Naomh Fionnbarra GAA Club Cabra, Dublin

This week was again dominated by football games as the season heads into its mid-season break. Our Intermediate Footballers had two league games during the week, against the top two teams in the league.

We are missing a good few players through injury at the moment, but a lot of younger players have stepped up to the mark and put in some good performances. None more so than last Wednesday’s game against Whitehall in the Bogies.

We started the game with 5 minors and were narrowly beaten, 2-11 to 1-11. Its a game we could have won but we missed a lot of good scoring opportunities, while Whitehall took theirs. However nobody could fault the effort of the players. It was a similar story on Saturday night away to Clontarf. Again a very young side did themselves proud but we never really looked like winning this game.

The lads are now on a well deserved break for 3 weeks, and hopefully we come back with a full squad after this break. The last few results mean we are unlikely to make the promotion play-offs this year, but safety has been secured already.

The second football team had a very important league game in the bogies on Sunday against O’Tooles. This was a real relegation dog-fight and a game we seemed to have control of, until a blitz of O’Tooles goals put them 6 points up in the 2nd half. They went on to win the game and put some daylight put us and them. We have 5 games left now to try to stay in the division. Our next two games after the break are against the team just ahead of us, and the team just below us, so these are two vital games for us.

The third team enjoyed a good 4 point win over Castleknock in the Bogies on Thursday night, despite some very heavy rain. We were due to play Na Gaeil Oga on Sunday but they were unable to field a team so we were awarded the points. The lads travel to Fairview tonight to play Vincents in the 1st round of the annual Inner City Tournament hosted by St Josephs/O’Connell Boys.

In two friendly games also played last week our Senior Camogie team beat Erins Isle on Thursday and our minor hurlers beat Ratoath of Meath. The mentors would like to thank the host clubs for providing the much needed games.

Our 3 adult hurling teams all played 2 league games in the past week as all 3 teams continue their push for promotion. The first game of the week was a minor football game against our neighbours Plunketts in Martin Savage Park. This was our final league game and our lads really turned on the style and ran out comfortable winners. They now prepare for their championship to begin in September.

Our junior 5 hurlers also played Plunketts on Tuesday but did not enjoy the same success. In a tight first half we were well in the game, but fell away in the 2nd. They did however win their other game in Sunday with a nine point win away to O’Tooles.

Our junior 7s remain in the playoff places in their league after a win and a draw during the week. They beat Round Towers 2-11 to 0-4 on Thursday and then drew with Whitehall on Sunday afternoon. They have 3 games remaining and still have a big chance of promotion.

Our senior Camogie girls enjoyed a good win on Thursday away to Trinity Gaels in a very competitive challenge match.

The two main games of the week were the two senior hurling league games. The first was a win in the bogies on Wednesday against Raheny. In a tight 1st half we led by 2 points at the break but really upped our performance in the 2nd half out scoring Raheny by 14 points to win 3-21 to 1-11. Our second game was a tough trip out to Ballyboden on Saturday evening. Again it was a tight first half but we again produced the goods in the second, with a really strong finish. The game was level with 5 mins left, but we stepped up and ran out 2-13 to 0-16 winners. This puts us up to 4th in the league with 3 games left.

The last week was a disappointing week on the field with a number of poor results for our adult teams. Our juvenile teams are on a short mid-season break until August, so it was left to the adult teams to fly the flag. Last Tuesday night, in front of a big crowd in the bogies, our junior 6 footballers were narrowly beaten by Judes. We played some good football throughout the game but took our foot off the gas in the last 10 mins to allow Judes nick the points with a late goal. We deserved more form this game, but the result leaves us with work to do over the next few weeks to maintain our status in this division.

On Thursday it was the turn of our minor hurlers to play a strong Na Fianna side in the bogies in our final league game in division 1 of the league. In a game of real quality, again we were unlucky to loose out by 2 points despite a good performance. We have been unlucky on a couple of occasions during this league campaign, but have shown we are more than capable of competing at the top level.

A similar story on Friday night for the junior footballers who were again unlucky to miss out in their league game out in Skerries. It is never an easy place to get a result at any level and it proved just beyond our lads on this occasion. On Saturday evening in the bogies, it was the turn of our Inter footballers to continue their push for promotion against an in-form Naomh Olaf side. Olaf’s started this game off at a lighting pace and had 3 goals registered before we knew what hit us. We did fight our way back into the game, primarily by getting on top around the middle of the field, but were unable to make this tell on the scoreboard. For the second Intermediate game in the row, we suffered some serious injuries, and would like to wish all the lads a speedy recovery.

