The Tir na nOg – Kickham’s combination, St Olcan’s took the honours following and excellent Division 3 Hurling Feile, superbly hosted by All Saints in Ballymena. The host club with neighbours St. Mary’s, fielded a side in the competition themselves but from early in the day it looked like the eventual winners St. Olcan’s and Craobh Rua would be the teams to beat and so it turned out.
The Armagh representative went on to meet St. Olcan’s in a titanic final with the Antrim Champions emerging winners by two points to take the Feile title.
St Olcans 4-10 v London 0-3
St Olcans opened up their day with a game v unknown quantities London. Oisin Devlin had a superb game with three points in the first half from play. Ronan Colgan & Sean O’Hara also contributed with goals. In the second half, Oistin Mooney scored a great goal and Ciaran Corr with a lovely score from the left-hand side were the highlights.
Jacob McManus led the attack superbly from centre half forward, with Ronan McLornan, Oisin Sisk and Pierce Harrison standing out in defence.
Game 2 St Olcans: 2-5 V NaMagha: 0-4
St Olcans started off well against a strong breeze with a great goal from Oisin Devlin who burst through and hit an unstoppable shot to the low corner of the net. This was immediately followed up with a point from a difficult angle from Sean O’Hara. Na Magha responded with long range scores from their excellent goalkeeper who made two outstanding stops in the game. St Olcans started the second half on fire, with two long range points from Jacob McManus and two from Ronan Colgan, one of which was an exceptional score, bursting through the Na Magha defence and slotting over the bar direct from the solo run. This set the tone and another goal from Sean O’Hara with a trademark score got St Olcans over the line. Joe Connolly, Ciaran Corr and Kyran Shannon were dangerous throughout and Eoin Carey had a strong game in defence.
Game 3 St Olcans 2-7 v St Enda’s Omagh: 3-1
The third game was another tight affair against a very physical St Enda’s Omagh. Omagh took the lead with a couple of fortuitous goals in the first half. The game was nip and tuck and whilst St Olcans had the lead after a Sean O’Hara goal Omagh responded with 2 quick goals and the game was in the balance until a few long range frees from Ronan Colgan took them over the line. The wider panel was important during this game with Thomas Neeson, James McPeake, Fergus Maguire, and Sam Bonnes, Ronan Maguire, and Padraig Robinson all to the fore.
Semi-final – St Olcans 5-9 V Kilclief 0-3
St Olcans qualified for the Semi-Final versus Kilclief from Co. Down. Playing with the breeze in the first half they had an excellent performance form Sean O Hara who scored a hattrick, and Ronan Colgan who scored 1-5. Great defensive play from Pierce Harrison, Shea Graffin, Eoin Carey (who caught three extremely dangerous highballs in his own square within the space of 5 minutes) and Ronan McLornan who led resolutely at full back. The middle eight for St Olcans were playing with great intensity with Jacob McManus, Joel McClelland, and Oisin Sisk really stepping up. The tackling and blocking without conceding frees was impressive.
Final – St Olcans 1-6 V Craobh Rua 2-1
Armagh’s Craobh Rua also has a 100% record going into the final. St Olcans knew they would be up against it and playing with the breeze had a great start in a very tight first half with a goal from Sean O’Hara, who, showing great commitment blocked the keeper’s clearance to the net. This was quicky cancelled out with a goal in reply from Craobh Rua. Despite missing with four long-range attempts, St Olcan’s went in 1-2 to 1-0 at half time.
St Olcans reserved their best hurling for the first ten minutes of the second half of the final, starting with a fantastic run and point from wing half back Shea Graffin. This was when St Olcans really showed their mettle, the game was played at championship intensity with the St Olcans lads working hard all over the field. Two consecutive scores from Ronan Colgan followed by a great point from Pierce Harrison after excellent set up play by Tiarnan Martin left St Olcan’s 6 points up with 2 mins to go. Craobh Rua then scored a goal with a rasping shot from a 21-yard free and followed up with a point, but the long whistle blew and St Olcan’s were the regional Feile champions for 2024.
Joint Captains Ronan McLornan and Joel McClelland collected the trophy amongst great celebrations with the players and their families. From cool and collected goalkeeper Harry McKay, all the way throughout the panel this was a great day’s hurling, and St Olcans will be delighted with how this group has progressed and will look forward to building on this achievement over the rest of this season and beyond.
To see more pics from the Feile na nGael hurling colick on the link below
https://myalbum.com/album/CjR9mLUyKUwmbQ/?invite=caf047ad-cd00-442d-bbcc-4cd4ea1e5f72