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The South Kerry U-14 Hurling Team (sponsored by Forrest Safety Solutions Ltd) arrived safely in Oran last Friday afternoon to play their first of two games against the home side, Oran, and North Wicklow Gaels. They made a good start to the weekend, defeating the home side comfortably in the first game on a scoreline of 5-10 to 0-07. The next game was a much more challenging encounter with North Wicklow Gaels. South Kerry were leading at half-time but a strong second half from the Wicklow side saw them claim victory, 0-08 to 1-02.

On Saturday morning, South Kerry faced their host club, Claremorris, at 10.45am. A great performance saw the lads win 3-02 to 1-06 with goals coming from Jack Maguire, Tom Garry and Ciarán Collins with captain Charlie Keating contributing the two points. As a result of tehir performances, South Kerry qualified for the cup quarter-final v Carrick-on-Shannon on Saturday afternoon. The Kerrymen started the game well and led by four points at the half-time whistle thanks to a goal by Ciarán Collins. The second half saw an exhibition in free-taking by Charlie Keating to seal another great win on a scoreline of 1-07 to 0-02. This was by far the best performance of the weekend. Best wishes on a full, speedy recovery to Nathaniel Doncel who suffered a neck injury in the dying minutes of this game.

The cup semi-final took place on Sunday morning in Leitrim Gaels GAA. The Longford Slashers came out strong, pushing to a 1-06 to 0-02 lead at half-time, both points coming from Charlie Keating. South Kerry started the second half better with a goal from Cormac Rowe but, unfortunately, it was not meant to be. The Longford Slashers built on their first half performance to win 2-10 to 1-02.

This was a brilliant occasion for these young hurlers to experience and they did Kerry proud by progressing to the semi-final of the John West Féile na nGael Division 9 Cup Competition - a superb achievement. The team thanked their sponsors as well as all the families and friends for their support, host club Claremorris and official match reporter, Pat O'Brien (St. Pat's, EK), for his live reports.

South Kerry U-14 Squad: Sean Finnegan, David O’Leary, Ben O’Carroll, Jack O’Donoghue, Ross O’Leary, Darragh O’Connor, Michael Dennehy, Cormac Rowe, Sean Guerin, Charlie Keating, Luke Crowley, Caoilte O’Cronin, Matthew Fogarty, Hugh Walshe, Cian Twomey, Ciarán Collins, Brian O’Connor, Jack McGuire, Liam Mulhern, Sam Buckley, Nathaniel Doncel, Brandon Griffin & Diarmuid O’Connor, Tom Garry. Management: Tim Hourigan, Denis Coffey, Donal Casey.