There was no games on Sunday due to the earlier than normal start to the Leinster Football Final. It was great to see Dublin record the Leinster double, their 1st since 1942. The club would like to thank  all our members who were selling programmes in Croke Park for all the Leinster Championship matches this year.

Tuesday 9th July

Junior Football V. Judes 7.30 Bogies

Wednesday 10th July

Senior Camogie V. Pats (d) 7.30 Donabate

Thursday 11th July

Minor Hurling V. Na Fianna 7.30 Bogies

Friday 12th July

Junior football V. Skerries Harps 7.30 Skerries

Saturday 13th July

Inter football V. Naomh Olaf 6.30 Bogies

Tuesday 16th July

Junior Hurling V. Plunketts 7.30 Vol Martin Savage Park

Wednesday 17th July

Senior Hurling League V. Raheny 7.30 Bogies

Minor football League V. Plunketts 7.30 Vol Martin Savage Park

Thursday 18th July

Junior 7 hurling league V. Round Towers (C) 7.30 bogies

Saturday 20th July

U16 All Ireland blitz in Killenaule, Co Tipperary 10.30am

Senior hurling league V. Ballyboden 7.30 Sancta Maria

Sunday 21st July

Junior 5 hurling league V. O’Tooles 11am Blunden Drive

Junior 7 hurling league V. Whitehall 3pm Bogies

Wednesday 24th July

Inter football League V. Whitehall 7.30 Bogies

Saturday 27th July

Inter football league V. Clontarf 6.30 St Annes Park

Sunday 28th July

Junior 6 football league V. O’Tooles 11am Bogies

Junior 10 football league V. Na Gaeil Oga 3pm Phoenix Park

Last weeks on field action began with our junior 7 hurlers getting a good draw away to Thomas Davis in the league. We had been 6 points down in the closing stages of the game, but 2 late goals salvaged a valuable draw on the night. On Tuesday night our Junior 6 footballers exited the football championship out in Round Towers of Clondalkin. Our minor hurlers were unlucky to narrowly loose out to Ballyboden in the bogies. On the same night our U14 hurlers received a walkover from Naomh Olaf.

On Wednesday our Intermediate footballers produced a great display of attacking football to beat St Marks by 5-18 to 1-8 in the bogies. It was great to see so many young players stepping up to the mark on the night. On Friday night our junior 10 footballers lost to 13 man Judes out in Tymon North. We were very unlucky not to get more from this game.

On Saturday morning our U9 and U10 hurlers played in the bogies in their go-game hurling leagues. At the same time our U16 hurlers were in Carlow playing in the annual All Ireland blitz. This is a fantastic tournament with teams from all over the 32 counties. We lost out to the Offaly county team in the 1st game and then produced a great display to beat Judes. Unfortunately this was not enough and we exited the tournament. On Saturday evening our inter footballers were beaten by Castleknock. We were very unlucky with injuries during the game.

On Sunday morning our junior 6 footballers were beaten by Sylvesters in the bogies. We had a much depleted team on the day and Sylvesters ran out comfortable winners.

Tuesday 2nd July
Junior B hurling championship V. Clontarf 7.30pm St Annes
U16 hurling V. Fingallians 7.30 Holywell
U13 hurling V. Bray Emmets 7.30 Bogies

Wednesday 3rd July
Minor football V. Skerries 7.30 Bogies

Thursday 4th July
Junior D hurling championship V. Judes 7.30 Tymon North
U14 football V. O’Tooles 7.30 Blunden Drive

Saturday 6th July
Senior hurling league V. Clana Gael 7.30 Bogies

Sunday 7th July
Junior 5 hurling league V. Maurs 11am Bogies
Junior 7 hurling league V. Realt Dearg 12pm Kiltipper
Minor football league V. Scoil Uí Conail 11am Clontarf

Tuesday 18th June

Senior Camogie V. Good Counsel 7.15 Bogies

Junior B Hurling Championship V. Civil Service 7.30 Islandbridge

Thursday 20th June

Junior D Hurling Championship V. Faughs 7.30 Bogies

U16 Football V. Ballyfermot DLS 7.30 Ballyfermot

Saturday 22nd June

U8 Hurling V. Beann Eadair 10am Bogies

U9 BYE

U10 Hurling V. O’Tooles 11am Bogies

U11 football V. Syne St 11am Bushy Park

U13 football V. Ballinteer 3.30 Bogies

U14 football V. Fingal Ravens 3.30 Rolestown

U16 hurling V. Plunketts 3.30 Martin Savage Park

Senior Hurling League V. Erins Isle 6.30pm Finglas

Sunday 23rd June

Junior 5 Hurling league V. Crumlin 11am Pearse Park

Junior & hurling league V. Thos Davis 3pm Kiltipper Road