Camross’s bright future on show as majestic minors claim title

SUNDAY was a huge day for Camross as a club with their headline team in the Senior County final against The Harps, but there’s was also the big business of a under-17 final to look forward to.

Camross are top of the pile when it comes to Laois senior titles, with 27 victories to their name, which makes it all the more surprising that they had previously won just three minor titles in their illustrious history.

After a dominant campaign in the minor championship in the run up to Sunday’s final, many predicted that they would scoop up their fourth and they did just that with a brilliant display against Barrow Gaels.

Camross were never really troubled throughout the campaign in all truth and it was very evident as to why that was the case after Sunday’s game, they were absolutely incredible all over the park.

They were spearheaded by the excellent duo of Luke Hynes and LJ Cuddy.

Hynes operated in the middle of the field and was the engine and the beating heart of the team, creating countless chances for his forwards with driving runs from deep and excellent passes inside, while also notching 1-4 from play himself.

He’s your typical all action midfielder and one that Camross will be looking forward to having in their adult ranks in years to come.

LJ Cuddy was the standout performer in a tough year for the Laois minors and he was excellent once again at centre forward on Sunday, both from play and placed balls.

He scored 1-5 from play and added another six from frees, while using his strength and size to great effect under high balls, allowing the nippier men alongside him to win ball off the breaks and charge forward.

The men from Clonaslee/St Manman’s and Rosenallis have been impressive in the championship in their own right and had two excellent performers in Tadhg Hughes and Senan O’Brien who amassed the majority of their scores and gave the Camross backs plenty to think about.

Camross made a lightening start to the game and threatened to run away with it early on but to their credit the Barrow Gaels men stuck to the task well despite trailing by double digits and got the gap back down to six by half time.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t have dreamt up a worse start to the second half as Hynes got straight in for a goal after the restart and Cuddy found the net minutes later to really put the game to bed with just five minutes gone in the second half.

While it ended up being a big margin in the end, there’s no doubting that the minor final being on before the main showpiece adds a huge amount to the county final day.

There was a huge support out in force for Barrow Gaels and as expected, Camross brought a big support for both teams but it developed a great atmosphere in a packed O’Moore Park before the senior final.

It’s a brilliant tradition that has been brought back in recent years and long may it last.