The U - 13 hurlers from Castlebar Mitchels took part in the Kilmacud Crokes Tournament on All - Ireland weekend, where they rubbed shoulders with the cream of the countries young hurlers.

The group stages consisted of games against Thurles, last years winners, Ballyboden St. Endas, and Na Piarsaigh of Cork. The standard of hurling was very high but the Castlebar boys gave a very good account of themselves. Their first game against Thurles was highly competitive and Mitchels matched their opponents for much of the game. The greater craft of the Tipperary team eventually won out.

In their second game against Ballyboden the scoring was very close in the first half and an upset was very much a possibility. However the Dublin lads pulled away in the second period to take the spoils. Final game against Na Piarsaigh was a real David & Goliath affair. The Castlebar boys stuck to their task well and showed some excellent touches before finally giving way to the Cork outfit, who were the eventual tournament winners.

The experience of this type of competition will stand to Castlebar team in the coming year, and they proved that with exposure against the top teams they can raise their game to even higher levels. Best performers on the day were Darragh O'Malley, Colm Morris, Nicholas Quinn, Michael Clune & Tony Sweeney.

The support of the following parents who travelled to the event was much appreciated by the team mentors- Alacoque Gavin, Maureen Lane, Kathleen Sweeney, Steve & Joanne Lowe

PANEL; Michael Clune, Padraig Condon, Gerard Duffy, Keith Fehilly, Alan Gavin, Barry Lane, Jonathan Lowe, Damian Mc Hale, Colm Morris, Richard O'Dea, Darragh O'Malley, Ciaran Quinn, Nicholas Quinn, Tony Sweeney, Ethan Tuffy, Niall Walsh, John Welby.