Atlanta made the short journey to South Carolina on Saturday, May 17th 2014 to compete in the annual Greenville Invitational Tournament. Atlanta opened the tournament taking on our hosts Greenville Gaels. Home advantage was evident as Greenville got off to a bright start as their speed & fitness came to the fore down through the middle. After a shaky start, Atlanta came into the game as Ciaran Boland & Dan Kuemmerle started to get on top of their individual battles in the backline and Johnny O’Sullivan won an amount of possession while sitting deep in the center back role. Atlanta’s midfield of Brian Canavan & Andrew Kender started to get on top and a huge long range point from Johnny O’Sullivan led the revival. The introduction of Paul Bradley at full forward made a significant impact culminating in a well taken goal from Bradley to give Atlanta a four point lead at the break. In the second half Atlanta started as they left off and built up a big lead following a well taken goal from Brian Canavan. Andrew Dodd made some telling contributions in defense with some vigorous defending throughout the half. Greenville showed great heart to battle to the end and score some well taken goals in the closing stages. At the final whistle, Atlanta won by a score line of 2-18 to 4-6 to get the team’s first win of 2014.
In the second game of day, Atlanta took on Raleigh/Augusta for the second time this season. Atlanta started well however were undone by some excellently taken goals by Raleigh/Augusta in the opening stages. Atlanta created some excellent opportunities to score goals to get back into this game however they were stymied by the fantastic goalkeeping of Raleigh/Augusta throughout this game. Malcolm Harris got Atlanta’s best score of the day midway through the first half where he struck a beautiful point from forty yards out from the left sideline. Led by the bravery of Kyle Hosmer in the half back line, who at one stage blocked the sliotar with his chest when his hurl could not reach, Brian Canavan & Andrew Kender Atlanta fought hard in the second half. A long range point from Andrew Kender and a goal from close range from Paul Bradley resulted from this spirited play. Atlanta scored a further consolation goal right at the final whistle after Evan Lebois crashed the sliotar to the top of the net after a well worked move. The final score showed a comprehensive win for Raleigh/Augusta by a scoreline of 8-9 to 2-8 as their clinical goal taking proved to be the difference between the teams.
Well done to Andrew Dodd & Malcolm Harris who made their competitive debuts for Atlanta in this tournament bringing to eight the number of new players introduced to tournament play thus far in 2014. Special thanks to our photographer Janan Awad and all our supporters who travelled to Greenville for the day.
Squad: Rob Kiely, Brian Laughlin, Ciaran Boland, Johnny O’Sullivan, Kyle Hosmer, Brian Canavan, Andrew Kender, Evan Lebois, Josh Lyons, Patrick Lynch, Paul Bradley, Andrew Dodd, David O’Donoghue & Malcolm Harris
Congrats to Charleston who defeated Raleigh/Augusta 5-2 to 2-16 in a wonderful game of hurling in the final. Thanks to the Irish Pub and Greenville Gaels who hosted the tournament after-party.