RANDAL Óg is a club on a roll.
The last two seasons have seen the club’s junior hurlers and footballers ensure a constant stream of success and trophies to Randals, and now the U19 hurling team is making waves, too.
When the Cork County Board introduced this new U19 competition, Randal Óg thought long and hard about the possibility of fielding a team. The club decided it would – and that’s proved to be a wise decision.
Huge credit must go to the U19 mentors, Ger Collins, Charles McCarthy and John Collins, who dared to dream that Randal Óg could compete and last Saturday’s team performance in the County U19 West 2 divisional final against Ahán Gaels was testament to the belief and determination of both players and management.
Weather conditions were terrible, with heavy rain and strong winds but the pitch at Rossmore held up well.
Ahán Gaels won the toss and opted to play with the strong wind in the first half and led at half time by 2-6 to 0-7. Scores for Randal Óg in the first half came from Sean Daly (0-6, four from frees) with a point from play for Padraig O’Sullivan.
Randal Óg captain Barry O'Sullivan accepts the U19 shield from Cork GAA CEO Kevin O'Donovan.
Randals dominated the first quarter of the second half but found it difficult to score. But further points from Sean Daly and Jimmy O’Sullivan brought the margin down to a single point by the 50th minute. To their credit, Ahán Gaels didn’t give up and a good passage of play was foiled by a superb save by Randals goalkeeper Barry O’Sullivan.
Randal Óg took the lead in the 26th minute of the second half by the unerring Sean Daly and this was followed by an excellent point from Jimmy O’Sullivan. The last score of the game fell deservedly to Randals star player Sean Daly, who finished with 0-12, including four from play.
There were wonderful celebrations when referee Connie Murphy blew the final whistle and the U19 West 2 shield was presented by Cork County Board CEO, Kevin O’Donovan.
Randal Óg: B O’Sullivan, P Duggan, O Daly, A O’Donovan, C Nyhan, T Kingston, S Daly (0-12, 8f), L MacCarthy, E Hurley, J O’Sullivan (0-2), B Coughlan, P Collins, P O’Sullivan (0-1).
Subs: D Murphy for P Collins (50), J McSweeney for B Coughlan (50).
