Ballyvarley Notes - 16th June 2006
Senior
Hurling League
Ballyvarley Vs
Bredagh
Ballyvarley’s senior hurlers went
into the game against second placed
high flying
Bredagh, second in the
league, as major underdogs, yet when
the final whistle blew they had
taken all the points with a great
two point win.
Played in beautiful
conditions and with home support
behind them Ballyvarley started the
stronger, quick into the tackle and
a determination to get something
from this game. The Reds enjoy much
of the early possession with the
first score coming from a
Colm
O’Neill point struck on the run from
the left hand side. Some after a
long ball from James McGrath dropped
into the box and
Conor
Grew expertly flicked the
sliothar
over the bar.
Ballyvarley at this
stage were well on top, Michael
Cairns having a
stormer at full-back, with
James McGrath, and John O’Neill at
half-back and Martin and Paul
O’Neill at midfield driving the team
forward. A little indiscipline saw
Bredagh
win two frees and duly convert them,
but the Reds themselves had a good
free-taker, young Paul O’Neill
putting two set-pieces over with
ease to restore a two point lead.
The home side were full
of confidence at this stage as their
forwards fought and harried the
Bredagh
defence making them work to get a
clearance. On one such occasion
Ciaran
Connolly won a fifty-fifty ball,
jab-lifted and soloed across the
goal and flicked the
sliothar
over under serious pressure.
It was all going so well
for the Reds and then a lack of
concentration at the back saw the
visitors grab a goal and a point.
Ballyvarley though rallied with a
good solo and strike from Paul
O’Neill going between the two
up-rights to draw the teams’ level,
however just at the death
Bredagh
added another point to leave a
solitary score separating the sides
at the break.
HALF-TIME: Ballyvarley
0-6
Bredagh
1-4
The second
half started with Ballyvarley doing
the pressing but failing to take
their chances in front of goal.
Bredagh
punished them with two good points,
one from each wing. Ballyvarley
though were to go and dominate the
half. David McGovern was to get the
Reds back on track with a fine
individual score, before Paul
O’Neill scored another pointed free
to reduce the deficit to the
minimum.
At this time the
Ballyvarley defence was well on top,
attacking the ball and pushing
forward at every opportunity. David
Lavery,
Pat McGrath and
Eunan
McConville threw themselves
into tackles show the home sides
desire to win.
Finally the equalising
point came. The ball was sprayed
into corner forward
Ciaran
Connolly who ran out and laid it off
to Colm
O’Neill on the right wing and he
pointed. Soon after the Ballyvarley
team went into the lead. The
Bredagh
defence struggled to clear the ball
due to the tackling of the Reds’
forwards and ended up over carrying.
The free fell to Paul O’Neill and he
pointed from 30 yards.
The last ten minutes
were a hectic affair as both teams
gave everything in their pursuit of
victory. Niall Savage, Sean Kennedy
and David McGovern chased and put
themselves about in search of the
killer score that would win them the
game.The
visitors equalised with a left wing
strike, but Ballyvarley pushed back
down the field and scored with
another Paul O’Neill free. Niall
Savage, Sean Kennedy and David
McGovern chased and put themselves
about in search of the killer score
that would win them the game. The
home team knew it was going to be
their day when Paul added a seventy
yard free near the end to give
Ballyvarley the added cushion of a
two point lead.
Ballyvarley threw their
sticks and bodies into their
challenges at the end as
Bredagh
strove to get back into the game,
yet the Reds’ held on and were
worthy winners.
FULL-TIME: Ballyvarley
0-12
Bredagh
1-7
This was a fine team
performance from the Ballyvarley
men. Their desire and hurling won
them this game against a strong
Bredagh
outfit. There were some fine
individual performances from the
home team, Paul O’Neill scoring
seven points, while Michael Cairns
put in a tireless performance at the
heart of the Ballyvarley defence.
Hopefully the confidence gained from
this win will drive the side on in
their next league games.
Ballyvarley Team
Cathal
O’Neill, Pat McGrath, Michael
Cairns, Eunan
McConville,
David Lavery,
James McGrath, John O’Neill, Martin
O’Neill, Paul O’Neill (0-7), Niall
Savage, Colm
O’Neill (0-2), Sean Kennedy,
Ciaran
Connolly (0-1), David McGovern
(0-1), Conor
Grew (0-1). Subs: Rory McGrath, Hugh
O’Neill, Neil Monaghan.
Under
14 Hurling League
Ballyvarley Vs
Castlewellan
Ballyvarley’s under 14
hurlers opened the new second league
phase with a comfortable twenty-nine
point home win over
Castlewellan.
Dominant from the start
the Reds sprayed long balls up to
the forward line, Martin Connolly
latching on to one such ball to send
the grounded ball to the back of the
net. Kieran Maguire was to get in on
the act a few minutes later when he
soloed in, beat his man and lifted
the net. Yet there were also some
fine points. James Kennedy showed
good skill at midfield to lift and
solo past a few players before
hitting the ball over the bar from
wide on the left wing.
Much of the good play
from the Ballyvarley side was based
upon a good half-back line that
drove forward at every opportunity
and kept the Reds camped in the
visitors half of the field, Paul
Cairns and Christopher Martin two of
the main driving forces. Even when
the
Castlewellan side made a rare
foray upfront Paul
Colgan,
Michael McDermott,
Ciaran
Heaney and
Conor Strain quickly swept up
the ball and launched another
attack.
The forward play from
the Reds was good with Martin
Connolly and Neil Monaghan
impressing scoring and setting up
scores for their team.
