Cuala’s own Cian Waldron led the South Dublin colleges opening salvo in the Leinster colleges Hurling U14 championship on Thursday against Good Counsel of New Ross. The South Dublin boys have been training under Cian and his colleagues for the last number of weeks in the cold and rain. The winters training paid off as a motley crew drawn from the schools of South Dublin lads emerged very much as a team. Cian’s panel is strengthened by the presence of Cuala lads, Michael Conroy, Liam Murphy and Cormac Spain from the 2000s and Kevin Kirwan and Diarmuid O’ Flynn from the 1999s. To their detriment Counsel choose to play into a stiff wind as the rain clouds came in. While the visitors started strong, they found, for all their hard work, no scores accumulating when they did get the ball to their forwards. A relentless onslaught from South Dublin lads was the response and it was maintained, with no let up, even into the wind in the second half. Cuala boys featured in goals, midfield and in the forwards with Diarmuid, Liam and Kevin contributing to the score board. A confident Cian Waldron emptied his bench earlier on and didn’t suffer for it. Cuala’s Diarmuid o Flynn was relentless in his successive attacks launched after winning a dirty ball. While Boden’s James Madden gave a master class at centre back. Up forward Lucan’s Andrew O Carroll was unstoppable. The final score read 8-23 to 1-1 in favour of a very impressive South Dublin side who left the pitch as unimpressed as any bunch of young men could seem but inside they must have been smiling from ear to ear. The bunch of Fathers on the side line, who had past their own hurling prime a couple of decades ago and apparently the capacity for coolness, grinned in unison like a bunch of eejits, all be it very proud eejits. Up the Southside Dubs!
Cuala Camogie goes from Strength to Strength