2011 County Final Athy V Carbury - The Dermot Bourke Cup

Congratulations to Athy, they earned & thoroghly deserve their victory.
Commiserations to Carbury

Well done Athy,Eaton and Reynolds were class,Hard luck Carbury,you gave it your all

Well done Athy. As a neutral Newbridge man in Conleths yesterday it was very refreshing to see two good teams going at it with very little dirty play. Both teams went out to win the match playing their own game and style of football. It was great to watch.

The scoring was excellent given the blustery conditions. That Athy full forward line will cause any team in the country problems and proved to be the difference yesterday. All three appear to have very bright futures as well as the two lads in the middle. However, the Carbury full back line will be very disappointed. Time after time, they were second to the ball (by yards!!) allowing their men to get possession turn and attack.

I dont want to take anything away from what was a marvelous game, played in great spirits. The better team won. Best of luck in the Leinsters Athy.

Id echo that Bricktamland. An enjoyable game for the neutrals to watch, played in a positive spirt and very little dirt. The Athy brand of football is exceptionally good at times but Carbury will be feeling bad today for allowing them to play their preferred style.
I wont jump on the bandwagon of over praising yet. Athy were in the right place to capitalise when their neighbours caused shock of the championship. They have some lively forwards and will trouble most teams.

I wouldnt be shouting for the CB to do anything with regard to young Feely either. If he wants to go play soccer for Bohemiens - a club who only a few months ago were close to bankrupcy - well he has to be allowed to make his own decision. County footballers are very VERY well looked after these days, I dont know if leagie of Ireland soccer players are even semi pro anymore, are they?

Regardless, I hope Athy enjoy their celebrations and I hope they go give Edenderry a good shot.

what was the story with Eaton wearing the "Ahy 2011 County Champions" tshirt in all the photos?

is there a printing shop nearby to Conleths?

well done to Athy though in fairness

FuturesWhite wrote:

I wouldnt be shouting for the CB to do anything with regard to young Feely either. If he wants to go play soccer for Bohemiens - a club who only a few months ago were close to bankrupcy - well he has to be allowed to make his own decision. County footballers are very VERY well looked after these days, I dont know if leagie of Ireland soccer players are even semi pro anymore, are they?

Well I'd guess if he decides to go down the league of Ireland route his ambitions wouldn't end with playing for Bohemians. Look at the likes of Kevin Doyle, Wes Hoolahan and Seamus Coleman who all started out playing for League of Ireland clubs and are all now making a very comfortable living playing soccer in England.

As much as the GAA has to offer a young fella, we can't offer that sort of opportunity.

Congrats to Athy and its great to see the minor success of the last 3 years coming though to senior ranks
Too often in the past we have seen clubs (Athy included) with strong under age teams but the succ ess never seems to follow on. I wonder in Athy's case this year is it because a lot of the lads are from strong GAA families that the success has followed on.
Again as a neutral I enjoyed the game yesterday and it was great to see both teams play an attacking brand of football and fair play to Carbury in playing football to the end, but I think they can have no complaints as the best "TEAM" won.
As regards Feely, I would worry more bout the Aussies coming after him that him playing mickey mouse league of ireland soccer, he seems to have all the atributes for the Aussie game.
Well done to both minor teams, to Celbridge on winning their first minor title and to Castldermot on a brave display but they can take consolation in reaching the Minor A final for a middle of the road Intermediate club, the future looks bright.

Here's a report of the game with a few quotes from Mick Foley. There's nothign like winning the club and it showed again with him yesterday.

http://www.daraghoconchuir.ie/blog.php?id=1420

I must say, I really enjoyed the game and thought Athy could have won by more, they always had the extra gear but Carbury never packed it in and sure that's what got them to the final. Terry Rossiter was a revelation, the best I've seen him play when the chips are down.

I don't think the worry about Feely is League of Ireland - it's what might come after that. Apparently he's very close to the Bohs team now, so he's probably going to give that a couple of years at least to see if he can get a move cross-channel. There's no way he'd give up an inter-county career with a challenging team for L of I alone, even if he comes from a soccer-mad city. BTW he's a gifted hurler as well who played for Waterford underage and they were gutted when the family moved to Athy. He's a glorious footballer.

Mind you totalgaa, you're right about the AFL... with his fielding, skills and engine, he'd be made for the modern running game down there. Hopefully the scouts continue to concentrate on Laois!

feely very impressive the way he leaps into the air but on numerous occasions yesterday he dropped the ball id say he only caugght one clean ball maybe two but got his hands on alot in the air maybe it was just an off day in the hands department

as someone asked before, are Kildare TV gone? they were firece handy last year when I couldnt make it down to county semi and finals. no sign of that mad blonde yolk running around st conleths asking annoying questions yesterday??

Surely if he was going to make it as a soccer player in England, he would've been picked up before now.
I would be inclined to agree with the worry about a possible interest from the AFL and Ricky Nixon's new venture.
But good luck to him, the choice is his to make.

I think most guys who progress through a clubs underage structure would come from a "GAA family". The joy in Conleth's Park yesterday was no different to the joy seen when the likes of Moorefield, Sarsfields, Celbridge or Larries won the senior title. I did really feel for Carbury yesterday aswell, there are a lot of died in the wool GAA people down around Derrinturn who live and breath the club. Hopefully they will get another crack at it in the near future.

Athy........well lets see what the future holds for them. Recent new comers to the senior title have found it very hard to build on their first wins. I woulld pay yesterdays entry fee alone to watch themselves and the Moores go head to head in the championship. Moorefields defenders pitted against Athys forwards, what a battle that would be.

Loads of Pints wrote:

what was the story with Eaton wearing the "Ahy 2011 County Champions" tshirt in all the photos?

is there a printing shop nearby to Conleths?

well done to Athy though in fairness

I saw this last night, im sure it must have been a mistake.

No team would ever be that over confident, as to have tshirts already printed.

Id be more inclined to think it was a fan who had it done and gave it to eaton to wear.

I answered this before. KildareTV still exists but I think people were under the impression it was a Kildare GAA TV, it's not, it's an independently-owned business. I remember Padraig Ashe saying at the time he hoped to work more closely with them. The club championship games last year were on a trial basis I think and I presume the county board doesn't have money to stump up for games to be covered now. They have done things like Rainbow's testimonial and interviews with Dermot, Geezer etc, presumably off their own bat.

As for Feely not being picked up in England yet, there are loads of lads that are going over now in their 20s... Kevin Doyle is just one I can think of, there are plenty others, Conor Sammon, Wes Hoolahan, Keith Fahey. He's far from too old.

I'd agree that his handling wasn't as good yesterday as other days but I would point out that he is 18 or 19 and is likely to be a different prospect at that level with some more meat on his bones. I know the first time I saw him play for his school in The Heath in his first year in Athy - think he was 15, and he remains the best underage footballer I've seen in Kildare in the past decade... in my opinion obviously

pretty sure that blonde one from kildare tv was in conleths park for the junior final on saturday

A fine bit of stuff she is too

Here's a more in depth look at Athy which might be of interest

http://www.daraghoconchuir.ie/blog.php?id=1426

Well done Athy. The feeling in Carbury is that the two goals left us with too much to do. I hope ye enjoyed the Carbury team visit to your club on Saturday to celebrate with ye. Hopefully we will be back.