It was a challenging start to the year due to constant rain and waterlogging of the pitch and it was mid May before we were able to host any home matches or even train at home. Training locations were challenging for our coaches at this time, luckily St Marys, CBS and Glenart were very helpful and must be praised for being so accommodating.
Every player made us proud this year. Táimid bródúil as a gcuid éachtaí! (we are proud of their achievements)
Our Saturday academy started of the year encouraging all children from Arklow and surrounding areas. What we particularly were happy to see was all the older youth players coming out and helping the coaches with the younger kids showing us that they care about Arklow Rocks, and while they want to win medals and trophies, they also want their club to succeed, and they are happy to share their skills with the younger players. An-mhaith, tá said iontach.
We had a fabulous day for Lán a gClub in June and welcomed over 80 students to our pitch to have a blitz, use a cupla focail and also enjoy the lovely fruit our Healthy Clubs team supplied.
Our summer camp was the highlight of the year with children young and old had great fun playing hurling and the traditional end of camp water fight and ice cream was as always a big attraction.
Our juvenile chairperson will be going into more detail about each team but before he does, we would like to thank our young Whistlers who ensured all the younger games and blitzes were played well and fairly this year. Another year of them acting as great ambassadors for our Club.
After a good year in 2023 we started off the juvenile year with a lot of optimism and many returning young players. We started off our Academy in March unfortunately due to the weather we had to run it for the first few months in St Marys school. We were happy with the turn out of children but we need to increase our efforts for 2025.
Happily our youth players have continued to come and support our coaches with our new young recruits which is great to see.
Unfortunately, the weather caused a lot of postponement of home matches with the first juvenile fixture not played at home until mid May.
We had another year of the Easter bunny arriving at the academy to the excitement of our academy boys and girls, many chocolate easter eggs eaten by both children and a few of the helpers.
Summer Camp
We had a wonderful three days in August when we hosted our Annual Summer Camp, as always this was a great success, again this can only be the great event it is because of the time given up by our volunteer coaches and admins, and for this we are eternally grateful. All the kids had a ball, with everyone going home happy, having had great fun.
Young Whistlers
We would also like to thank again our young Whistlers who ensured all the young games were played well and fairly. We hope they continue to referee for us next year.
U7 Hurling 2024
The year started back after St Patricks Day and whilst numbers were low with only 7 or 8 young hurlers enthusiasim was never low. Our first Blitz was on Friday 10th of May in Aughrim and great fun was had by all. We then had a home Blitz in June and there was a great turn out of support. We were joined by some of the U8 Camogie team and they were excellent.
At the end of July we had our first Monster Blitz in Ballinakill and with the help of our U8 Camogie girls we fielded 2 teams in a great day of hurling. Our second home blitz took place on the 30th of August and again we were joined by the U8 Camogie and there was great support for all involved. In September we had a bring your parent/guardian to hurling day for our U7 & U8 hurling and camogie boys & girls. This was the highlight of the year for most of our players and despite a few heavy tackles from parents everyone enjoyed the morning.
Our last Blitz of the year in Ballinakill saw our young boys and girls battle it out against Kilcoole and Bray. There was some great hurling skills on display and despite the weather conditions everyone enjoyed themselves.
I want to thank all the boys and girls that lined out for the club this year at u7 and their parents who supported them throughout the year. I would like to thank the U8 camogie coaches who helped out with training and matches. I would finally like to thank all the young whistlers who officiated at blitz either in our field or in Ballinakill and made the games more enjoyable.
U9 2024
The u9 hurling team enjoyed a very successful year. They fielded two teams to all the Go Games this year. They concluded a great year with an end of season trip to the Stables in Gorey and had a great time together showing they’re great friends both on and off the field. The future of the Rocks is bright with these young hurlers. A huge congratulations to all involved in this successful season.
U11 2024 Boys
| Panel Total: 27 Boys | |
| 4 | 2015 boys |
| 10 | 2014 boys |
| 13 | 2013 boys |
Excellent player retention from 2023 with the addition of 4 new players.
Head Coach: Ciarán Mellon
Coaches: Paul Guilfoyle
Declan Keogh
Admin: Kim O Leary
Training:
Training commenced in January and ran until end of October with two sessions per week. Player attendance was excellent throughout the year with good attitude and effort across the board.
Coaches and Admin attendance at training was also excellent.
Wicklow Go Games
For the second consecutive year, the club entered two teams in U11 Wicklow leagues, playing 18 games.
The teams consisted of a mix of 9, 10- and 11-year-olds.
Green team played in Division 1 winning all of their games.
White team played in Division 2 winning 5 of their games.
Monster Blitz – Ballinakill
U12 Player Pathway League
All fixtures fulfilled – winning all games.
Overall, we noted a steady improvement in hurling skills as the year progressed among all the boys.
Highlights of 2024
- June: U11’s participated in the Pat Shiels tournament hosted by Naomh Éanna, Gorey in what can only be described as a memorable day for all involved. The boys competed against James Stephens (Kilkenny), Shelmaliers (Wexford), Blackwater (Wexford) and Naomh Éanna (Wexford). The boys showed off their array of skills and proudly represented the club against a host of the country’s best.
