Ballyvarley Notes 8th August 2006
U-16 Hurling League
Castlewellan
Vs Ballyvarley
Ballyvarley travelled to
Castlewellan
in search of two more vital points
that would keep them in contention
for league honours and their
motivation and enthusiasm blew the
opposition away in a one-sided first
half.
Castlewellan have been
struggling this year and were
certainly not ready for the
intensity of this challenge as they
were swept aside in an avalanche of
first half scores. Paul O’Neill
showed all the signs of beginning to
emerge from his long-term injury
nightmare and unfortunately for
Castlewellan
he was in free running form
hammering in four goals and three
points as the home side fought a
rear guard action to keep the
deficit to the minimum.
Conor
McClorey
was also in good shooting form
weighing in with a goal and two
points before Tony
Hegarty
added a point to leave the Reds
leading by 21 points at the
interval.
Half-time:
Castlewellan
0-0 Ballyvarley 5-6
The
first ten minutes of the second half
continued in the same vein with
Ballyvarley totally dominant. Shane
McAreavey
again showed his eye for a scoring
chance when he fired home the sixth
goal before Paul O’Neill notched up
two more to take the game well out
of the home sides reach. Ballyvarley
then rang the changes by taking off
some of their stronger players but
for a time nothing changed and
Michael McAllister fired home his
first goal at this level with an
unstoppable shot and Sean Savage
slotted over a well-taken free.
Eventually the home side did come
more into the game and registered 3
points in the closing minutes to
give the score-line a
more healthy
look. However, it was all a little
too easy for the Reds and I doubt if
they gained much from a game that
lacked any real competitive edge.
Final
score:
Castlewellan
0-3 Ballyvarley 9-9
Ballyvarley Team
James
Kennedy ; Michael McDermott, Jamie
Murray, Martin Connolly; Christopher
Martin, Paul Cairns, Kieran Maguire;
Paul O’Neill(6-4), Sean
Savage(0-1); Tony
Hegarty(0-1),
Conor
McClorey(1-3),
Ryan McGrath; Patrick
Mackin,
Leigh
McConville, Shane
McAreavey(1-0)
Subs:
Cathal
McGrath, Michael
McAllister(1-0)
Under
12 ‘Go Games’ Hurling
Ballela Vs Ballyvarley
Ballyvarley under 12
hurlers resumed their Go-Games
campaign and travelled to Ballela.
Missing some key players the Reds
still produced a strong team
performance and gained a worthy
victory.
The opening half was
played on the ground with both teams
challenging well in the early
exchanges. The young reds began to
produce some good link play,
doubling on the ball allowing
Jonathan Lennon to push forward and
eventually claiming the opening
goal. The Ballyvarley attack
continued with Morris McGrath and
Odhran
Byrne pressurizing the Ballela
defence. Their efforts were soon
rewarded with
Odhran doubling on a ball and
sending it to the net.
Ballela now trailing by
two goals raised their game, pushing
forward and earning a close in free.
The home side struck this chance
over the bar for their opening score
of the game. This good spell of play
continued for Ballela and they
grabbed a goal just before half time
to reduce the deficit to two points.
HALF-TIME: Ballela 1-1
Ballyvarley 2-0
The visitors started
strong after the break now playing
full rules. Rory
McShane
pointed in the opening minute with a
long range effort. Morris McGrath
then added a further goal finishing
off a goalmouth scramble tapping the
ball to the net. Ballela replied
with a goal and a point to again
reduce the gap to two points in
favour of the Reds.
Gary Kennedy and Aidan
McKernan
defended vigorously halting
Ballela ‘s
solo runs. Mary Kate McGrath and
Rory McShane
were at hand to assist the long
clearances up to the forwards.
Ciaron
Davis collected one of these
clearances and sent the ball
skilfully over the bar from a narrow
angle. Moments later he was free to
receive a Jonathan Lennon sideline
and thrash the ball to the net in a
superb piece of combined play.
