U14 Hurling League: Liatroim v Ballyvarley/Ballela
Under
14 Hurling League
Liatroim Vs Ballyvarley/Ballela
St Patrick’s under 14 hurlers
travelled to Liatroim last week
knowing a win would see them end the
preliminary league on top. In
horrible windy and wet conditions
the Ballyvarley/Ballela amalgamation
played some great pressure hurling
to comfortably win the contest.
The small juvenile pitch the teams
played on suited the way the Reds
played enabling the strength they
had up the middle of the team to get
on the ball and stroke over some
fine scores. On a bigger pitch it
could have been a much closer
contest because Liatroim put up a
strong fight throughout this game
with Neil Lynch in midfield
particularly impressive for them.
As it was Liatroim went into the
game without some key players and St
Patrick’s went into a five point
lead in the first five minutes with
excellent scores from Patrick Mackin
(3) and Tony Hegarty (2). A Liatroim
goal got the home side back in the
running yet with Peter Verhoven
getting two goals for the visitors
soon after the Reds continued to
dominate the first period.
The Reds confidently went forward,
knowing Thomas McKernan dominated at
left half-back and Darragh Brady and
Lisa McCusker were solid at
full-back. McKernan linked well with
Downey and Hegarty in the middle who
set up and took some excellent
scoring opportunities for the
locals.
When the whistle blew for half-time
St Patrick’s had quite a convincing
lead.
HALF-TIME: Liatroim
2-2 Ballyvarley/Ballela
4-6
After the break the
conditions quickly deteriorated with
the wind rising to a gale and the
pitch becoming slippery. The heavy
rain hampered the hurling with both
teams confined to two points a piece
Early in the second
period St Patrick’s introduced some
subs with James O’Meara at
left-back, Rory McShane at corner
forward and Owen Carlisle at right
half-forward all performing very
well.
The highlights of the
second period were a wonderful long
range ground strike from Liatroim
that hit the net, and wonderful
goals from solo runs from St
Patrick’s Patrick Mackin and Owen
Magee.
The Reds ended
the game in style with a wonderful
long range point from Mackin to give
St Patrick’s a comfortable win.
FULL-TIME: Liatroim
3-7 Ballyvarley/Ballela 6-8
This was one of
the best performances from the St
Patrick’s team in terms of
commitment and tackling as they
tracked back and never gave the home
team any time on the ball. Darragh
Brady and Lisa McCusker performed
well at full-back while Thomas
McKernan, back from injury, was in
inspired form competing with Patrick
Mackin for the man-of-the-match. In
the middle Tony Hegarty and Michael
Downey were very busy working well
together, while upfront Patrick
Mackin led the attack ably assisted
by Magee and Verhoven.
The next game for
Ballyvarley/Ballela is on Wednesday
16th May in the
Championship against Castlewellan at
home. Players are asked to meet in
Ballyvarley at 7pm with throw in at
7.30pm.
Ballyvarley/Ballela Team
Michael McAllister, Aidan McKernan,
Lisa McCusker, Darragh Brady, Cathal
McGrath, Christopher Martin, Thomas
McKernan, Michael Downey, Tony
Hegarty, Michael McKay, Patrick
Mackin, Jonathan Lennon, Ciaron
Davis, Peter Verhoven, Owen Magee.
Rory McShane. Subs: Rory
McShane, James O’Meara, Owen
Carlisle, Ciaran Heaney, Thomas
Carlisle, Liam Stewart, Ryan
McCusker, Jack Kearns, Stephen
Caruthers, Cathal Bingham.
Sent in by Colm O’Neill
17/5/2007
