THREE young Raphoe Hockey Club players helped Ulster to win gold at the Sainsburys School Games in Sheffield recently.
Fifteen-year old Luke Witherow was joined in the Ulster Under 16 squad by fourteen-year old team-mates Ben Wallace and Alexander Tinney.
It was a historic tournament for the Raphoe club as it was the first time in their history that they had three boys representing Ulster at this grade.
The trio played on the ‘smurf turf’, the pitch used for the Olympic hockey in London 2012.
All three have made a 160-mile trip twice a week during the summer for training and their win in Sheffield was Ulster Hockey’s first gold at the competition.
They played Scotland on Saturday and Wales on Sunday. Scotland had beaten Wales 4-0 in the opening game, meaning a win over Ulster would have secured gold for the Scots. However, Ulster struck a 4-2 win with Raphoe pair Wallace and Tinney keeping the Scottish boys at bay in a strong defensive performance.
On Sunday, Witherow was on the mark twice in a memorable 6-1 win over Wales to secure gold.
The boys attended the Opening Ceremony on Thursday night and stayed in an Olympic village in Sheffield University.
The event which is supported by National Lottery funding from Sport NI and delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, is a major multi-sport event for the nation’s talented young athletes.
It involved over 1,600 potential future sports stars competing across 12 sports.
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