By John O’Connor

U14 Hurling Championship Final

Passage 8-21 Ballinhassig 2-7

The large crowd present were treated to a master class from this young team last night in Manning Park. If Carlsberg did winning finals this was the game. Passage having won the toss elected to play against the wind in the first half. From the throw in Passage midfielder Shane Whyte set the tone for the rest of the game by winning the ball and scoring a great point following a solo run. Shane and midfield partner Calum Griffin ran the show for the rest of the night dominating every Ballinhassig partnership they came up against. Captain Sean Coughlan the Harry Potter of hurling scored a bullet of a goal almost immediately afterwards and Passage were up and going.

The work rate on show throughout was amazing to watch. The hooking, blocking, and striking was a testament to the coaching these players are receiving. The Ballinhassig centre forward replied with a long-range point having won the ball from the puck out. Full back Cian Barry scored Passage’s second goal in a well worked move. Young Brian Griffin one of 4 under twelve players playing on the night won a great ball surrounded by several Ballinhassig players. He managed to get the ball into Zac Hanlon who gave a splendid pass to Cian who finished to the back of the net. Sean Coughlan popped over a free a few minutes later to give Passage a commanding lead after 10 minutes. Over the next few minutes Ballinhassig threw everything at the Passage defence but couldn’t find a way through.

Cork had the man from Fiji Sean Og, Passage have their own star from Syria Alaa. He played a great game at corner back clearing one ball off the line in a goalmouth scramble. This kid only picked up a Hurley in March and he can be proud of his display on this big occasion. Alongside him Full back Cian Barry and another one of the U12 contingent David O’Connor cleared everything that came their way. After the off the line clearance by Alaa the Ballinhassig centre forward was blown up for over carrying after being cornered in by Dermot “Bucks” Buckley and David O’Connor. The two lads gave him no space to go and sent the signal out there was only going to be one winner. From the free out Sean Coughlan using his explosive speed won the ball and sent over another long-range point.

For the next few minutes both teams were battling hard and the sliothar was travelling up and down the field before the game exploded back into life. Within a minute both teams had raised the green flag, the Passage goal scored by the excellent Zac Hanlon goal poacher supreme. Shane Whyte scored another goal, and it really was champagne hurling at this stage. Youngest player on the pitch Fionn O’Flaherty was hooking and blocking like a senior hurler, Forward Mark Barry and Aidan O’Connor were winning their personal duels. Aidan was up and down his side of the pitch non stop working. Mark also was unlucky with two goal efforts, and he made several goal chances in the first half in particular.

Ballinhassig came back into the game and had a goal chance cleared by Alaa and from the clearance their centre forward fired over a point leaving the score 4-3 to 1-2 with 20 minutes gone. Ballinhassig won the puck out which resulted in another scramble around the box. David O’Connor won the ruck passed to Shane Whyte who drove the ball down the field towards Sean Coughlan. Despite being surrounded by 4 Ballinhassig players he managed to win the ball and drive the ball over the bar. Cian Barry batted out the ball from the puck out and another Shane and Sean combination resulted in another point for the boys in green. Sean and the Ballinhassig centre forward exchanged another brace of points before Zac pounced for his second goal.

Ballinhassig responded with a long range free their last score of the half. Morgan Kelleher was having a great game at centre back and as the game progressed the better, he became. Philip Heavey alongside him was hurling confidently and nothing was passing Bucks on the other wing. Callum Grif was sweeping up a large amount of ball and Ballinhassig just had no answer to the hurling Passage were producing. Mark Barry sent a great ball into the square and Sean Coughlan pulled on it sending it over the ball for another Passage point. Shane Whyte was fouled after winning the puck out and Sean Coughlan dispatched the free over the bar. The game flowed end to end again before Zac Hanlon and Sean Coughlan both pointed to bring the first half to an end. The half time score was Passage 5-10 Ballinhassig 1-4.

The Passage team were cheered on by the locals as they went into the dressing room for their half time talk. Passage made no changes to the team for the start of the second half. Passage were again first out of the starting blocks and Callum Griffin raised the first white flag of the half after great pass from his brother Brian. From the puck out Sean Coughlan went on a run and fired an unstoppable shot to the back of the net. Philip Heavey fired over another point before Ballinhassig replied with a long-range effort. David O’Connor won a high ball over by the Avondale side and drove a high ball in on top of Zac Hanlon. Zac plucked the ball out of the sky turned and buried his third of the night to the back of the net.

Passage now emptied the bench with Sean Cash, Eoghan O’Bryne and another U-12 fledging Daniel Collier coming on. The three lads immediately settled in with Sean clearing a ball almost immediately and both Eoghan and Daniel having goal chances. Dermot Buckley continued his good form with a lovely pass to Callum who fired over another point for Passage. Brother Brian fired over his own point much to the delight of the crowd. Sean O’Regan who hadn’t much to do up to this point showed his class over the next few minutes making one great save and controlling 3 high dangerous balls into the square.

Confidence is a great thing and Sean was like Donal Og with his handling and puck outs all night. Sean Coughlan continued to dominate and scored yet another point from play on the 10th minute. Ballinhassig responded with a goal from a 21-yard free from their centre forward. Morgan won the puck out and laid off a great pass fro Sean Coughlan to fire over. Shane Whyte my man if the match scored 1-1 in the next few minutes. His display from the first to last minute was a pleasure to watch. Ballinhassig replied with another point from their centre forward before Zac Hanlon fired over the games last point. The first leg of the double has been achieved.

The footballers travel to Tracton on Monday night to take on the locals in the football championship final. Teddy mc Carthy who himself won the famous All Ireland double with Cork was in attendance ad gave his seal of approval on this team’s display. Passage had beaten Crosshaven and Sliabh Rua in a titanic encounter in the semi-final to reach the final. The future is bright for this team with all 18 players giving a peak performance on yeti biggest occasion of all a championship final. As the song goes Better Days Are Coming. Well done to all the players and management team.

Passage Team
Sean O Regan , Alaa Al Steif , Cian Barry, David O Connor , Philip Heavey , Morgan Kelleher, Dermot Buckley, Callum Griffin, Shane Whyte,
Brian Griffin, Sean Coughlan Capt, Aidan o Connor, Fionn O’Flaherty , Zac Hanlon, Mark Barry
Subs Used: Sean Cash , Daniel Collier, Eoghan O Bryne

Scorers for Passage
Sean Coughlan 2-13 ( 3 Frees), Zac Hanlon 3-2, Shane Whyte 2-2, Cian Barry 1-0, Callum Griffin 0-2, Philip Heavey 0-1, Brian Griffin 0-1