- July: U11’s travelled to Dublin to participate in the Croke Park Experience Day. The boys played against Crookedwood (Westmeath). The boys took on the persona of their idols and put on a mesmerising display of hurling. The lads had a great day.
- July: Away matches to Blackwater and Castletown. Exciting games, enjoyed by the teams.
- September: Seamie Murphy Tournament, Ferns. Another great day for the lads playing against, Buffers Alley(Wexford), Cuala (Dublin), O Loughlin Gaels(Kilkenny) and the hosts Ferns.
- October: U11 Boys travelled to the annual Kilmacud Crokes festival of hurling in UCD where they competed in the A division against Clairnbridge (Galway), Naomh Olaf (Dublin) ,Ballycastle (Antrim) and Naas (Kildare). This was another amazing day for all our young Rocks stars. Well done to all.
Team Building
On a sunny August Saturday morning the boys completed a very enjoyable sponsored walk up Croghan. The money raised was used to fund their well-deserved end of year outing to Hidden Valley in Rathdrum.
A fun-filled day was had by all in Hidden Valley as they celebrated a very enjoyable year.
We wrapped up with a fun Pizza evening.
A huge thank you to the parents. Without their support and encouragement none of this would be possible.
Overall morale is very high in the camp. Most importantly the lads are really enjoying their hurling. Going forward we have an excellent foundation to build on. We are all looking forward to next season.
U13 Boys 2024
After such a great year in 2023 we started off the juvenile year with a lot of optimism and many returning young players which we were really happy about.
We ran a programme of open play for anyone who wanted to give hurling a try and we were thrilled with the success and number of children that turned up, even when the weather was against us the young boys and girls came out to play, many thanks to St Marys for letting us use their facilities when we were water logged. Luckily our youth players also came out to help teach our new recruits which made it a fun event that everyone enjoyed.
Our U13 Boys, started training in February on the pitch at St. Marys. We started our competitive year on the 30th of March kicking of the spring league away to St. Pats in Wicklow we played 5 teams in this competition, St. Pats, Carnew, Western Gaels, Bray Emmett’s and Michael Dwyer’s on a home and away basis. We then moved on to a 4 team championship playing Michael Dwyer’s, Bray, and Carnew again following the groups stages we played Michael Dwyer’s in the County Semi Final, coming out the wrong side of a very competitive game in which the lads played their hearts out, we moved from here onto the County Shield final where we lined up against Bray Emmett’s and again after a very competitive hard fought game the boys came out on top. We travelled and played a number of challenge games over the year and I’d like to thank some of our neighbours in county wexford who provide stiff opposition to the lads and provided great experience and learning to the team. On the 26th of May we had a great day out as a panel when we travelled to Nowlan Park in Kilkenny for the Leinster Senior hurling championship, this proved to be a great day out and very enjoyable for everyone involved.
The lads benefitted this year from consistent and fixed training days and times and this could not have been possible without the help of fellow coaches. My thanks to Chris, Conor, Danny, David and Philip. A special thanks to our admin Lorraine who kept us all in order. To the parents the year would not be possible without your commitment to the lads, in bringing them to training session and matches, thank you.
U15 2024
Our U15 Hurling team comprised of a few players at the 15 age limit and mostly our U13 team playing up. We were in the Division 2 of the U15 hurling league for the start of the year and were competitive throughout the league. Whilst we struggled for numbers, sometimes only having the bare 15 players, we more than made up for it in effort. We started the year with a win in our own pitch against Eire Og Greystones who like us fielded a team of U15 and U13 players combined.
Unfortunately this year we were unable to field a team in Feile due to players not being available but hopefully this will not be the case for 2025.
We then had a run of fixtures home and away and the team showed some fine skills and heart with 2 wins and 2 losess. We then played 1 more game in the league at home and this was an evenly contested match against St Pat’s of Wicklow and they came away with a 2 point win. This was our last fixture for a while as the U15 Championship turned into a farce with teams around the County refusing to play in the format that had been decided at the start of the year.
In the end there were 2 groups with ourselves, Eire Og Greystones, Bray Emmetts, Michael Dwyers & St Pat’s Wicklow in Group 1 and Tomacork, Luke O’Tooles, Parnell Gaels, St Joseph’s & Western Gaels in Group 2.
Whilst we competed in some of the games and were narrowly beaten there were other matches against the likes of Bray Emmetts where the gap in players at the 15 year age grade showed. Where we had 3 or 4 boys at the upper age level other teams had 11 or 12 and could bring on subs. Despite this the Rocks true to form never gave up and I can honestly say that every one of them tried their best.
On Sunday 22nd September we played Western Gaels in a Shield final in Ballinakill. Western Gaels were victorious on the day but they had to earn their victory against a dogged and determined Rocks team that stayed in the fight til the final whistle. A huge thank you to all the boys that togged out this year and represented the club. A big thank you to John Casey, Vincent Byrne, Danny Long & Connor Long who helped out with training and matches. An even bigger thank you to all the parents and supporters who came to matches and cheered the team on.