Donegal claim Peter O'Keefe Cup
Under 16 hurling
29 July 2017
Image Gallery
There was a great day of hurling in Ballyshannon on Saturday with the annual Peter O'Keefe under 16 tournament. Six teams took part in this inter-county tournament to honour the memory of the late Peter O'Keefe who was a tireless worker for underage hurling in Donegal and Ulster.
Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon, Tyrone and Donegal - who entered two teams were the competing counties. Group 1 comprising of Mayo, Tyrone and Donegal under 15s were based in Father Tierney Park while Group 2 featuring Roscommon, Sligo and Donegal under 16s competed in Páirc Aoidh Ruaidh. A very stylish Tyrone team defeated Donegal under 15s and Mayo to emerge as the top team in Group 1. The games were closer affairs in Páirc Aoidh Ruaidh and Donegal emerged narrow victors against Sligo and Roscommon to top the group.
The final took place in a sun-drenched Father Tierney Park and Donegal really turned on the style and played some great hurling. They played with the aid of a strong breeze in the first half and built up an early lead and never let Tyrone into the game. The most pleasing thing about the performance was the fact that they kept up the intensity in the second half against the breeze to run out convincing winners 4-12 to 0-5 and reclaim the cup last won in 2015.
Aodh Ruadh were delighted to have three representatives on the winning squad Adam Rami, Senan Rooney and Adam Clarke and all three lads did very well throughout the day.
The presentation took place in Father Tierney Park and Aodh Ruadh Juvenile Hurling Chairman John Rooney opened proceedings by thanking all the teams who had made the effort to attend the tournament and complimented them all on the high standard of hurling they put on. He spoke of the late Peter O'Keefe and the important contribution he made to hurling over the years and he also remembered the late Billy Finn who was a regular attendee at this event. He thanked Ulster GAA and Donegal Games Development Manager Michael Murphy for all their support with this tournament since 2011. He thanked the small band of local helpers on the day, Peter Horan, Danny Breen and Sabrina Brosnan who did a great job catering for everyone all day in the kitchen.
Rooney also thanked the Aodh Ruadh Club for the use of their great facilities and club photographer Brian Drummond who was on hand all day and who always does a great job capturing all the day's action. He called on Donie O'Keefe son of the late Peter to come forward and present the cup. Donie spoke of how proud the family were of this tournament in memory of his Father and he thanked all involved in making it happen before presenting the cup to Donegal captain Ciaran McGroary, Maeve O'Keefe, Peter's daughter, presented each member of the squad with a medal to completed the ceremonials and bring a great day of hurling to an end.
Last modified: Monday, 1 June 2020 at 12:12pm