Thanks to Francis Quinn for the photos, videos and Report from Saturday’s (3rd August) Peárce Branagan Memorial Poc Fada on The Hen Mountain.
The annual Poc Fada for the Pearce Branagan Cup took place on Saturday past at the Hen Mountain. Despite the forecast of rain the sun shone and the large crowd of young and old made the most of the fine weather. The first sliothar of the day was a thunderous shot up the mountain by Senior Hurler and recently married Declan Rooney. This set the tone for a very high standard of striking and a very close competition ensued. In total 65 competitors made their way up the mountain. The adult competitors took off first up the mountain closely followed by a super turn out of young boys and girls in the various underage sections. The juvenile competitors take a slightly shorter course than the Seniors.
Striking in the direction of the front Tor the competitors then swept southwards to the right hand side of the scenic peaks of Hen and made their way up in between the rear Tor. On reaching the top marker on the mountain the 4 leading contenders John Murphy, Paddy Mc Nally, Lorcán Mc Ateer and Paddy Branagan Snr had taken an impressive 10 strikes.
As the competitors set off on the downhill part of their journey a strong crosswind blowing from left to right had to be contended with. The key to the descent is finding a landing on the mountain path and hoping the ball runs a good distance downhill clear of any thick grass and heather.
Newcomer Paddy Mc Nally fell fowl of the crosswind and drifted offline.
The 3 remaining leaders kept pace ahead of the others and with all 3 within 1 final strike of the finish line the atmosphere was building. Paddy Snr hit wide of the markers and was out of the running. Reigning Champion and multiple previous winner John Murphy disastrously ricocheted off a rock only 10m from the finish line which left Lorcán Mc Ateer with a shot to win the competition on 17 strokes. Lorcán duly obliged the opportunity and guided his final poc through the final markers to take home the cup for the first time.
Many juvenile competitors were taking part for the first time and enjoyed the experience especially striking off the rocky peaks of Hen.
At the finish line the scores were totalled up and the winners announced by organiser Shane Quinn. Presentations were made to the winners of the various categories by Tony Branagan.
Winners on the day were;
Men’s Open Competition- Declan Murphy (Liatriom) with 17 strikes
Women’s Open- Catriona Mc Crickard (Liatriom) with 22 strikes
Girls Competition – Jenny Lennon with 18 strikes
Boys U14 / U12 – Senan Quinn with 19 strikes
Boys U16 / Minors- Tommy Smith with 14 Strikes
Men’s- Lorcan McAteer with 17 strikes – winner of the Pearce Branagan Memorial Cup.