Ciaron
Davis grabbed his second goal
raising the confidence of the
Ballyvarley lads. Jonathan Lennon
pushed forward availing of the
supply of ball and began a
relentless attack on the Ballela
defence producing two goals and a
fine point struck off the weak side.
Odhran
Byrne extended the lead with his
second goal struck powerfully on the
ground.
Liam
Stewart switched to full forward
after a solid display in goals, were
he chased for every ball right to
the final whistle and was unlucky
not to convert. Ballela however
rallied and pushed forward in the
closing minutes but strong defending
and an Odhran
Byrne save denied the home side.
With that the final whistle sounded
with Ballyvarley winning by nineteen
points.
FULL-TIME: Ballela 2-2
Ballyvarley 8-3
Ballyvarley U-12 Team
Liam
Stewart, Rory
McShane (0-1), Gary Kennedy,
Mary Kate McGrath, Aidan
McKernan,
Ciaron
Davis (2-1), Jonathan Lennon (3-1),
Morris McGrath (1-0),
Odhran
Byrne (2-0).
U-14 Hurling League
Liatroim
Vs Ballyvarley
It was a daunting task
facing Ballyvarley’s under 14
hurlers as they travelled to league
leaders
Liatroim with a weakened
side. Opting to play against the
strong wind the first half, the game
started with both teams playing
eleven a side with the Reds having a
large squad along the sideline. The
opening exchanges were in the Reds
favour though, with Tony
Hegarty
converting a free for the minimum
score and both Martin Connolly and
Patrick Macken
going close to gaoling with rasping
ground drives. However,
Liatroim’s
superiority at midfield and
half-back soon told as they
periodically scored goals with
piercing runs. Credit to the Reds
they never gave up with Shane
McAreavey,
Patrick Macken
and Tony
Hegarty getting points a
piece, yet they went in at the break
trailing heavily to the home team.
On the restart the home
side started the brighter with two
points without reply. With the wind
now at their backs Ballyvarley were
playing better, young
Hegarty
pointing a free before Shane
McAreavey
latched onto a loose ball and goaled
from close in.
Liatroim replied with a goal
of their own before Kieran Maguire
got another three pointer for the
visitors as a rasping shot lifted
the netting. Captain Paul Cairns led
by example, driving his team forward
and scoring impressively with a long
range point inside his own half. A
goal from Shane
McAreavey late on ensured
Ballyvarley went home with a morale
victory, winning the second half,
but overall
Liatroim were very worthy
winners.
Shane
McAreavey
and Tony
Hegarty performed well
upfront, with Christopher Martin
going through a lot of work at
midfield, with Michael McAlister and
Paul Cairns impressive at the back.
The under 14s play away to
Clonduff
on the 9th August with a
7.30pm throw in.
Players are asked to meet in
Ballyvarley at 6.10pm.
Ballyvarley Hurling Notes
Tracksuits for Juvenile and senior
players are now in and available
from their team manager or Martin
Donnelly. Tracksuits will only be
given out on payment of them. The
club has partially subsidised
tracksuits so Juvenile tracksuits
(tops and bottoms) cost £30 with
senior tracksuits costing £42.
If
anybody would like to order a
tracksuit that has not already done
so, please contact Martin Donnelly
as soon as possible. If there are
enough orders there may be a chance
of ordering more tracksuits, but
only if there is enough interest
expressed.
Ballyvarley’s under 16s now have a
weeks break before facing
Carryduff
away on Friday 18th
August.
The
under 12s now train on Fridays from
7.15pm to 8.30pm at
Newbridge
Integrated College,
Loughbrickland.
The under 12s enjoyed a good derby
victory over rivals Ballela
recently.
The
senior hurlers now have a weeks
break before playing
Clonduff
in the league on Tuesday 22nd
August. The Ballyvarley seniors will
continue to train every Sunday at
12.15pm.
Club Meeting
There
is a committee meeting of
Aghaderg
GFC, Ballyvarley HC and
Aghaderg
CC on Thursday 10th
August at 8pm in
Ballyvarley Hall. All committee
members are requested to attend.
