Pairc Liam Ui Ir was packed to capacity on Friday past in one of the most anticipated games of the season which saw newly promoted neighbours Rostrevor make the move up to division one. The reds started their season on a high note and rightly so went into the game confident under the new management of Mark Copeland.
However the blues who had three wins out of four under their belt were quietly confident that they could continue their winning streak despite manager Niall McAleenan’s list of injured players growing. The point men ran out on their home turf buzzing for the Derby match and were first to open the scoring with a superbly pointed point from play for ‘Rhino’ followed quickly by a McGarry trade mark point from play after fighting off the tight defence of the Farrell’s in the backline. Rostrevor returned up the field with a score of their own & another Ryan Magee run which saw the reds unable to stop the onform player of the season saw the blues go 0.03 to 0.01 up. The next three points from the blues all involved the ‘on fire’ McGarry who scored one free and was involved in the other two scores from Donagh and a second from Rhino. However that was to be the end of the blues scoring for a while as the reds took complete control of the game totting up four unanswered scores in an exciting 15 minutes for the supporters. On the brink of half time the instructions from the sidelines worked and the blues took control again and saw the half time score 0.08 to 0.05 in favour of the home side, two points coming from play from Donagh.
While the management would have been happy with the first half performance, words of wisdom were evident when the blues took to the home turf for the second half and added a further unanswered four points to the score board before the reds got their scoring opening almost ten minutes into the second half. Substitute Aaron Magee scored two fantastic points and the blues ran out eventual winners on a score line of 0.15 to 0.09. The players and management can take much delight from the win in an open game which saw the blues take 14 scores out of 15 from play.
Next up for McAleenan’s men is another local Derby which sees the blues face Burren away on Wednesday 2 May, a game sure to be fast moving. The seniors currently sit with 8 points following five games.
