Ballyvarley Notes 16th August 2006
Senior Hurling League: Warrenpoint
Vs Ballyvarley
A dramatic late
fight-back from Ballyvarley’s senior
hurlers saw them travel to beat
Warrenpoint by a solitary point. The
Reds stormed back in the last five
minutes from four points down to
take all the spoils as a renewed
drive and determination saw them pip
their opponents to all the points.
The locals started
extremely well with a hard hitting
but fair approach to the game and
quickly raced into a two point lead.
The ever young Sean O’Neill lead the
way with a flick of the wrists on
the left wing seeing the
sliothar
lob over the bar. Paul O’Neill added
a pointed free shortly after, before
John O’Kane
replied for the visitors.
Ballyvarley were
out-battling their opponents all
over the field, getting a good deal
of possession but most importantly,
making it count. Another Paul
O’Neill free was followed by a right
wing point from his namesake
Cathal
before Conor
Grew shed off a few heavy ‘point
tackles to turn and send the ball
between the two uprights. It was
relentless pressure and
Cathal
O’Neill was unlucky not to goal when
he hit a rasping shot that shaved
the crossbar and went over.
Approaching the last
seven minutes of the half
Warrenpoint started to come more
into the game, with their midfield
and half-backs winning vital
possession. John
O’Kane
got them back into the game with two
points in a row before Ballyvarley’s
Paul O’Neill goaled after a good
pass from David McGovern. This
failed to deflate the home side and
they supplied two more pointed frees
before the break. This left
Ballyvarley with a four point lead
at the interval and in a commanding
position.
HALF-TIME:
Warrenpoint 0-5
Ballyvarley 1-6
A game of hurling can
change very quickly and Warrenpoint
proved this as they scored a goal
and a point from frees to tie the
game after three minutes. This
unsettled the Reds as they found it
extremely hard to get going.
Suddenly they were giving away a lot
of score-able frees that they did
not do in the first period. The home
side went on to lead by four points,
three coming from frees from John
O’Kane
and one from play by Tommy Mulligan.
It was a difficult spell
for the Reds and some last ditch
defending from Thomas Lennon and Pat
McGrath made sure the deficit was
not more. Gradually Ballyvarley came
more into it winning the ball but
failing to get the ball delivered
into the full-forward line.
Conor
McClorey
making his senior debut for the Reds
was making good energetic runs to
open up the ‘point defence as every
Ballyvarley player showed a great
drive to ensure they would not lose
this game.
Approaching the last five minutes
Ballyvarley threw caution to the
wind, surging forward at every
opportunity. The Reds made a series
of positional changes with James
McGrath moving from centre back to
centre half-forward and David
McGovern moving to midfield. Indeed
it seemed at times that half the
Ballyvarley back line was up in
their opponents half and sometimes
they were.
The comeback started
with possession twice won by James
McGrath, laying it off to Paul
O’Neill who scored two points in a
row. John
O’Kane replied with a pointed
free for the home side on the break,
and then the fireworks started. A
long through ball from midfield saw
the ball reach Sean O’Neill 25 yards
out, and he
turned and sped past two men
before sending a bullet to the net.
With the tie now level the impetus
was with Ballyvarley and from the
puck out, David McGovern showed
great strength to field the ball and
send the
sliothar back where it came
from and over the bar for the
winning point.
FULL-TIME: Warrenpoint 1-11
Ballyvarley 2-9
This was a great display
of grit and determination by the
Ballyvarley lads who showed real
character to come back in this
fashion. The whole team deserves
great credit for this. Special
mention goes to
Conor
McClorey who despite making
his senior debut was not overawed
and contributed a lot to the cause.
Hopefully this
great spirit felt in this
game will stay with the team in
their final league game against
Clonduff
next week, and their championship
match to follow.
Ballyvarley Team
Brendan Donald,
Conor
McClorey, James McGrath ,
Thomas Lennon, Sean Kennedy,
Colm
O’Neill, David
Lavery,
Eunan
McConville, John O’Neill,
Cathal
O’Neill (0-2), David McGovern
(0-1), Niall Savage, Paul O’Neill
(1-4), Conor
Grew (0-1), Sean O’Neill (1-1).
Subs: Pat McGrath.
U-14 Hurling League
Clonduff
Vs Ballyvarley
Clonduff away was the
daunting task facing the young
Ballyvarley under 14 hurlers last
week. A slow start by the Reds was
to be their undoing as they failed
to reduce the three point deficit at
half-time and eventually fell by
that margin.
