Atlanta made the short journey up I-85 on May 16th to participate in the Greenville Cup alongside our hosts, Holy City Cup champions Hampton Roads and Charleston. The Atlanta Camogie team also continued their mission to spread the gospel of Camogie to every corner of the Southeast by playing an exhibition match against a combined Southeast selection.
In the opening game of the hurling tournament Atlanta took on our hosts Greenville. A quick start with goals from Seamus Byrnes, fed by good direct ball from Peter Molloy at full back. saw the visitors take a commanding lead. Andrew Dodd, in the unfamiliar environs of midfield, batted every ball down with authority in the air to break up the play. The team showed superb hustle demonstrated by Jamal Herrera O’Malley getting stuck into tackles and Brian Laughlin getting great hooks in and taking a sliotar to the throat for his troubles. Matt Gault dropped a thundering shoulder on his opponent to make space to hit a quick ground pass to set up Seamus Byrnes to finish to the net before half time. In the second half Greenville made a spirited come back. A pair of long range frees from expert marksman Peter Molloy and a couple of points from play from the returning Bill Hayward however helped temper Greenville’s momentum. The athleticism of Thomas Kwok & Matt Shand stood to the team as the game was closed out for an Atlanta victory by a scoreline of 6-9 to 4-10.
Atlanta qualified to meet a strong Hampton Roads team in the final. In line with recent trends, Atlanta grasped the momentum from the beginning through early goals from Seamus Byrnes. Paul Jones commanded the center back position throughout breaking up play after play to deliver quality ball into the forward line. The dogged tenacity of David Herrera O’Malley ensured that no easy ball was won by Hampton Roads in the middle of the park. John Hunt & Lance Miller won a lot of ball in the half forward line to provide the foundation for many attacks throughout the game including a move which resulted in Bill Hayward crashing the sliotar to the net. Long range frees from Peter Molloy again proved invaluable in this game to maintain Atlanta’s lead. Special mention however must be made to the heroic man-marking performance by Matt Shand who showed incredible grit to mark the best player on the Hampton Roads team. Atlanta closed out the game to defeat Hampton Roads by a score line of 5-5 to 2-10. Captain Patrick Lynch accepted the trophy on behalf to the team as the celebrations continued until late in the night back in Ri Ra’s Irish Pub in Atlanta.
Congrats to Jamal & David Herrera O’Malley who made their competitive debuts for Atlanta in this tournament. Special thanks also to the Atlanta Camogie squad for all their support on the day.
Hurling squad: Patrick Lynch, Andrew Dodd, Peter Molloy, Brian Laughlin, Lance Miller, Thomas Kwok, Jamal Herrera O’Malley, Seamus Byrnes, David Herrera O’Malley, John Hunt, Paul Jones, Matt Gault, Matt Shand, Bill Hayward & David O’Donoghue