Eighth annual Hurlathon big success
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The eighth annual Hurl-a-Thon took place in the Mercy Hall on Saturday and, just like all the previous ones, it was a great day of fun for all the family, as young and old played their part. The action started bang on 10am with the under 8s taking to the floor and for the next 12 hours the sliotar flew around the Mercy Hall, every ball was vigorously contested and all our teams battled hard throughout the day. There were great crowds in the hall all day adding to the excitement during the games. As is now the norm for this event one of the highlights of the day was the Mothers v Daughters game. For the second year in a row the mothers team comprising of experienced players Jean Sheerin, Tara Keenaghan, Eleanor Rooney, Bernie Kelly, Mary Anderson and debutants Sinead Ayres and Lorraine Ryan had a comfortable victory over the younger ladies team of Orlaith Gillespie, Meabh Rooney, Bronagh Kelly, Roisín Daly, Ciara Gillespie and Alannah Ryan. Later it was the turn of the older males to take to the floor as Pat Faherty led his team of Stephen Sheerin - on the eve of winning an NHL division three league medal with Donegal, Peter Horan, Chris Kelly and debutant Kieran Barron to a controversial victory due in no small part to their pressurising young referee Caelán Drummond throughout the game over Frankie Sheerin's team of Alan Sweeney. Michael Ayres, Kevin Loughlin and John Rooney.
Well over 100 players took part on the day, and great credit goes to the brilliant mothers of our young hurlers who catered for everyone throughout the day. The ladies manned the kitchen and prepared beautiful food for all to enjoy during the day. Since the inception of this event we've had great support from the local community and again this year it was no different, special thanks to Kieran Barron for all the sweeties and goodies, we all gave up Lent for the day, William Doogan for all the drinks, Mary Matthews Shannon's Corner for her sandwiches and generous donation, Eleanor McCosker of Centra for her beautiful soup and as always Kernan's Spar for providing generous amounts of tea bags, milk and other goodies that ensured the tea flowed all day.
There are a lot of people to be thanked for making this day such a success, Aodh Ruadh Juvenile Hurling Committee, all the coaches present on the day who reffed the games, kept the teams picked ensuring that the action was non-stop. Thanks to all the mothers who brought food and helped out in the kitchen all day, thanks to Ronan Matthews and Tara Keenaghan for all their photography work, to Thomas Gallagher of the Donegal Democrat for covering this event and Daragh Cox of Ocean FM sport for promoting the Hurl-a-Thon. Many thanks to Coláiste Cholmcille for use of the Mercy Hall and Michael Donagher for all his help on the day. Finally thanks to all our underage hurlers and their parents who showed up on Saturday, to all the lads who went out with their sponsor cards looking for money in these difficult times, thanks to all the people who sponsored them and for their continued support of our efforts promoting underage hurling in the club. Aside from the fundraising element of the Hurl-a-Thon there is no price that can be put on the enjoyment our young hurlers get annually from the Hurl-a-Thon and as we left the Mercy Hall on Saturday night after over 12 hours of hurling already the youngsters were asking when is the next Hurl-a-Thon on, Roll on 2015 for the ninth edition of this fun event.
Last modified: Monday, 1 June 2020 at 1:11pm