Our talented under 16 squad are through to the county final having survived a spirited challenge from a much improved, well organised Schull C.S. side coached by the wonderful Grainne O'Sullivan who threw everything at us.
Man of the match Schull's Gabriel O'Mahony had an awesome game and scored a magnificent 27 of Schull's points. Adam Sheehan made life very difficult for us under the boards, his towering, athletic presence causing us huge problems at rebounding. From an SCS point of view, while we are very happy to acknowledge the brilliance of our opposition, we also have to question our defence. In the opening quarter, our defence lacked energy. Apart from Tom Kavanagh who pounded the boards with superb rebounding and Dylan Hourihane, our players were slow to adjust to the pressure of curtailing the threats that Schull threw at us. Gabriel exploited our lack lustre defence popping in shots with apparent ease. Getting this right before the upcoming All Ireland semi final and league county final is our number one priority going forward.
There were flashes of brilliance too. The amazing Brian O'Driscoll created exquisite scoring chances and could thread a pass through a packed defence. His silky skills are a joy to watch. Our offence lacked patience, our outside shots were poorly executed and our lay ups were more like force ups. Time and time again, Schull turned over the ball, usually through our careless passing from defence and our impatience in attack. The result of all this, a nervy tight game with tit for tat scoring and an exciting spectacle to watch.
The loss of Adam to injury probably killed the game as a contest and we wish him the best of luck in his recovery.
Despite being exhausted from his sensational campaign in the senior game, Eividas controlled the game and fired himself into the action. We are lucky that our two transition years Stevie and Eividas put so much effort into perfecting their skills. I have full faith that both boys will lead us in the tough games ahead. The wonderful second years are putting in a great effort at training but the rest of the squad will have to step up to the challenge. This is probably the wake up call we need before taking on the winners of Castletownbere and Fermoy in the final. Let's make it happen boys.