Wexford's Mark Butler took the Senior Mens title in the Leinster Championship while Lyndsey Condell of Carlow reclaimed the Leinster Camogie title. In the Boys Under 16 Poc Fada Final Cillian Kiely of Offaly won the title.

Weather conditions for the Leinster Finals on Wednesday evening last were close to ideal for the Hurlers and Camogs, although a little damp underfoot, everyone involved relieved that the rain which had persisted throughout the afternoon had finally moved on. In all there were 30 competitors for the Camogie, Senior Mens and Boys Under 16 events.
In the Senior Men's event 10 competed with Meath the only county not represented. Longford's Eoin Donnellon was unfortunate not to arrive for the start due to a car problem enroute (echoes of the first All Ireland in 1961 when Ollie Walsh was in a similar situation), arriving as the last of the groups were approaching the finishing line. Eoin Reilly of Laois was there in defence of his 2010 title.

Finishing in sixth place, Naomh Moninne’s Padraig Mullholland put in a solid performance completing the course in 25 pocs but was disappointed not to have finished closer to the top three having had two bad pocs which cost him a lot of distance.

In the Boys Under 16 competition 11 of the province's counties were represented, Longford's Cian Kavanagh was also delayed in getting to the venue. Ronan O Maolchallann of Knockbridge was Louth’s representative in the Under 16 contest which was run for the first time since its inception in 2007 (this commentator is at a lost as to why that was), competition was very strong in this category with the winner equalling the top three Seniors. Ronan put in a great performance driving the Sliotar as far as he could each and every time with all the energy and tenacity that he could muster, a great young hurler, Louth hurling can only benefit from having Ronan and others like him coming through!
Counties were paired up with Senior, Camogie and Under 16s from each pairing starting in turn. This new format for the course received many compliments from the participants, stewards and spectators.The competiveness of the pairings was evident especially in the Dublin-Wexford group where Fintan O'Brien and Mark Butler went poc for poc around the course with the final distance over the finishing being decisive.

The Camogie Final had 9 competitors with last year's champion Voureen Quigley determined to hold on to the title for 2011
Louth and Meath were paired together with the defending Camogie champion Voureen Quigley paired up with Meath's Emma Tormey from the Ashbourne-Donaghmore club. How good a Louth-Carlow pairing would have been to see Voureen and Lyndsey Condell go head to head, the distance that seperated both was 11.5 metres to Lyndsey's advantage.
Although disappointed not to have retained the Leinster Camogie Poc Fada title Voureen will have the opportunity to a rematch as she will be representing Louth come All Ireland day on Annaverna as the host county’s champion. Having finished third in last year’s final 2011 will provide possibly the strongest Camogie field to date in the event with two two-time winners also competing, namely Lyndsey Condell and Patricia Jackman.

Another pairing of note was that of Westmeath-Offaly where second placed Pat Burke competed with Steven Guilfoyle. In the Under 16s the pairing of Cillian Kiely and Darragh Clinton from the Delvin club in Westmeath seemed a good match although Cillian was having none of it, he was chasing the seniors coming home in 23 pocs two pocs clear of Darragh and the other Hurlers in his category, level on pocs with the top three senior hurlers, exceptional!

The Curragh course was set out in four stages with three turning points (where the competitors had to make sure they passed through the "gates" so accuracy counted). One would be forgiven for thinking that the Curragh would be easy to traverse but with the ditches, dips, hillocks, gorse and soft ground there were plenty of obstacles to occupy the Hurlers and Camogs as they made their way around. Even overhead cables and electricty poles came into play on the evening. All three categories completed the same distance with the course measuring 2.12km.
The organisation of the finals was fantastic with compliments pouring down on the Army Base's C.O. Col. John Courtney who retires this year, for all he has done to facilitate the competition. George O'Connor and Lester Ryan of Leinster GAA provided all that was required for a great evening's sport for contestants and spectators.

Louth’s Leinster Poc Fada Finalists L to R: Padraig Mulholland, Voureen Quigley and Ronan O Maolchallann

Voureen Quigley on the Curragh Poc Fada Course

Padraig Mulholland on the Curragh Poc Fada Course

Ronan O Maolchallann at the Leinster Poc Fada Finals