The club is looking forward to hosting the 8th Cian Durkin tournament next Monday May 5th. The tournament is now firmly entrenched in the Ballyboden Hurling Calendar. It is organised to commemorate and celebrate the life of Cian, a young Ballyboden St Enda’s hurler who passed away at a tragically young age on December 1st 2006. Cian Durkin was a skilful hurler who played the game with a smile on his face. He played the game as it should be played.
This years tournament sees a novel twist with Ballyboden entering 2 teams as the 1999 boys have over 40 boys hurling and are keen to maintain that position. The Hawks, Eagles, Kestrels and Falcons are once more reunited. The A team took most of the limelight last season with the victories in the Dublin and National Feile competitions but our B team also had a magnificent Feile run and were defeated by a point by Erins Isle in the Division 3 final with a team made up of entirely 1999 born players. For the tournament we have picked two even teams and an initial practice match was a very even and high quality contest.
As is now traditional we are delighted to welcome St. Mary’s Mallow the club that had hosted Ballyboden in Cork in 2005 when Cian hurled in his national Feile. Na Piarsaigh from Cork are also making the long journey up from Cork city and we look forward to welcoming them to Ballyboden. From Tipperary Durlas Og are coming to join us and we are delighted to have the opportunity to return their hospitality as we played 3 games with them in May 2011 when we had a day trip to Tipp to watch Cork and Tipperary in the Munster Championship. The final team coming to join us is our neighbours and rivals Kilmacud Crokes who have stepped in at short notice due to a late withdrawal. We have had some great games with Crokes over the years and many of the boys know each other well from Dublin academy squads. It is an opportunity for us to return their hospitality too as their Under 13 tournament run in conjunction with their annual 7s tournament in September 2012 was the launch pad for last years national Feile victory.
We hope that a large number of members can drop in on Monday to see the games with the action kicking off at 11.30a.m.. There are further pool games at 12.30 and 1.30 and the 2 shield finals are at 3.00pm with the cup final at 4.00pm.
