There was great excitement a number of months back when word came through of our invite to attend the infamous St, Patricks U11 Hurling tournament which is run annually in the North Kilkenny hurling stronghold of Ballyragget, The tournament which is in existence over 10 years provides a huge opportunity for clubs from different counties to experience a full day of hurling in a fun like competitive environment.

The competition was made up of 2 groups of 5 clubs -

Group 1: Cuala (Dublin), Oulart the Ballaght (Wexford), Sixmilebridge (Clare), Sarsfields (Cork), Dicksboro (Kilkenny)

Group 2: Athenry (Galway), Naas (Kildare), Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin), Silvermines (Tipperary), Patrickswell (Limerick)

The rules were simple - No Solo Running with Games 10 minutes per half with unlimited rolling subs across the matchday panel.

We set out at 07:30 for the trip down and after a quick stretch at the Obama Plaza we were in Ballyragget for 09:00. There were 2 pitches setup adjacent to each other with 1 pitch dedicated to each group. Each club had their designated area around the pitch and this was to be our home for the next 5 hours.

Our first games was against Cuala from Dublin - Our boys were slow to start and Cuala hit us for an early goal. They had already a game under their belt so it was the second half before we got going to the rhythm of the tournament and hit a hat trick of goals to run out winners on a score of 3-02 to 2-00.

Following early observations around the tournament grounds word was out that Dicksboro and Sarsfields were the teams to beat - as luck would have it these were our next two upcoming games which were falling back to back. Against Sarsfields it was nip and tuck throughout before the Glanmire club finished strongly to win by 2-05 to 1-01. This left us with a Five minute turnaround to face the defending Champions Dicksboro who knew we were on the backfoot following our last result and hit us for a few early goals before beating us by 3-07 to 1-01.

After a break for some lunch word reached us that Oulart had beaten Sarsfields so we were back in the shakeup for the tournament if we could win our last game and record a good scoring average. This gave the boys a huge lift and excitement took over as they got ready to face the Wexford kingpins. While the management tried to manage their expectations the boys hit the ground running from the thrown in rattled the back of the Slaneysiders net 4 times to record a 4-02 to 1-00 win.

This left the group standings as

Dicksboro (8 Points / 4 Wins / 0 Draws / 0 Losses)

Sarsfields (4 Points / 2 Wins / 0 Draws / 2 Losses)

Sixmilebridge (4 Points / 2 Wins / 0 Draws / 2 Losses)

Oulart the Ballagh (3 Points / 1 Win / 1 Draw / 2 Losses)

Cuala (1 Point / 0 Win / 1 Draw / 3 Losses

Following a score calculation our score difference fell just short of Sarsfields who advanced to the semi final to face Naas while Dicksboro faced Silvermines. Following our positioning on the table we were drawn to face Kilmacud Crokes in a 5th/6th place play off. After a relocation to Pitch 2 we had a quick warmup before taking up position to take on the Stillorgan based Crokes. After a super start we led by 2-02 to no score at half time. Crokes really upped the ante in the second half to draw level before the Bridge boys who were determined to finish on a high hit 1-01 without reply to see out the game.

While 5th place out of 10 was a very respectable outcome for our team we can take great encouragement that the 2 teams from our group ended up in the final - For the record Dicksboro ran out winners on a score of 3-02 to 0-03.

Huge Thanks to St Patricks GAA Ballyragget for the invite to what was an excellent tournament - the organization and hospitality shown by the hosts was the best it could be with event a dry day organised!

Thanks to all the parents who travelled down and supported our boys and to the coaches who continue to provide them with guidance on Social, Life and Hurling Skills. We truly are all living our best days at the moment. On the way home we met up in the Obama for some refreshments - we had stopped there 9 hours earlier for a stretch pre tournament while on the way home it was for a snack box and our own version of the Sunday game reliving the great moments from 100 Minutes of Hurling action below in Ballyragget. See you all at training tonight.

Some Photos from the Day ...

IceMan doing Yoga between games to keep his mind clear for making quick decisions on the sideline.

John Toomey getting help with his homework for school

One of the big benefits of an all day tournament is people bring lots of sweets!

There were hurleys broken ... Aidan K

Staying hydrated is essential ....

Only one man had a licence to drive the cooler ....

And finally the Bridge Boys on tour ... Well done to these boys who behaved so admirably both on and off the field and represented our great club with such pride. Won together, lost together and most of all had lots of fun together. Bridge Abú.