Down Minor B team continued on their quest to annex the Ulster Minor Hurling
League for the second year in succession when
they defeated Donegal in Ballymartin on Saturday
last on a 5-13 to 0-8 score line.
Fielding without their influential
Captain Declan Doherty and strong midfielder
pairing Paul O’Neill and Conor Beatty,
this Down team stepped up to the mark and
delivered much to the satisfaction of management
Brian Murphy and Ronan Sheehan.
Having already beaten, Fermanagh,
Armagh, Antrim B, in earlier rounds Down got
off to a dream start when after two minutes
Mathew McAfee reacted quickest to a flick
from Mathew Teague to find the net. Donegal’s
Sean McVeigh, playing on the 40 responded
with a point from a 65, in fact McVeigh recorded
seven of his sides’ eight scores, six
from placed balls and Darragh McGowan the
only other scorer for the visitors immediately
on the restart after the half time interval.
With Donnelly, Sheehan and
McAfee wreaking havoc in the Donegal defence
it was no surprise that the Mourne County
was leading 3-4 to 0-4 at the interval. The
score of the game came after 22 minutes as
a ball was delivered about head high from
Patrick Gartland, Mathew McAfee, ala D.J.
Carey, struck the sliothar sweetly over his
left shoulder past a bemused O’Brian
in the Donegal nets, a score which was sweetness
personified. Sheehan added the other goal
in the opening 30 minutes.
Down playing against the
breeze in the second half seen Donegal record
two unanswered scores on the resumption, but
this proved to only a blip in the home team’s
marking as they raised their game again as
by the 15th minute of the second half they
had raced into a 5-7 to 0-7 lead with two
more goals from Sheehan and Cunningham. With
the game almost won, it allowed some of the
fringe players to be introduced, Cormac White,
Liam Morgan and Nial Rodgers, followed a short
time later by Kieran Doyle and Robert Dixon.
These substitutions didn’t appear to
weaken the team as they added another six
points to a single consolation score from
McVeigh.
All in all another good performance
from these players and sets them up nicely
for a final game in two weeks time against
Tyrone away on Saturday 29th March 2008.
With the County Minor manager,
John Doherty, watching for possible players
for the Championship team he surely must have
been impressed with a number of the players
on view and no doubt will be added to his
panel in preparation for the Ulster Minor
Championship as he has made it clear that
no matter what Club a player is from if he
is good enough he will be given his opportunity
on the team.
DOWN: C. McCabe, C. Teague,
R. Gibney, A. Keown, M. Rafferty, D. Doyle,
D. Hughes, P. Gartland, C. Hughes, (0-1) N.
Donnelly, (0-2), M. Cunningham,(1-3), Wm.
McCartan, P. Sheehan, (2-4), M. McAfee,(2-1),
M. Teague. Subs Used: C. White, (0-2), L.
Morgan, N. Rodgers, K. Doyle and R. Dixon.
Referee: J. Devlin, Tyrone.
