The 2017 Feile na nGael took place from the 16-18th June 2017 & what a fantastic Feile weekend we had! The good weather arrived in time & the weekend was all the better because of it.  On Friday the 16th, we travelled to Danesfort where we met our visiting team, Na Piarsaigh of Cork before we took on Westport & Danesfort in rounds 1 & 2 of Division 3, Group A. We then travelled back to Piltown & the Na Piarsaigh boys met their host families – following introductions & a quick puck-around, the boys headed to their host family homes for the night while the Na Piarsaigh campers set up on the pitch & putt.

Saturday morning (the 17th June), Piltown took on Na Piarsaigh at home before both teams headed to Ferns, Piltown for a Shield quarterfinal and Na Piarsaigh for a Cup quarterfinal. Both teams were in the winning way and qualified for their respective semifinals on Sunday morning.

Saturday evening, the juvenile & camogie clubs hosted a BBQ for Na Piarsaigh, Scariff-Ogonnelloe and our club members. It was a wonderful relaxing evening with an abundance of delicious food followed by great music & song, led by our own Declan Duggan. James Flynn kept the beat going with a disco for our juvenile members & visitors.

The boys had an early start on Sunday morning with both teams heading back to Ferns for their semifinals. Unfortunately, we bowed out in the semi-final to a strong team from Ballina, Co Tipperary. However, Na Piarsaigh not only progressed to the final but ran out eventual winners, beating St Vincent’s. Huge congratulations from all of us here in Piltown to Na Piarsaigh on a great win.

We have so many people to thank for the great weekend. A lot of work went into getting our club ready and so a big thank you to the Feile committee and the hurling & camogie clubs. The two clubs worked so well in unison to ready our club and, together with the help of all on the community employment scheme, our club grounds looked fantastic.

Thank you to all who sponsored and supported our hurlers – Iverk Produce, Falconer Hurleys, Butlers Family Farm, Glenpatrick Water, Anthony’s Inn, Frankie’s Food Hall, Mick Gaynor and Marty’s Pantry.

Thank you to all who provided baked goods and sandwiches and to all who helped with food preparation & teas/coffees etc at the complex on Friday and Saturday. Thank you to all who helped with the shop, cleaned the complex, manned the scoreboard, sorted lighting for our campers and looked after parking etc. A special word of thanks to all who manned the BBQ’s Saturday evening & fed hundreds of very hungry players, parents & supporters.

Thank you to all the Piltown families who hosted the hurlers and the camogie players. Your hospitality and generosity was very much appreciated & the boys & girls all had a great time.

A big thank you to Na Piarsaigh – from the moment you qualified for Feile, we knew from speaking with your club members that it was going to be a memorable weekend. Your hurlers are a credit to your club and your support, kindness and the new friendships made contributed to such a great weekend. We hope you will come back to visit us in the future.

Last but not least, thank you to our u-14 hurlers for donning the club jersey and representing your club with pride and thank you also to your mentors. While you may be disappointed with the end result on the field, we are very proud of you all. You fought hard and never gave up, as evidenced in the quarterfinal encounter in Ferns where, being down 1-5 to no score at half time, you fought back in the second half and scored 6-1 in 15 minutes to win on a scoreline of 6-1 to 1-7. That’s what Piltown hurling & our great club is all about. We never give up!