Dundrum GFC Club Notes.

* On Saturday past a large crowd of Dundrum players and supporters

descended on the St Judes All Ireland Junior Sevens which were being held

at Tymon Park in Templeogue on the Southside of Dublin. An initial draft of

14 players was named for the tournament but on the morning this was cut

down to 10. The 10 included Kieran Walsh, Philip Shields, Neil McComiskey,

John Hurley, Aaron Doyle, Paul McComiskey, Cormac Venney, Jonathan

McMullan, Conor McShane and Martin Coughlan. Registration took place at

10am. The Duns were assigned their changing room and then given their base

at Faughs GAA ground. The draw had pitted Dundrum in Group 2. Included here

were host club St Judes of Dublin, 2005 Mayo and Connacht Junior Champions

Bonniconlon, 2006 Cork Junior Feis Sevens winners Aghabullogue and the 2005

Dublin JFC winners Portabello. First up for the Duns were Portabello. The

Rathmines team were making their debut in the competition but all did not

go to plan for the debutees. Dundrum destroyed them in a 5-06 to 0-04

trimuph. John Hurley weighed in with a hat trick of goals while Aaron Doyle

added the other two. A wait of an hour and a half followed before the Duns

took to the field against hometown favourites St Judes. In an exciting

encounter Dundrum's greater resillience shone through as they emerged

victorious on a 1-06 to 0-05 scoreline. Paul McComiskey grabbed 1-02,

Cormac Venney snatched 0-02 whilst Conor McShane and Philip Shields bagged

a point apeice. By now it was obvious that the searing heat was going to

have a big part to play in proceedings. During the breaks between the games

the Duns players kept themselves in the shade and took on plenty of water

to try to stave off the effects from the 20 degree plus temperatures. Then

at 2pm the Duns played out their penultimate group game. Bonniconlon were

the opposition and in a straightforward enough win Dundrum proved that they

were not going to be pushovers on a 3-05 to 0-05 scoreline. Paul McComiskey

top scored again with 2-02, Conor McShane fired in 1-01 while Jonathan

McMullan and Aaron Doyle converted a point each. The final League game was

a crucial one. The winner would progress to the Cup while the loser would

have to settle for the Shield. Both sides came in unbeaten but in a high

scoring epic the Duns reigned supreme as Aghabullogue crumbled to a 3-10 to

2-04 defeat which saw Dundrum finish top the Group. Paul McComiskey had

himself 1-03, Jonathan McMullan lofted over 0-04, John Hurley pitched in

with 1-01 and Kieran Walsh smashed in a penalty with Cormac Venney and

Conor McShane finishing off the game with late individual efforts. So

Dundrum now progressed to the Semi Final of the Cup competition. However,

they had to wait a ridiculous two hours before that game was played.

Nevertheless the boys perservered and at 5pm they took to the field to face

Mayo kingpins Tourmakeady who had topped Group 4 with wins over Eire Og

(Armagh), St Michael's (Meath), St Malachy's (Antrim), Kilcummin (Mayo) and

Ballinagore (Westmeath). In what was a very closely fought encounter the

men from the West Mayo Gaeltacht area edged through with a 1-10 to 0-10

victory. Dundrum began to tire and the Mayo men held enough in reserve to

progress. Nevertheless the Duns had excellent performances from Paul

McComiskey (0-03), Kieran Walsh (0-03), Conor McShane (0-01), Aaron Doyle

(0-01), Jonathan McMullan (0-01) and Cormac Venney (0-01). Tourmakeady went

on to win the Cup after disposing of fellow Mayo men Kilmeenan in a very

one sided Final. Kilmeenan had earlier defeated Colm Parkinson's Portlaoise

n the other Semi. Aghabullogue, who the Duns had defeated during the Group

stages, went on to win the Shield with a close win over Clonmore (Armagh).

All in all this was a fantastic day out for all involved in the club. The

ten players were magnificent and done everyone proud. Philip Shields was

probably the Duns most impressive player while Martin Coughlan showed that

age doesnt matter as he looked at the peak of his powers despite being in

the latter stages of the thirty somethings. John McShane and John Morgan

kept their charges well focused for the duration of the day while Liam

McKibben and Philip McGrattan assisted superbly once again. The

arrangements for the weekend ran smoothly enough and the committee must be

thanked for the work they put in to organising everything. On a lighter

note the St Judes clubhouse committee awarded Neil John McLaughlin the

Laoch An Lae for best performer at the bar. In all their years of staging

the competition they had never been requested to start serving at 9.30am

before. Incidentally Martin McKibbin, Conor McKibbin and Declan Rodgers

were also in contention for the award. To round the day off the organisers

from St Judes offered the Duns a chance to come back in 2007. This request

was greatly received by us and everyone looks forward to greater success

next time around.