With Portaferry winning the ‘A’ Under 12 Championship and Bredagh and Warrenpoint annexing the Under 14 ‘B’ Cup and Shield competitions, attention has now turned to the remaining Hurling Championship finals. With the exception of the Under 16 A competition, the finalists of all the other juvenile Hurling Championships have now been decided.

In the final of the Under 14 ‘A’ Championship on Sunday, Ballygalget lived up to their favourites tag with a convincing win over Ballycran to take the title. Last weekend also saw a Ballyvarley side, inspired by Tony Hegarty, Thomas Mc Kernan and Cathal Mc Grath overcome a strong Bredagh challenge to reach the ‘B’ Championship final. There, they will meet Liatroim who will be hoping to go one better than their Under 14 counterparts who lost out in their ‘B’ Championship final. The Under 12 Cup match is scheduled for next weekend when the Under 12 ‘B’ Shield final also takes place. Warrenpoint have qualified for the Shield final with a comfortable win in the semi final over Carryduff. The Warrenpoint side have stars in Niall Mc Govern, Jason Gray, Jamie Grant and keeper, Aidan “Joe” Devlin and will start as slight favourites in their final against Ballela. 

The Under 16 ‘B’ grade is also reaching a conclusion. On Sunday, old rivals, Liatroim and Kilclief met in the ‘B’ semi final with the Fontenoys emerging victorious. They now play Warrenpoint in the final. In the Shield, Castlewellan and Clonduff have qualified for what should be a close final. The Under 16 finals are also expected to take place next weekend.

michaelconway [michaelconway@utvinternet.com]