Weekend Hurling Finals  Preview

U13 Shield: Clonduff vs Portaferry (Kilclief, Sat 1pm)

U13 Cup: Castlewellan vs Carryduff (Kilclief, Sat 3pm)

MHC: Bredagh vs Ballygalget (Drumaness, Sat 3pm)

Betsy Gray Shield: Bredagh vs Carryduff (Darragh Cross, Sun 4:30pm)

This weekend sees the culmination of four of our Hurling finals. Saturday will see three finals decided with the U13 Shield & Cup finals double header in Kilclief from 1pm, with the Shield being contested between Portaferry & Clonduff followed with Castlewellan taking on Carryduff in the U13 Cup at 3pm.

The MHC Final promises to be a close encounter with Portaferry taking on parish rivals Ballygalget in Drumaness at 3pm, to complete the days Hurling.

Then on Sunday we have the final of the Betsy Grey Shield with south Belfast neighbours Bredagh & Carryduff challenging for the honours at 4:30pm in Darragh Cross.

Weekend Preview

This weekend sees Round 3 of the Down Senior and Intermediate football championships as teams who have lost once compete to progress to the quarter final stages.

There are also relegation play offs with sides who have lost their opening two games battling to retain their status in their respective championships.

On Friday night Glenn take on Castlewellan in the weekend’s opening game in Ballymartin. This promises to be a competitive game between two teams who will ply their trade in Division Two of the league next season and the game will be broadcast live on DownGAATV

On Saturday there is the sole Junior Football offering of the weekend as Glasdrumman take on Kilclief while the afternoon sees three Parador Lodge Intermediate Football Championship fixtures with Annaclone playing Atticall, Newry Shamrocks facing Tullylish and Liatroim taking on Clann Na Banna.

On Sunday afternoon at 1pm the two relegation semi finals for the Morgan Fuels Senior Football championship take place with Bryansford and Longstone facing off and An Riocht playing Bredagh in the other game.

At the same time the Intermediate relegation games will also take place which are St Paul’s vs Darragh Cross and St John Bosco vs Bright.

Later on Sunday the action comes from the Morgan Fuels Senior championship once more in a double header available on Down GAA TV with Mayobridge vs Downpatrick at 3:00pm and Clonduff playing Ballyholland at 5:00pm.

The action concludes on Monday night in the intermediate championship with Aughlisnafin vs Ballymartin and the Senior tie between Saul and Warrenpoint.

The full list of fixtures, times and venues is on the Down GAA website

Remaining games of Round 2

Sunday’s weather dictated that the games played would be unlikely to resemble what we recognise as championship football. Nevertheless, all those tasked with playing went out and battled the conditions as well as their opponents. In the Morgan Fuels Senior Football Championship Castlewellan overcame Bredagh 2-7 - 1-3. Rory Burns’ goal had given the Town a five point first half lead but against the wind Sean Blayney goaled for Bredagh and the half time score was 1-4 - 1-0 for Castlewellan.
A goal in the second half from Rossa McCartan left Castlewellan more comfortable and Gareth McKibben was on fine point scoring form. A late rally of three points from Bredagh wasn’t enough to help them force a way back into the game.

In Newcastle later in the evening conditions worsened further and Downpatrick and Burren were deadlocked at 0-1 each with fifteen minutes to play. Ultimately it was goals from Ryan Treanor and Ryan Magill that edged Burren to victory.

In the Parador Lodge Intermediate Championship Saval overcame a stubborn Tullylish. In the end it was 2-14 - 1-5 but at half time it was just 1-6 - 1-3. Special mention goes to Reece McInerney who scored Tullylish’s entire 1-5 (and sits on a very impressive 1-14 from his two championship appearances so far this season).

Aughlisnafin ultimately overcame St Paul’s in a game that, for long periods, looked destined for extra time. At half
time they were level (1-2 - 0-5), Fearghal Eastwood scoring the St Paul’s goal and they were still deadlocked nearing injury time but the ‘fin found the late points to win it with Adam Garland especially impressive finishing with a personal tally of 0-8 as Aughlisnafin battled to a 0-12 - 1-7 victory

There were three Down club football Championship games on Monday evening to conclude Round 2 of the Senior and Intermediate Championships.

In the Parador Lodge Intermediate Championship there was an impressive two point win for St John’s, Drumnaquoile over Ballymartin. Eoin Moag continued his goalscoring form from the first round while Chris McKay notched 0-7 in the victory.

Annaclone overcame a stubborn St John Bosco side 2-7 - 0-9. Again, Bosco struggled to get the scores that could have got them over the line and it was Annaclone’s ruthless streak that propelled them to success.

In the Morgan Fuels Senior Championship Kilcoo survived a slow start to ultimately triumph by 11 points against Ballyholland. The Harps flew out of the blocks and played their way to a 0-4 - 0-1 lead but penalties from Jerome Johnston either side of half time swung the game in Kilcoo’s favour while Ryan Johnston also netted a late goal to make things comfortable for the Magpies and take them straight through to the quarter final.

There was plenty of championship action on Saturday Across the Parador Lodge Intermediate Championship with Glenn and Carryduff the offering from the Morgan Fuels Senior Football Championship.

In the warly afternoon games there were comfortable wins for Drumgath over Atticall and Newry Shamrocks over Bright. An early goal gave the ‘Gath a platform to build from and midway through the first half they assumed control, leading by seven. Three points before half time helped Atticall stay in touch, though their best score was undoubtedly a superb Rian Cunningham effort, but in the second half Drumgath exerted their superiority, two goals from Ryan McCusker helping them to a ten point win in the end.
Shamrocks were always comfortable against Bright and Jack Haughey was the star of the show netting four times as he helped his side to a 6-16 - 0-08 win.

