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THE Glenflesk U12s travelled to Round Towers GAA, Kildare Town, to participate in the Fergus Hopkins Invitational Tournament on Saturday. This is a prestigious tournament with 16 teams participating: Round Towers Kildare, Warwickshire UK, Tinryland Carlow, St Vincent's Offaly, St Finbarr's Cork, Ramour United Cavan, Palatine Carlow, Carrick-Sarsfields Longford, Summerhill Meath, Baltinglass Wicklow, Westport Mayo, Glenflesk Kerry, Louisburg Mayo, Clan na Gael Fontenoy Dublin, St Mark's Dublin and Allenwood Kildare.

The first pool game was against St Marks Dublin with Glenflesk coming out on top on a score of Glenflesk 4-9, St Marks Dublin 4-5. The second game against the host club, Round Towers Kildare, ebbed and flowed and resulted in a draw, Glenflesk 3-7 Round Towers 5-1, which was a fair result for both teams.

This also meant that footballing friends Seamus Moynihan, Kerry, and Glen Ryan from Kildare also shared the spoils as both had sons participating in this game. These were two close games against strong opposition with the wind making a big difference in each game.

In the final pool game Glenflesk played Baltinglass from Wicklow. Glenflesk played well in the first half to go ahead but Baltinglass put in a very strong second half performance to win by three points, Glenflesk 5-6 Baltinglass 5-9. All three pool games were close games against strong opposition with the wind making a big difference in each game.

Following the pool games Glenflesk qualified for the shield semi-final against Palatine from Carlow. There was a novel aspect to this game with former Glenflesk player and Carlow inter county player Chris Crowley now playing for Palatine. This was a tight skillful game and a super performance by the Glenflesk boys to win by four points, Glenflesk 3-11 Palatine Carlow 3-7. This game could have gone either way but great spirit was shown by Glenflesk to hold on and qualify for the final.

The Glenflesk boys put in a very strong performance in the final against Clan na Gael Fontenoy Dublin and led the game from start to finish. Clann na Gael battled to the end and a late couple of goals sealed the result in a 5-12 to 1-8 win for Glenflesk. Captain for the day Gearoid Healy accepted the shield on behalf of the team but it was an all round team performance from mentors and players alike with all 19 players who travelled contributing to the win.

“The mentors, boys and supporters who made the long journey had a really enjoyable day,” stated a Glenflesk spokesperson. “It was a very well organised tournament with great hospitality and well matched, skilful teams participating. It was good to see teams from other counties in action and the boys really enjoyed the singing competition on the bus home. Thanks to all who made the day a big success.”