The home side did the
early pressing aided by a strong
breeze with a point inside three
minutes. Ballyvarley were lethargic
at the beginning yet still managed
to win a few frees, scoring two
points, one each from Tony
Hegarty
and Paul Cairns.
Shea
Murnaghan was the key threat
for the
Clonduff lads dominating
around midfield and taking his
scoring opportunities when they
arose. Shea
pointed and Patrick
Macken
replied with a searing run down the
left before flicking the ball over
from close in. Then there followed a
ten minute spell of
Clonduff
dominance, two points being followed
by a gaol that hit that top corner
leaving the keeper no chance.
Credit to the local lads
they did not roll over and replied
immediately with Kieran Maguire
sending a blistering drive from the
left wing past a stationary keeper.
Ballyvarley tried to peg level but
sent a few shots just wide of the
posts. Clonduff
then finished the half with two more
points to rightly reflect their
dominance with a three point lead.
HALF-TIME:
Clonduff 1-6
Ballyvarley 1-3
In the second half much
of the game was played around the
middle of the field, eagerly
contested by both sides but with
scores hard to come by. It was not
until halfway through that the first
score came, an
good well taken pull from the
Clonduff
forward for a three pointer.
The young Reds were now
playing much better in this second
period and
captain Paul Cairns drove his
team forward with a great long range
point from the right wing 40 yards
out. The locals then gave themselves
every chance of taking something
from the game when a pass found
Michael McAlister on the edge of the
box, who lifted, turned and rattled
the net. Even better was to follow
when Tony
Hegarty at half-forward when
past his marker and struck a sweet
shot that nestled in the top right
hand corner of the net. Ballyvarley
were now a point in the lead.
Clonduff
did not dwell on this setback and
when they won a sideline in the
Reds’ half they took it quickly to
an unmarked player, who sent a
lobbed shot into the box for one of
his team mates to volley to the net.
A great team
goal.
Late on Ballyvarley won
a free 30 yards out. Paul Cairns
stepped up to take it and the
sliothar
blazed the net. Controversially the
goal was then disallowed for a
contested square ball. If the goal
stood this would have put
Ballyvarley a point in the lead, and
the lack of the three points seemed
to physically deflate the lads.
Clonduff
replied with a point. The Reds gave
their all to the bitter end, but
just could not find a way past a
well drilled, skilful
Clonduff
team who were full of running.
FULL-TIME:
Clonduff
3-7 Ballyvarley
3-4
Clonduff were worthy two
point winners and Ballyvarley know
this was not one of their better
performances with too many off the
pace. On the bright side there were
some great individual scores,
Michael McAlister’s rifling goal and
Tony Hegarty’s
solo and shot that found the net two
highlights from the game. The
determination is there and hopefully
with more stick practice the young
Reds will be up for the challenges
ahead.
The under 14s play their
last league game at home to Ballela
on Wednesday 16th August
with a 7.30pm throw
in. Players are asked to meet in
Ballyvarley at 6.45pm.
Ballyvarley
Under 14 team:
Conor
McShane,
Paul Colgan,
Michael McDermott,
Conor
Strain, Cathal
McGrath, Paul Cairns (0-2), Martin
Connolly, Christopher Martin, Thomas
McKernan,
James Kennedy, Tony
Hegarty
(1-1), Kieran Maguire (1-0), Shane
McAreavey,
Michael McAllister (1-0), Patrick
Macken
(0-1). Subs: Neil Monaghan, Patrick
McNally, Gary Kennedy, Michael
McKay.
Ballyvarley Hurling Notes
Over the next couple of
weeks the championship gets underway
for the various Ballyvarley underage
hurling teams. The draw for the
minor and under
16 hurling championships was made at
the County Hurling
board meeting last week. The
Ballyvarley/Ballela minor team have
home advantage but face a tough test
against Warrenpoint. Ballyvarley’s
under16s also face Warrenpoint but
must travel to face their opponents.
Dates and times of the Championship
matches are still to be decided.
The
under 10 and 12s now train on
Fridays from 7.15pm to
8.30pm at
Newbridge Integrated College,
Loughbrickland.
The
senior hurlers play
Clonduff
in the league on Tuesday 22nd
August.
The
venue for the game is still to be
decided. The Ballyvarley seniors
will continue to train every Sunday
at 12.15pm.
Tracksuits
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.
Sent
in by Colm
O’Neill (Ballyvarley HC Hurling PRO)
