Goodmayes was the venue for our second Under 8 and 10 blitz on Saturday 18th June. With training going from strength to strength since the last blitz in May, the McCurtains youngsters went into the day with high confidence and a sense of expectancy.

The Under 8’s kicked off the day with their first match up against the St Kiernans youngsters. The under 8’s team on paper looked extremely strong with John Ryan, Dylan McGovern, Jamie Moran, Guiseppe Palumbo and Lynsey McNamara all coming into the side to compliment the excellent Kieron Williams, Oisin Mulholland and Finnian Moloney. The McCurtains, despite playing against a strong wind, started the game strong with some fine scores from Jamie Moran and Finn O’Sullivan. Lynsey McNamara was dominant in the middle of the park with John Ryan whilst the excellent Kieron Williams marshalled the backline superbly from between the posts. The second game was very similar to the first match as it was the McCurtains side’s chance to play with the strong breeze. The youngsters from Goodmayes proved too strong for their opponents and remained unbeaten for the day with two wins from two games on a soaking wet day!

So after an impressive display from the under 8’s the pressure was on for the under10’s to show their worth. Playing against the strong wind in their first game against the Kiernans proved to be a very entertaining game of Gaelic football. Making their debut for the club was Thomas Carroll, who was undoubtedly the star of the day. George Tewkesbury was excellent in goal and was certainly helped by the non-stop work of Niall Duffy, Ronan Vodica, Toby Williams and Gerrick Clamore. Tommy Grannell was again the inspirational forward marking the day with some superb scores. The first match ended up in a draw, which wasn’t too disappointing for the Goodmayes team playing against the ever increasing strong elements. The second game, which gave the McCurtains team the opportunity of playing with the breeze, proved to be very much one-way traffic with the McCurtains completely dominating from start to finish.

Well done to both the under 8’s and under 10’s. The football, spirit and effort on show was brilliant and really highlighted the development of the players since the last blitz in May. Thanks to everybody involved on the day including parents, helpers and all from the St Kiernans club.

James Loney
Schools Development Coach