In the evening game in the Parador Lodge Intermediate Championship Darragh Cross and Liatroim went the whole way to penalties. In a game that ebbed and flowed both ways there was no shortage of drama. In extra time it took a last gasp Eoin McCrickard free to send the game to a shootout which the Fontenoys then edged 4-3 after seven penalties each were taken.

In the Morgan Fuels Senior championship two goals in the first twenty minutes propoelled Carryduff on their way and even the incessant scoring of Joe Sands wasn’t enough to haul Glenn back into the game. Carryduff sealed the deal with a third goal, scored by Owen McCabe, in stoppage time as they went on to win 3-9 - 0-8

In the knockout round of the Morgan Fuels Down SFC, Clonduff survived a couple of late goal scares and eventually beat Bryansford by four points. Having trailed by four at half time the Ford came out and played with renewed vigour but could never close the gap to less than two. As Clonduff went three up they pushed for a goal that they were unable to find and the Yellas nabbed a late insurance point to win by 0-12 - 0-8.

In the winners section Loughinisland turned around a half time deficit to surprise Warrenpoint, winning 0-14 - 0-11 in the end. The Point led by double scores at the interval but managed only three second half scores while the East Down men raised ten white flags in a prolific second period.

In the Parador Lodge Junior Football Championship, Glasdrumman finished strongly to see off St Michael’s. The Magheralin outfit were leading 1-9 - 0-9 at the midway point of the second half but the men from Mourne finished with a flourish to take the game on a 3-11 - 2-10 scoreline while in the same competition Kilclief overcame Newry Mitchels.

In a tense first half Longstone had Mayobridge worried. The Stone began brightly leading three points to two at the midway stage of the opening half and then doubling that scoreline to hold a 0-6 - 0-4 advantage at half time.
The second half was a different story though as the Stone were unable to add to their tally as Mayobridge reeled them in through the first fifteen minutes of the second half and went on to win comfortably, out scoring their opponents 0-5 - 0-0 in the final quarter to progress on a final scoreline of 0-12 - 0-06.

In the other Morgan Fuels SFC game, goals were key for Saul as they overcame a stubborn An Riocht by 3-07 - 0-09. At half time it was 1-04 - 0-06 but two goals in the early stages of the second half set the Saul men on their way to victory.

In the Parador Lodge IFC there was a score fest as Rostrevor defeated Clann Na Banna 6-15 - 4-11. Leading 4-09 - 0-04 at the break it all seemed so easy for Rostrevor but Clann Na Banna refused to crumble and battled valiantly to narrow the gap to ten at the end. Ardghal McMahon was to the fore for Rostrevor, bagging a hat trick

Morgan Fuels Down SHC R5

Bredagh 3-17 -  Ballygalget 1-18

Two goals inside the opening 15mins were enough to see Bredagh establish a lead that was never threatened. Matt McAreavey finishing off a good move down the left flank & a Danny Hughes strike after winning a high ball outside the 21 gave the hosts a 2-4 to 0-4 lead. Ballygalget had opened the scoring with a Jordan Doran point inside the first minute, but had to rely on the accuracy of Cormac Coulters dead balls to keep in touch.

Ballygalget were severely hampered with four of the starting team either sidelined through injury or holidays but did manage to mount a fight back inside the third quarter when Cormac Coulter chased what looked to be a ball going wide, won possession, stepped inside and finished neatly to the net to make it a three-point game. But when Aodhan Donaghy struck hard & low past Eoin Clarke six minutes later it had left Ballygalget too much ground to make up as the sides traded scores for the remaining ten minutes.

The results now mean that Ballygalget will travel to Portaferry and Bredagh will be hosted by Ballycran in the two Morgans Fuels SHC semi-finals, both to be played in three weeks’ time, 25^th Sept.

Bredagh: S Hughes 0-7, D Hughes 1-4, A Donaghy 1-3, M McAreavey 1-1, M Patterson 0-1, C Ferry 0-1

Ballygalget: C Coulter 1-9, J Hughes 0-3, J Doran 0-2, M Fisher 0-1, D Doran 0-1, O McDermott 0-1, E Coulter 0-1

Ballycran 4-21 - Newry Shamrocks 0-9

Although Ballycran ended up winning by 24pts, this does not reflect how close this game actually was. Paul Sheehan opened the scoring at McKenna Park, with Scott Nicholson equalizing second later for the ‘crans and this seemed to be the running order of play until Liam Savage flicked the sliotar to the Shamrocks net with five minutes left. Nicholson & Michael Hughes added two further points, while Sheehan chipped in with Newry’s last score of the half to leave the score 1-9 to 0-6 at half time.

Ballycran had the wind in the second half and made the most of it with Conor Woods knocking over a long-distance strike in reply to Sean Campbells neat score off his left. Ballycran stepped up a gear and goals quickly followed, Stuart Martin 8mins & a freakishly long strike from Brett Nicholson inside his own 45m ten minutes later effectively killed the contest with Sheehan scoring what proved to be their last score midway through the half. Shamrocks never gave up and were unlucky not to have raised two green flags of their own, but the final pass was either snuffed out or went astray. James Clarke added Ballycran’s last goal with two minutes remaining to ensure that they now have home advantage in the Semi-final with Bredagh.

Ballycran: S Nicholson 0-9, L Savage 1-4, B Nicholson 1-1, J Clarke 1-1, S Martin 1-0, N Breen 0-2, M Hughes 0-2 C Woods 0-1, E Ball 0-1

Newry Shamrocks: P Sheehan 0-7, J Duggan 0-1, R Campbell 0-1, S Campbell 0-1