Leinster Junior Interpros, Cork

Congratulations to all the Leinster Junior Interprovincial teams (containing a number of ALSAA players) that travelled to Cork last weekend and won the Victor Barna shield (again!), thus preventing Tommy from having to paint his wall! His moving speech at the start helped us on our way but this competition was something of a disappointment compared to other years. I think we made the most of it, giving it our all and (if they don’t mind me saying) giving Munster a good whipping in all age groups except for the U12s! Here, it must be noted that they have a number of up-and-coming players that will certainly cause trouble in the future!

Missing two of the four provinces certainly dropped the calibre of this event. Connacht explained they couldn’t field teams, an understandable issue seeing as they have only one club and it is fairly young and still developing. Ulster decided to drop out on hearing there would be no Connacht teams, deeming it would be futile to compete. (Kind of funny that this didn’t stop them in previous years when even the possibility of there being a Connacht team didn’t exist.)

After the one match between the two provinces, there was a 'fun tournament' entailing American doubles. Well done to Sam Hanley and Aisling Healy on winning this event! Later, the two provinces met in the Leisureplex for some Q'zar and games, without much trouble as far as I'm aware. This only began when the adults were having some fun of their own in the hotel and the management had to frequently ask them to ever so politely shut up! A good weekend all the same, in the end I think! Let's hope next year all provinces can show their faces so Leinster can rightfully beat all the country and claim the shield for the third year running! ;)