Last Saturday's Féile will live in the memories of all that were present as Ballyboden Under 9 hurlers
completed an incredible and unlikely comeback to beat an excellent Portlaoise side by a point in the final.

Trailing 14 points to 5 at the break, a very late Ballyboden rally made the final score 22 points to 21.  The fabulous scenes at the end as the as subs, mentors, parents ran onto the pitch to celebrate with the team as the referee blew the final whistle. Indeed the games closing minutes were a frenzy both on and off the
field as the crowd roared the Ballyboden team on, many a time being asked to move back as they had crossed the sideline. Then as late on Ballyboden went into the lead, subs, mentors, Grannies, Grandada, Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers,Club members and even the passing dog walkers were yelling for the ref to blow up.

When he did it was mayhem. The sheer joy, unity and excitement of the boys as Kevin Desmond accepted the trophy was a sight to behold. Each and every player having contributed to the victory.

• The fine goals along the way by the brilliant Joe McGrath.
• The gritty tackling of the excellent Sean Lambert.
• The determination and scores of the dynamic Kevin Desmond
• The never say die play of the brilliant Robert Lambert
• The fantastic clearances by the mighty Conor Kelly
• The intelligent play of the tidy Cillian Kirwin
• The saves and later wonderful outfield play of the formidable Matthew Nolan
• The fantastic scores of the talented livewire Luke McDwywer
• The show of steel by the incredible Rúairí MacMathúna
• The last gasp interceptions by the gritty James Kinsella
• The skillful intelligent play of the irrespresible Tim Sweeney
• The defensive and attacking flair of the brilliant Harry Kelly
• The passing and pulling of the wonderful Diomha Murphy-O'Rourke
• The awesome commitment of the non stop Conor Killians
• The sheer dynamism of the superb David Ward
• The match winning saves of the glorious Michael Lovett
• The constant energy of the enterprising Ciaran O'Neill

The Sun shining the boys arrived and the parents dropped in made sandwiches, buns, cakes and other
delicacies to entertain our visitors.  The wonderful and most welcome visitors Ballyboden played host to, were Naas, Naomh Olaf and Portlaoise.

Each team was to play each other once with the top two teams in the Final and the remaing teams in the
Shield final.  In he first set of games Ballyboden took on their Naas counterparts.  Ballyboden started well but were unable to translate their pressure to points on the board, Naas had no such difficulty and despite a gallant Ballyboden effort Naas ran out 16-9 winners.

On the other pitch Whilst Portlaoise had a hard won 8 to 2 victory over Naomh Olafs.

Having lost the first game the pressure was no on the hosts as the took on Naomh Olafs. In a very tight game Ballyboden managed to come out on top 12 points to 11. On the other pitch Portlaoise had a 16 to 5 victory over Naas.

So now to reach the final Ballyboden would have to beat Portlaoise. The first half was a close run thing with
2 late scores by Portlaoise giveing them a 15 point to 9 lead. Ballyboden tried to come back but to no avail
 and lost by 28 points to 13. All was not lost however as Naomh Olaf had beaten Naas on the other pitch leaving  3 teams tied in second place.

As Ballyboden had scored more points than the others they came second and were into the final.
The boys cheered as the news was relayed. And so on to the final Ballyboden went..

Ballyboden: Robert Lambert, Joe McGrath (2-0), Conor Kelly (1 point for block), Cillian Kirwin(1pt for block), Matthew Nolan, Luke McDwyer (1-8), Kevin Desmond (2-8, including 1 block), Tim Sweeney, Harry Kelly (1pt for block), James Kinsella (1pt for block), Rúairí MacMathúna (1pt for block), Conor Killians, Dioma Murphy- O'Rourke, David Ward (1pt for block), Michael Lovett, Sean Lambert.