Hurling
U-14 hurlers winning start
Apr 14th
Our U-14 hurlers have made a great start to the year with victories over Portlaoise C.S. and Banagher C.S. Two more matches against C.C. Roscrea and Mountrath await our charges.
Trainer Ms. Hogan tells me we have a very well balanced team with Brian O’Reilly and Cormac Deegan showing up particulary well in our early matches.
At a time when the most successful group of hurlers we have had in Colaiste Mhuire for over 40 years are leaving the school it is great to see the young lads of 1st and 2nd year taking up the baton.
You have a lot to live up to lads!
Senior hurlers bridge 43 year gap
Apr 14th
Our senior hurlers have just finished a memorable season. The disappointment of narrowly losing an All-Ireland semi-final was offset by the elation at winning a Leinster Senior Hurling Championship for the first time since the boys of 1968.
The victory of the lads of 2011 in Leinster did not come easily. We had hard-fought wins against Portlaoise C.S., Heywood C.S. and Gorey C.S. A comfortable Leinster final victory over Dublin champions St. Benildus brought us out of the desert and into our promised land.
Trainers Niall O’Brien and David Fogarty deserve great plaudits for their work with the team and panel. They spoke of the tremendous hurling ability of this panel and hope that they can prove to be a springboard for Westmeath underage and senior hurlers. They particularly mentioned Thomas Doyle, Thomas Egan, Cathal Scally, Willie McGrath, David Higgins and Aonghus Clarke who had outstanding campaigns.
Mr. O’Brien tells me that he is particulary sorry to lose so many fine hurlers this year. He mentioned David Lynch, Willie McGrath, Cathal Scally and Emmet Corrigan who leave the school with an incredible medal haul ; 2 North Leinster U-14, 2 North Leinster U-16, I Leinster U-16 and 1 Leinster senior medals.
He hopes to see all four of these lads and many more bringing similar success to Westmeath in years to come.
We join him in congratulating all panel members for the wonderful year and for their great success.
Leinster Senior Champions 2011 has a very special ring to it!
Superb Coláiste Mhuire see off Benildus challenge
Mar 3rd
Leinster Colleges Senior ‘B’ Hurling Final: Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar 1-18, Benildus College (Dublin) 1-4
The young hurlers of Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar bridged a gap of four decades when they won their first hurling title since 1968 in a very one sided Leinster final in Kinnegad on Saturday last.
Although the scoreline suggests this was closer than it was the truth is that the Mullingar college were dominant from start to finish and but for some lapses of concentration they would have won more comfortably.
As it was the Benildus scoring radar was completely off and they missed far too many easy frees especially in the first half and one always felt that if necessary St. Marys could have lifted their game another gear and pulled away whenever necessary. Although they will play better and have done, nonetheless they did enough on Saturday to recreate their own piece of history for their school and it underlines the work being done to promote the game in the Mullingar nursery and augurs well hopefully for hurling within the county.