Tralee was the venue on June Bank Holiday Monday for the County finals of the Community Games U10 mixed Gaelic football competition and a rule change this year required 3 girls on the field of play at all times. In the Group stages at Connolly Park, Kilcummin faced up to an excellent Ardfert/Kilmoyley side in the opener and the scoring exploits of full-forward Jack McClain proved crucial in securing a 4-3 to 1-2 victory. A comprehensive 5-5 to 0-2 win over Dingle saw Kilcummin top their Group and head off to the Na Gael pitch for the semi-finals.
In the semi-final, Kilcummin took on a talented Kenmare outfit but a very strong first half saw us leading 1-4 to 0-1 at the interval. Kenmare applied great pressure in the second half but our defence stood up brilliantly and Kilcummin ran out 1-6 to 0-2 winners. With the silver medals secured, Kilcummin were under-dogs when they faced a powerful Listowel side in the final. However, Kilcummin, driven on by fantastic support, saved their best performance of the day for the final and they proceeded to dominate from start to finish to run out 4-2 to 0-2 winners.
This was a fantastic achievement for Kilcummin, their first ever in the grade in what is always a hotly contested event and they now go forward to represent Kerry in the Munster competition at the end of June. Well done to all 20 players on the Panel: Cian Murphy; Ailbhe Brosnan, Dara O’Callaghan & Cathal Brosnan; Oran Dwyer, Liam Randles & Turlough O’Connor; Mark O’Shea & Colm Kelliher; James Williams, Cian Foley & Sarah O’Riordan; Olwyn Evans, Jack McClain & Gearoid Mulvihill; Jaden Tynan, Colin O’Leary, Dara O’Shea, Aimee Sexton & Luke Ryan. Thanks also to the mentors James Foley, Diarmuid O’Callaghan, Leo Randles, Donal Dwyer & Michael O’Callaghan for preparing the team and best of luck in the Munster competition.
