Saturday, April 27th, the cream of Leinster U10 footballers descended on Tom Lawlor Park Raheens for a morning of glorious football.

Teams from Offaly (St. Broughans), Laois (The Heath), Meath (Moynalvey) Wicklow (St Kevin’s), Wexford (Duffry Rovers) and Carlow (Michael Davitts) along with 2 Raheens teams, 2 Moorefield teams and a Caragh GFC team competed ferociously and while the Dubs may dominate football at Senior Mens level- the future of Leinster football looks secure.

After the teams were led onto the field by a Piper for a parade and the national anthem the matches got into full swing.

 

 The Host team, Raheens, entered 2 teams in the blitz – team Yellow and Team Blue.

 

At 11am Team Yellow commenced their days action against Wexfords Duffry Rovers and after some early nerves on show where they conceded 1-2 they settled brilliantly with some fine defending from Odhran Lawlor and the tough Scott Pringle setting the platform for scores from the unremitting Cody McDonnell and wonderful point from Brennan Rochford after great forward play from Jake De Lucena.

Aided by the wind in the second half the Raheens boys secured a good result as the industrious Adam Sharpe thundered into the game with 2 points from play. In their second game the Raheens boys played St Kevin’s from Wicklow. A competitive match ensued and with fine scores from the assiduous Jake Kinahan and Seb Byrne along with brilliant Brody O’Connor goalkeeping meant that Raheens Yellow progressed to play a local derby against Caragh GFC in the second round. With bragging rights on the line an epic game proceeded and the teams were level on a number of occasions but Liam Thompson with a Clifford like 1-4 in the second half ensured that the home team progressed to play The Heath in the last match. The Heath were a strong physical team and despite great play from the hardworking James Malone and the bloodied but unrelenting Olly Duane the Laois team came out on top.

The Raheens blue team started the day off also playing Duffry Rovers and while they conceded scores early on a fine score by the mercurial Donnacha Ryan settled them into a good rhythm with Finn Kirwan and the energetic Adam Burgin to the fore from open play helping to set up other scores for their team. 

In their second game “the blues” played Moynalvey from Meath and though the Royal County team scored a few goals a tally of 1-2 from the elegant Sean Gallagher was accompanied with an outstanding Josh France goal after fine play in the second half from the persistent Cillian Perceval in midfield and Rhys Heavey in defence. This result secured a second round game against the aforementioned strong The Heath team and despite hard work from Mossie Coffey and a few thunderous goals from the dashing Billy Nestor the Laois outfit came out on top. 

However all was not lost as Raheens Blue played off against Caragh GFC in a final game. A great game followed where strong soloing from Conor Maher set up ball to his inside forward line on numerous occasions. Louis Keane was a benefactor of this good play as he pounced on a loose ball to nestle the ball to the corner of the net. Dominic Pyc was excellent in goals during this final round game but despite great defending from Rhys Heavey some great points by the Prosperous outfit ensured the result for the maroon and white boys. 

A great day for the Raheens boys - tired from matches but high from the Mentos and Coca Cola from the new pitch side shop.