London U-17 Hurling Development Squad trip to Ulster Blitz

London U-17 Hurling Development Squad trip to Ulster Blitz

The London Under 17 squad travelled to Monaghan to take part in the Ulster Hurling blitz. The boys had been training hard for several months but due to the lack of hurling teams in Britain this was their only chance of competitive hurling but they definitely made up for this in style.

London were up against Cavan first and got off to a flying start, the whole squad were very hungry for matches and they hit the ground running. Jack Doyle dominated midfield with a couple of lovely scores from play. Martin Scanlon, the team captain, kept the London defence very tight and Sean Freeman and Thomas O'Hanlon played very well in the forward line. The match finished London 3-5 Cavan 1-6.

After such a good start the spirits were very high in the London camp and their next match was against a strong Fermanagh team. Again London started very strongly as Jack Doyle and Paddy McGovern worked hard in midfield as Conor Howlin and Danny Hennessey fought very hard to keep possession. In defence Robert Melon worked very hard to try stop a ruthless Fermanagh forward line. Both teams enjoyed spells of dominance but there was no separating them as it finished up a draw. London 1-6 Fermanagh 1-6. The London management team of Paul Doyle and Jimmy Howlin were happy to see it as a draw as both teams put up such a good fight and it could easily have went either way but a draw was a fair result.

After a draw in their last game the title was still up for grabs but after two tough games the London squad were getting tired and were going to have to dig deep in their final game against, the hosts, Monaghan. Monaghan started the game very strongly and Martin Scanlon needed to battle hard along with Fintan Curley in the London defence. In midfield Jack Doyle continued to feed the London forward line and Stephen Burke was able to take a few lovely scores. At half time there were no separating the teams but after stern talking to by Paul Doyle the London team came out stronger in the second half. Thomas O'Hanlon worked hard in attack as Robert Melon and Martin Scanlon put a halt to any Monaghan attacks but in the end the London hero was Stephen Burke who took some lovely scores including a stunning goal. London came out on top with the final score being London 3-2 Monaghan 1-4 and took the title back to Ruislip with them. Ulster Hurling Development Officer Ronan McWilliams, who ran the blitz, was very impressed with the high quality hurling London played all day and could only compliment the London Management team of Paul Doyle and Jimmy Howlin.

London coach Ronan McCarthy, who has now moved to Glasgow, was very proud of the London squad considering this is the only competitive hurling then have had all year and would like to encourage the London County Board to continue to invest in hurling development in London and see's no reason why in cooperation with the Ulster Council underage hurling in London cannot continue to grow.