This resulted in a
one-sided half with Ballyvarley
scoring three more goals to take an
eighteen point lead in at the break
and the game was well over as a
contest.
HALF-TIME: Ballyvarley
5-3
Castlewellan
0-0
On the restart
Castlewellan
started well with midfielder
Fiachra
producing some fine play to set up a
wave of early attacks for the
visitors. Ballyvarley were caught on
the hop and
Castlewellan produced some
good interchanging passes to win a
free that young
Fiachra duly converted.
Normal service was
however soon resumed. Ballyvarley
were driven on by their captain Paul
Cairns who soloed up to midfield
before sending a powerful drive over
the bar from the half way line. The
Reds used full use of their squad
with Patrick
Macken coming on to score a
fine individual goal before young
Cairns came up from half-back to
send a bullet past the keeper.
Owen Carlisle and
Patrick McNally went close with
chances but Tony
Hegarty
got the final say in the game with a
fine run from the left wing seeing
him strip his markers for speed cut
inside and flick the ball over the
bar.
FULL-TIME: Ballyvarley
8-6 Castlewellan
0-1
Ballyvarley played well
as a team in this game. This was a
useful exercise for Ballyvarley to
see all members of their squad in a
game and try players in different
positions. The confidence gained
from this display will hold them in
good stead for tougher games ahead.
Ballyvarley
Under 14 team:
Michael McAllister, Paul
Colgan,
Michael McDermott,
Conor
Strain, Christopher Martin, Paul
Cairns (1-1),
Ciaran Heaney, James Kennedy
(0-2), Thomas
McKernan, Tony
Hegarty
(1-1), Kieran Maguire (2-1),
Jonathan Lennon, Shane
McAreavey
(1-0), Martin Connolly (2-0), Neil
Monaghan. Subs: Patrick McNally,
Conor
McShane,
Patrick Macken
(1-1), Owen Carlisle, Aidan
McKernan,
Stefan Toman.
Under
12 ‘Go Games’ Hurling
Ballyvarley under 12
jurlers
continued their Go-Games campaign
and travelled to Newry to face a
well drilled Shamrocks squad.
The game opened with
Shamrocks immediately applying
pressure on the Ballyvarley defence,
only to be denied from scoring by
strong play from James O’Meara. The
Newry side began to dominate
midfield and pushed their attack
forward, eventually producing a goal
from a well struck ground ball. The
Shamrocks attack continued in the
same vein as they won vital
possession and produced another two
quick goals before the young Reds
could get any control on the game.
Ballyvarley upped their game and
managed to close down their
opponents and just before half time
they grabbed their first score with
a point from Jonathan Lennon.
HALF-TIME: Newry
Shamrocks 3-0 Ballyvarley
0-1
After the break
Ballyvarley resumed with a number of
switches and began to produce some
good hurling. Jonathan Lennon opened
the scoring with a point on the weak
side and was soon to follow up with
a very well taken goal. Aidan
McKernan
and Ciaron
Davis battled hard at midfield and
supplied balls to the forwards who
also fought fiercely for possession.
Michael Lennon’s persistence paid
off adding another goal to the
Ballyvarley score-line.
The home side didn’t
give up and renewed their assault on
the Ballyvarley goal and the teams
produced some gripping end-to-end
play. A further goal from Shamrocks
extended their lead to four points,
despite solid defending by Rory
McShane
and Liam Stewart. Jonathan Lennon
pushed forward a number of times in
the closing minutes of the game and
added a further point to his tally.
FULL-TIME: Newry Shamrocks
4-0
Ballyvarley 2-3
The young Reds can take
many positives from the game,
particularly the quality of the
scores and overall work rate from a
number of the players.
Ballyvarley Under 12s
L.
Stewart, J. O’Meara, A.
McKernan,
MK. McGrath, C. Davis, J. Lennon
(1-3), R.
McShane, M. Lennon (1-0), S.
O’Meara, C. Lennon, C. McNally, C.
Lennon.
The Under 10 hurlers
also took to the pitch at the same
time to face their Newry
counterparts. A very strong
performance was given from this
young side with Kieran
McShane,
Morris McGrath and Ryan McKay on
fine shooting form.
Peadar
McGrath and
Odhran Byrne kept control at
the back and eventually the
Ballyvarley team emerged as winners
by three goals.
Ballyvarley Under 10s
C.
McGrath, O. Byrne (0-1), K.
McShane
(2-0), M. McGrath (3-0), P. McGrath,
R. McKay (2-0), M. Jordan, F.
Macauley,
C. Lennon.
Ballyvarley Hurling Notes
The
Ballyvarley under 16s and minor
hurlers restart their games soon
after the long exam break. The under
16s face Newry/Shamrocks at home on
Friday 23rd June, and
follow this on the 30th
June with an away game against
Kilclief.
The minor Ballyvarley/Ballela
hurlers face
Bredagh on Monday 26th
June at home, followed by an away
game against
Ballygalget on the 3rd
July.
Ballyvarley’s coaching for the under
10 and 12 hurlers continues on
Friday nights from
7.15 to 8.30 pm at
Newbridge
College,
Loughbrickland.
The
senior hurlers continue to train on
Sundays at 12.15pm in
Ballyvarley. Their next hurling
games on Tuesday 27th
June and 4th July are to
be League re-fixtures for the games
put off during the bad weather at
the start of the season. Fixtures
are yet to be confirmed.
.
Sent
in by Colm
O’Neill (Ballyvarley HC Hurling PRO)
