National Football Feile 2016

National Football Feile 2016

June 28, 2016

Ballincollig's U14 Footballers had the honour of representing our club in this years National Football Feile last weekend. The weekend started early on Friday when we welcomed our guests, the Armagh champions Killeavy to Ballincollig. After an initial introduction and some tea and sandwiches, both set of players and supporters headed to Eire Og where we both took part in two games to begin proceedings. On the Ballincollig front we managed a win and a loss in two close encounters which set us up nicely for a Saturday morning game against Killeavy. Having qualified as Armagh champions it goes without saying that we were always going to find ourselves in a tough game which certainly proved the case. Whilst both teams put in great performances we were unlucky to fall short by two scores. Having said that the majority of fair minded people were very complimentary of the standard of football that was played by the boys on both sides.

Both teams then headed to Mallow to play in their respective cup and shield quarter finals where both ourselves and Killeavy won our games ( Ballincollig vs Fermoy and Killeavy vs Mallow) which qualified us for Sunday's semi finals in Glenflesk, Co. Kerry. Before this we had to head to Carrigaline on Saturday evening for an official Feile parade which was expertly and efficiently run by Carrigaline GAA Club. We then returned to Ballincollig where the two sets of boys along with the Inniscarra squad and their guests from Derry attended a Feile disco at Ballincollig GAA pavilion.

On Sunday, we headed to Glenflesk for a shield semi final against the Antrim champions (Patrick Sarfields) and whilst putting in a gallant effort we just fell short in another cracking game. All in all it was a hectic weekend but to get to a semi final of an All Ireland competition is a huge achievement for a fabulous bunch of lads who have achieved so much already in the relatively short time they have been involved in sport.

We would like to sincerely thank everyone who was involved in making this weekend the great success that it was, especially the families who opened up their homes to the visiting boys from Armagh, to John (Dricky) for all his work on the catering front, Donie Hegarty for his work in liaising with the Feile committee and ensuring that we were up to date with everything, to the parents who provided cakes and biscuits as well as falling in on Saturday morning to help with teas/ coffees etc. Also to the Juvenile committee and chairman Brendan Murphy who made sure that we showed our club in its best light by organising the signs, buses, catering etc which ensured that the boys from Ballincollig and Killeavy will have had a weekend to remember for years to come. Finally a huge thank you to our Club Vice Chairman Derry O'Connor, who also acts as a member of of our bar committee, Belle Committee, bus organiser, water carrier and and anything else that is needed! The work that is put in by the likes of Derry and others goes completely unnoticed a lot of the time so it is no harm to publicly recognise it on occasions like this. So, again a huge thank you to Derry and the aforementioned for creating a great weekend that we are all proud of. Up the Village!! .