On Saturday, May 2nd, in glorious sunshine, the Geraldines U15 boys took part in the Louth U15 Féile Division 2 competition, proudly hosted on our home grounds.

The team was drawn in a tough group alongside Newtown Blues, Glen Emmets and Cooley Kickhams. With the Louth senior footballers facing Dublin later that evening in the Leinster semi-final, it was an early start for everyone, with the opening game throwing in at 9:30am.

Geraldines began their campaign against Newtown Blues and made a bright start with two early points. However, Newtown responded strongly with a goal and a point to edge ahead. It remained a highly competitive and evenly contested encounter throughout. Geraldines had a late opportunity to take the lead with a penalty, but unfortunately it was not converted, and the boys narrowly lost out by a single point to the eventual tournament winners. Tom Johnston was outstanding throughout, scoring 1-2 in a hard-fought 1-3 to 1-2 defeat.

The second group game against Glen Emmets proved to be another close battle. Geraldines were slow to settle and fell behind early, but scores from Harry Smith, Tom Johnston and James Durnin kept the boys firmly in contention. A strong finish, combined with an excellent defensive display led by Danny Rochford and Daithí Duggan, helped Geraldines battle back to secure a deserved one-point victory.

The final group game against Cooley Kickhams followed a similar pattern, with Cooley starting strongly before Geraldines responded impressively in the second half. Aaron Hoey-Rogers scored two excellent goals as the boys produced a determined display to run out deserved winners on a scoreline of 2-4 to 1-3. The victory secured a place in the semi-final against fellow group winners St Joseph’s.

The semi-final proved to be another thrilling contest, with very little separating the sides throughout. This was arguably Geraldines’ strongest performance of the day, as the boys raced into a two-point lead and created several goal-scoring chances that unfortunately just drifted wide. Despite a tremendous effort, St Joseph’s edged the game by 1-3 to 0-4, bringing Geraldines’ Féile journey to an end.

The competition came at a difficult time for the squad, with several players unavailable through injury and others only recently returning from long layoffs. Even so, the boys showed incredible spirit, determination and resilience throughout the day, and there is no doubt that with a full squad available, the outcome could easily have been different.

Most importantly, every Geraldines player gave a huge effort across all four matches. The commitment, teamwork and determination shown by the boys on their home pitch was a credit to themselves, their families and the club.

A special mention must also go to the U14 players who stepped up during the competition. They were a credit to their coaches and showed great confidence and ability, proving more than capable of competing against players a year older than themselves.

Aaron Hoey, Aidan Soraghan, Alex Gray, Aran Broe, Ben King, Danny Rochford, Darragh O’Neill, Harry Smith, James Durnin, Logan McGahon, Niall Fennessy, Richard Whately, Ronan Henry, Senan O’Connor, Tom Johnston, Zach Healy, Daithí Duggan, Alex Gill, Cian Matthews, Jacob Lauaki, Harry Stewart, John Wogan and Isaac Henry.

Thanks also to the Geraldines U15 management team of Vincent, Pauric and Brian for their continued hard work and dedication throughout the season.