Hurling Clubs Pulled Out All The Stops In A Well-Catered Championship

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Kerry hurling cake-off 6

Mike O’Halloran on tea-making duty…for himself.

Mike O’Halloran says talks food and hurling on a mouth-watering weekend in prospect…

THE semi-finals of the Garvey’s SuperValu Kerry Senior Hurling Championship are taking place next weekend in Abbeydorney and they will generate a certain amount of interest, I guess.

But the spotlight will also be on which club catering crew came out on top in ‘The Great Kerry Hurling Cake Off’.

There has been discussion on the ‘The Great Kerry Hurling Cake Off’ on the airwaves when Deirdre Walsh spoke to some of the caterers on her programme ‘Talkabout’ on Radio Kerry.

The Twitter machine and facebook has also featured the battle of the cakes.

The competition has been fierce since I first commented here on the fare being provided by the caterers in Abbeydorney, Causeway, Kilmoyley, Lixnaw and Ballyduff hurling clubs.

I have signed up for a ‘Waistline Reduction Course’ such has been my dedication to the judging of the competition.

My efforts to remain impartial in the judging of the competition have been severely compromised by the offers bribes and other inducements.

The bribes began in Lixnaw where I was presented with a full plate of Mikado biscuits, that was topped later in the day when I arrived in Kilmoyley and was presented a full unopened packet of Mikados, in a brown paper bag.

Offers of prayers at two or three Masses were offered by the caterers of a club that shall remain nameless.

I have been strong enough to resist all these inducements, but there is a limit to my resistance and if one of the clubs could come up with, perhaps two Lower Hogans for the hurling and football All Irelands then their fare would more than likely be in the top two, (everybody has their price).

The competition began in Abbeydorney at the first game and on that night O’Dorney provided the most delicious sandwiches and since then I haven’t tasted a better sandwich anywhere so they will definitely take that prize.

Causeway had without doubt the best spread and presentation, added to that they were also prepared to allow fierce rivals to drink tea and eat apple pie on their premises, so Causeway must be favourites in the presentation category.

Kilmoyley came along with fare that was all home made, I was fairly sceptical of that claim so I visited Geraldine Collins’ kitchen and she produced an apple pie made from scratch in no time at all. Kilmoyley are the clear favourites in the home made category, despite I having to make my own tea.

I went home to Ballyduff one evening to see Kilmoyley defeat Abbeydorney, the caterers in the “home of hurling” produced the most exquisite selection of chocolate biscuits and are definite winners in this category.

The crew in Lixnaw had two bites of the cherry and learned from their mistake the first day where marks were deducted when I was forced to wash my own cup.

The second day they excelled in every aspect and their chocolate brownies puts them ahead by a mile in the Brownie section.

Jim Garvey of Garvey’s SuperValu has kindly provided a gift for each of the five clubs and we will present the caterers with their gifts on Saturday evening in Abbeydorney.

We had great fun attending the games in the North Kerry venues and The Great Kerry Hurling Cake Off was a bit of fun, it is important to remember that the refreshments provided by the clubs was a very important part of the whole welcome package provided by the host clubs.

The gifts provided by Garveys SuperValu is a way of thanking the behind the scenes volunteers for their work.

The movement of the championship games to North Kerry has been a complete success, with every detail that was necessary to facilitate the games carried out to perfection by the club volunteers.

The condition of the pitches, car parking, patron safety and comfort left very little to be desired and each club can be justly proud of their efforts.

It all augurs well for the plans to host Féile in Kerry as well as the Div 1B matches in the new year.
There is no doubt but a crowd of one thousand people at a North Kerry venue creates a better atmosphere than a crowd of the same size in Tralee.

The talk now among hurling fans is why shouldn’t the championship games continue to be played in North Kerry in the future with perhaps the final being played in Austin Stacks Park.

The discussion on the future venues is one for another day but the Abbeydorney, Ballyduff, Causeway, Kilmoyley and Lixnaw can be extremely proud of their hosting of the games so far.

Apparently there is still debate as to where the final is to be played. Causeway is the venue at present I am told, but I carried out a straw poll in the last few days and the majority favoured Abbeydorney; Causeway has hosted the final before.

Wherever the final is played, the Kerry hurling family can be proud of their efforts which made the 2015 championship a very special experience.

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