Clash of the Ash

Phil (Heffernan) is in his final year at secondary school. On top of the pressures exerted by the adults around him - from his mother to study and do well at his exams, his father to take a job at the local garage, and his hurling trainer to prove himself on the field - there's the frustration of small-town life with its limited social outlets and air of claustrophobia. Phil's smouldering restlessness pervades this evenly paced and sensitively portrayed slice of provincial life, which manages to tell its yarn with a great deal of humour and compassion.