurling league with an emphatic win against Ballinteer in the Bogies. Although they had little trouble winning this game, the league was won on the back of some great performances right throughout the year. The lads will now play in Division 1 next season. The picture above shows some of the players celebrating their win.  Also on Saturday our U16 hurlers progressed to the semi finals of the B championship with a dogged win against Brigids in Russell Park. Chris O’Brien got the all important goal in a 1-13 to 0-8 victory. They now face Castleknock in the Bogies this weekend. The U14 Camogie girls also qualified for their championship semi final with a good win over Naomh Barrog in the bogies, with Emma and Thomas making the changes via Viber from New York!

Saturday also saw our U8s and U10s play Vincents in two back matches in their Go Game leagues with some great displays from all players involved. Saturday of course was All Ireland hurling replay day, and what a game we were treated to! Well done to the Banner Men and hard luck to The Rebels but great credit must be given to both sets of players on what was one of the best games of all time. The match was enjoyed by men and women of many different counties in the clubhouse, where the craic was 90.

Back on the field on Sunday its was the turn of the minor hurlers to keep the great run of teams in the championship going this year. The lads didn’t disappoint and out in a powerful display to beat a depleted Setanta team 5-18 to 0-11. Bigger challenges lie ahead, but the lads seem to be well focused on the job ahead.

Friday 27th September

Senior Hurling Championship V. Vincents 6.45pm Parnell Park

Saturday 28th September

U11 hurling V. Plunketts Martin Savage Pk 10am

U13 hurling V. Nh Barrog 12.30 Bogies

U14 hurling V. Ballinteer 2pm Bogies

U14 Camogie V. Nh Barrog 12pm Bogies

U16 hurling V. Brigids 1.30pm Russell Park

Sunday 29th September

Minor hurling V. Setanta 11am Bogies

Junior 6 football V. Civil Service 11am Islandbridge

Junior 10 football V. O’Tooles 3pm St Annes

Kevin Heffernan would have been happy with the Dubs win this weekend.

With the evenings getting shorter almost all midweek games are now finished so the action is now packed into  Saturdays an Sundays. Last weekend there was not too much activity on Saturday morning with just 2 games going ahead. Our U11 footballers played in the league away to Lucan Sarsfields and our U11 camogie girls travelled to Killbarrack to take on Naomh Barrog. Both teams put in good performances and are progressing well this year.

On Saturday afternoon there were some very important games. Our U13 footballers suffered defeat to O’Tooles in the bogies 6-4 to 3-6 denting the teams chance for promotion. We now have 3 games left and are just 1 point off second place. Our U14 camogie girls continued their good run in the championship to see off St Vincents by 10 points and are well positioned to qualify for the next round. Our U14 boys footballers had a very comfortable win over Templeogue Syne Street in the league. This game was kept moving well by some excellent referring by Joe Lyons! Our U16 footballers received a walkover from Thomas Davis. Our lads have already qualified for the semi finals of the league so the games result will not have much bearing on the final table.

On Saturday evening, the big game of the weekend took place in the Bogies, with our neighbours Plunketts making the short journey down the road to play in the senior hurling league. This has not been a fruitful journey for Plunketts in recent years, but they travelled with confidence on Saturday. This game had added spice as both teams are pushing for a promotion playoff place. Our lads put in a great display of tough attacking hurling and game out 3-13 to 1-11 victors. This win leaves us 3rd with one game to go. It also sets us up nicely for our championship game against Vincents next week.

On Sunday morning our Minor footballers made the long journey out to St Annes in Bohernabreena for their football championship match. Our lads were well on top all over the field and ran out comfortable winners to qualify for the quarter finals with a game to spare. Back in the Bogies our Junior Hurlers faced Kilmacud Crokes in a must win game for both teams. We produced a strong second half display to run out 9 point winners. If we beat Clontarf in our last league game we will qualify for the playoffs. Our 3rd hurling team played Brigids in the Phoenix Park, and were unlucky to lose out by just 2 points. We still have an outside chance of promotion from this league, but its great to see the club fielding 2 junior hurling teams and a minor football team all at the same time on a Sunday morning.

Our final game of the weekend saw our U15 footballers playing Whitehall in Ellenfield in the quarterfinals of the football championship. Our lads started well and looked to have the game won at halftime, but Whitehall came back very strong at us and went ahead in the closing minutes. Our lads dug deep and found that bit extra to come out 1 point winners.