Cumann Pheadair Naofa 0-15 Ballyholland Harps 0-7
Friday night last saw the first home match for the Blues in Páirc Liam Uí hÍr of the 2019 season. By in large it was a good night out for the home side who defeated a lacklustre Ballyholland team by eight points. At no stage during the match was the eventual result in question.
Warrenpoint played with the considerable wind and into the Moygannon Rd goals in the first half. The Blues attacked the game from the off and move the ball at pace players on the ball had options and generally made good decisions throughout the half. The opening score of the game came from Ruairí Mc Cormack on the second minute when he shot, while under pressure, from about 30 yards out. This was followed a minute later by a fine point from Ryan Boyle, then we had two shots landing into the Ballyholland goalies hands and a third point in the fifth minute from Niall Mc Govern. A long range Cormac Mc Cartan point and a free from Niall Mc Govern left Warrenpoint five points up with just eight minutes gone. The next ten minutes were no so productive for the home side with a number of poor passes and careless turnovers spoiling their chances of adding to the score board, the Blues remained dominant but their own unforced errors thwarted their progress.
Throughout this spell the defence continued to operate effectively and Ballyholland still found themselves unable to strike up an opening score. Mid-way through the first half Warrenpoint found their rhythm again and a slick passage of play starting in the back with Aaron D’Arcy, who worked hard all night, went through Ross Mc Garry to Donagh Mc Aleenan who scored a glorious point. The next score was from Ross mc Garry who struck a free from at least 50 yards out on the left hand side sweetly over the bar. That left The Pont ahead by seven points to no score on the 20th minute.
The next ten minutes were peppered with three wides for The Point however from a Warrenpoint point of view this was positive, at least players were prepared to have a go and the reticence to shoot from distance that characterised their opening game against Rostrevor was not evident. On the 28th minute Ballyholland were awarded a free about 35 yards out and straight in front of the goals which Seamus Loughran had no trouble in converting to give the Harps their opening score of the game. The half finished with a wide from Ballyholland’s Tony Havern.
Half Time Score Warrenpoint 0-7 Ballyholland 0-1.
Ballyholland opened the half brightly with a point from Ryan Connolly but Warrenpoint scored the next two courtesy of Niall Mc Govern and Ryan Boyle, over the next five minutes the teams exchanges points from Seamus Loughran , Ballyholland and Ruairí Mc Cormack Warrenpoint and Tony Havern, Ballyholland and Donagh Mc Aleenan, Warrenpoint by the 40th minute there was still seven points between the teams, 0-11 to 0-4. The pace of the game slowed a little over the next ten minutes. It was during this time that an off the ball incident broke out and when the dust settled the referee with the help of one of his umpires issued a yellow card to Ballyholland’s Pearse Loughran and Adam Lynch from Warrenpoint.
On the 20th minute Antoin Magill replaced Christy Carr on the Warrenpoint team. Ryan Mallon was fouled about 30 yards out from goal and Niall Mc Govern converted the resulting free. Ballyholland replied with the score of the game, a tremendous 50 yard shot from P Mc Ateer taking the Warrenpoint lead back to seven points. Points from Cormac Mc Cartan and Ruairí Mc Cormack pushed the Warrenpoint lead to nine points.
At this point as the game was coming to an end both sets of managers took the opportunity to give some of their subs an outing. Seamus Loughran scored again for Ballyholland. The final score for Warrenpoint by Donagh Mc Aleenan was notable for the excellent long kick pass from Ryan Magee. Seamus Loughran Finished the scoring with a point from a free and the Blues had secured their first two points of the season. None of their remaining games will be as easily secured as this one.
Warrenpoint Scorers: Niall McGovern 0-4,Donagh McAleenan 0-3, Ruairí Mc Cormack 0-3, Ryan Boyle 0-2, Cormac Mc Cartan 0-2, Ross Mc Garry 0-1.
Ballyholland Scorers: Seamus Loughran 0-4, Ryan Connolly 0-1, Tony Havern 0-1, P McAteer 0-1.
