At the windy and rain soften turf of St Marks Dermot Donnelly & Chris Rooney took their U12 hurlers out for the first game of the season against a physically bigger & stronger Castlewellan side. With both teams opting to play 13-a-side it meant every child had plenty of time to show off their talents. Castlewellan playing with the strong wind in the first half took a full 20 minutes before they managed a score, a goal, such was the battling determination of the Warrenpoint defense. It was the strong tackling, fielding and link play of half backs Niall Rice & Mark Campbell that helped Tiarnan Kelly & Darragh Austin with a supply of sliotar so that they could play good ball into Ruairí McIntyre & James Sweeney in half forwards.
The Blues were now peppering the Castlewellan defence with long range shots and were extremely unlucky not to have several points on the board. But they never gave up, however Castlewellan held out for the last few minutes for victory, 2-1 to 1-1.
Alas the Warrenpoint side started off with defeat, but with such spirit and determination on display throughout the side, it is hoped that when the sides meet again in a few weeks’ time, that today’s thrilling and exciting game will have a much better outcome for the boys in blue.
