Following a couple of months of co-ed practices at Hammond Park and a successful Spring League campaign, Atlanta opened the competitive season by traveling to Charleston, SC in April to participate in the Holy City Cup. The opening game of the tournament saw Atlanta lose to a strong Raleigh/Augusta team by a score of 6-7 to 2-7. The game marked the competitive debut of Brian Canavan for Atlanta who in a tremendous display at midfield covered every blade of grass. The second game featured a tenacious Hampton Roads team who fought hard to earn a draw with Atlanta with a scoreline of 3-5 to each team. The game featured excellent skill from Evan Lebois who used his pace to score three goals. The back line was anchored by rookies Kyle Hosmer & Brian Laughlin who showed exceptional bravery to put their bodies on the line throughout to thwart their opponents. The tournament allowed the team to shake off the rustiness of winter but left the feeling that this group had more in them.
Atlanta traveled the short distance up I-85 to take part in the Greenville Invitational tournament in May. The tournament opener saw Atlanta take on the hosts in what proved to be an excellent contest. Greenville started well before the middle triangle of Johnny O’Sullivan at center back and midfielders Brian Canavan & Andrew Kender began to dominate. The brick wall that is Andrew Dodd was introduced to Southeast hurling in this game which led to some bone crunching shoulders. The introduction of Paul Bradley at full forward provided a focal point for the offence which culminated in a crucial goal before half time. Atlanta won by a score line of 2-18 to 4-6 to get the team’s first win of 2014. The second game saw Atlanta lose to Raleigh/Augusta by 8-9 to 2-8 as the clinical goal taking of our opponents proved to be the difference between the teams.
Atlanta hosted the Peach Cup in June and entered two teams into our home tournament. The first Atlanta team defeated Nashville (3-6 to 1-1) but lost to Greenville (2-2 to 3-5) in the group stages. Adrian Kelly anchored midfield for this team while Dan Kuemmerle was outstanding in defense. Bill Hayward, only weeks after taking up the sport, was a difference maker up front using his pace and direct play to good effect. The second Atlanta team beat Charleston (2-9 to 3-2) but due to an injury time goal lost to eventual winners Orlando by a scoreline of 3-7 to 3-8 in the game of the tournament. The returning Trey O’Callaghan in the back line & Kieran Cronin operating at full forward stood out for this team. With a little fortune, it could have been an all Atlanta final however the consolation remained that both teams played some quality hurling on the day.
The Connollys Cup in Charlotte in July acted as the 2014 Southeast Hurling Championship tournament. In the opening game of the tournament, Atlanta defeated Charleston, winners of earlier tournaments in their home town & Greenville, 3-13 to 2-2 in the most complete performance of the season. As illustrated above, Atlanta brought intensity to this game to fight for every ball with Stuart Kelly and Phillip Groover to the fore. Gavin McKee, the hurling maestro from Keady in Co. Armagh, dominated the half forward line & supplied quality ball to Bill Hayward and Paul Bradley who provided the scoring threat in the inside line. Atlanta faced an uphill task as they took on a combined Raleigh/Orlando/Tampa team in the championship final. A couple of speeches for the ages from Paul Bradley & Brian Canavan in the huddle showed how much this game meant to this group. Some stellar play from Brian Canavan & Andrew Kender drove Atlanta into an early seven point lead. Heroic defending from Dan Kuemmerle & Kyle Hosmer along with excellent goalkeeping from Rob Kiely prevented an avalanche of goals in the first half as our opponents mounted a comeback. In the second half however the strength in depth of three clubs combined became evident as the game ended with a scoreline of 2-12 to 7-9 in favor of Raleigh/Orlando/Tampa. The loss in the final was very disappointing for this group but every player gave maximum effort throughout. Learning from earlier tournaments, the teamwork, passing and skill shown in this tournament was the best seen by an Atlanta hurling side in a number of years.
The final competitive game of the season saw Atlanta travel to Greenville to take on the locals. Greenville took full advantage of playing at home to start excellently. The home team ran up a lead in the opening quarter which proved to be the difference between the sides. Inspired by Ciaran Boland at midfield, who was playing his last game before returning to Ireland, and Peter Molloy and Paraic Greensmyth in defense Atlanta mounted a comeback in the closing stages but Greenville ran out winners by a scoreline of 4-11 to 3-12.
Led by the great efforts of first year players Brian Laughlin & Bill Hayward, the Fall period focused on an extensive recruitment campaign. Social media initiatives such as setting up a meetup.com group and a series of demonstration events called “Puc & Pints @ Piedmont Park” served to expand the group by 10+ players. As a result attendances from the hurling group at Friday night co-ed practices at Hammond Park were often double that of similar practices held in the Spring. The enthusiasm of our new players moreover motivated everyone for Fall League play. It was also heartening to see the return of some veteran players for the Fall.
The season closed out with an end of year inter-squad challenge match which was competitive throughout and featured no little skill as displayed above by Peter Molloy’s superb block. The athleticism and speed from newcomer Thomas Kwok in the middle of the park in particular featured prominently in this game.
Thanks to the hard work of everyone in this group, hurling in Atlanta is on a much firmer footing than it was a year ago. There is a lot of work still to do but the potential shown this year bodes well for the 2015 season.
Finally well done to all the players who proudly represented Atlanta in competitive games this season:
Brian Laughlin, Stuart Kelly, Rick Wilson, Kyle Hosmer, Andrew Kender, Cortez Beato, Evan Lebois, Josh Lyons, Paddy Lynch, David O’Donoghue, Vish Korukonda, Rob Kiely, Ciaran Boland, Johnny O’Sullivan, Paul Bradley, Andrew Dodd, Malcolm Harris, Dan Kuemmerle, Adrian Kelly, Peter Molloy, Andrew Wilson, Ciaran Lee, Bill Hayward, Phillip Groover, Trey O’Callaghan, Kieran Cronin, Gavin McKee, Paraic Greensmyth & Lance Miller.