Patrick Rankins turn it on for comfortable win
Patrick Rankins 6-18
Iveagh O’Rahilly’s 4-6
Goals win matches and when you have two classy free scoring forwards who notched five goals & eleven points between them, you could say that victory should be guaranteed. Conor Murphy & James Duggan were on fire late on Wednesday night under the lights of Abbey Grammar school, they tortured the O’Rahillys defence at every turn, putting in match winning displays of skill, score taking and craft taking all of their scores but one, from open play.
Rankins, who were badly hit with player unavailability through exams and county duties welcomed the fancied Iveagh O’Rahillys who boosted several current & former Celtic Challenge players in their ranks. The stylish play of Eoin McCrickard, up front for the visitors was quickly subdued as Rankins had standout players in Conan Kelly, Cian Lyons & Jake McNabb who never really looked troubled when asked, as they were central to everything in the Rankins backline.
The game started off with a super point from the stick of Niall Husarz inside the opening three minutes for the visitors, before Tiernan Murphy elegantly pointed all from 60metres out. O’Rahillys often looked for the option of deep down the channels to Imran Hussain, who given half a chance could destroy any team, but was often left frustrated with the hosts solid defensive line. Conor Murphy pounced for the first of his goal’s seconds with three minutes gone. The stylish James Duggan and Tiernan Murphy added further scores right before Duggan found the net as Rankins moved up a gear gliding into a ten-point lead midway through the opening half.
Eoin McGivern was by far the best central defender that Rankins had, he was resolute and gave an exhibition of fielding and handling when often under extreme pressure from the O’Rahillys forward line who tried every avenue to pass the Warrenpoint lads dominance. McGivern gave countless expertly placed deliveries into the paths of Lee Fagan, Tiernan Murphy, Conor Murphy and Luke O’Neill whose steely determination ensured a personal tally of 1-1 upfront. Iveagh O’Rahillys never gave up and had super performances in Matthew Malone, McCrickard & Hussain but just couldn’t find the right final delivery into breech James Murray on the goal line. Rankins had one of many match winners in centre back Sean Campbell, himself a Celtic cross winner two seasons ago with the county U17s and his experience was crucial around the middle third of the park. The half ended with Rankins ahead on a score line of Patrick Rankins 4-9, Iveagh O’Rahillys 0-3
The second half saw a change of fortunes for the visitors as they staged a mini revival and were quickest out of the blocks as Niall Husarz struck for the first of his teams two goals inside the opening two minutes, quickly followed by a fifty metre McCrickard point in the eleventh minute from play and another from a free a minute later. Duggan & Conor Murphy pointed for Rankins prior to Conor Murphy’s hattrick of goals as the game entered the final 15 minutes of play. Rankins traded further scores with their visitors, but were never in danger of being caught as they played out the last few minutes to see an eighteen-point victory and inflict a massive first defeat on the divisional league leaders.
Patrick Rankins will now entertain Craobh Rua in Páirc Esler next Wednesday in what will be their last game until the start of June as the teams go into the exam break after that.
Scores: Conor Murphy 3-7, James Duggan 2-4, Tiernan Murphy 0-4, Luke O’Neill 1-1, Sean Campbell 0-2
U10s are true Super blues!!!
Early on Saturday morning our u10 Hurlers travelled to a sun kissed Castlewellan for their hosts annual u10 blitz. Playing against Carryduff, Castlewellan, Clonduff & Portaferry the young Super Blues came home with three wins & a draw. John-Joe Boyle, Jason Duffy and Finn Digney ruled the defensive lines with some great defending which meant that Ciaran McMahon, Lorcan Rowntree and the superb Eoin Campbell were given a free hand to dominate the middle of the park in style.
Three goals from McMahon and the industrious Rowntree playing a blinder in the opening game, it meant that Carryduff were at sixes & sevens going down 4 to 1.
Castlewellan didn’t fare much better against this awesome ‘point side. In fact, Jamie Lock & Gerard McConville proved to be a lethal combination up front and were just too good for their opponents as the blues rolled onto another comfortable 3 to zero victory.
The Ports were to be Cumann Pheadaír Naofa next victims as they too went down, this time by the narrowest of margins 1-2 to 1-1.
As the heat of the day started to take its toll on all the young hurlers it was to be forgiven as the blues took on neighbours Clonduff in their final game to end with a 1-1 draw having dominated the play throughout.
Well done to Averill, Colette & Liam for taking these lads and achieving so much.
U16s return to winning ways
Patrick Rankins 4-9
Craobh Rua 4-5
A goal either side of half time from Ben Lock and two from James Duggan mid-way through each half were the deciding factors in this tight entertaining game. Patrick Rankins had suffered a big defeat last week, against the mighty Bredagh side and were eager to stay in contention of a top spot in the South Down league, so a vital win away to the south Armagh side was critical.
A Duggan strike on goal was well parried by the Craobh Rua goalie, but it fell invitingly to the lurking presence of dangerman Lock who flashed the sliotar to the back of the net inside the opening minute of the game. Duggan’s long-distance point minutes later, was followed up with a delightful point from Oran Murney inside the sixth minute. The south Armagh side tried to make their superior size count and were using the channels to avoid the midfield prowess of Oisín Magone & Niall Furlong, who were stopping any potential attacks from developing deep inside the Craobh Rua defence. Despite the Rankins backline of Mark Campbell and Oisín Ruane having very good games the reds somehow managed to peg back their visitors to two or three points to stay in the chase. It was then that Duggan gathered possession, side stepped two challenges and headed for the goal, his stot from thirty yards out met little resistance as it bulged the back of the net. Rankins added another point when Darragh Austin was quickest to react to a loose ball, he made space for himself and fired over from twenty-five metres out on the right to leave his side three points clear.
Patrick Rankins were guilty of some very scorable wides, thus allowing their hosts the luxury of staying within striking distance even though they were being out played all over the park.
Tiernan Kelly opened the scoring at the start of the second half, an absolute beauty of a score from close to midfield, but the south Armagh side had managed to pull it back to just a point with an early goal, despite the brave efforts of Sean Crawford on the Rankins goal line. Duggan & Austin replied with points for the visitor’s moments before Rankins third goal, a second of the day for Duggan. A few positional switches by Rankins seemed to give Rankins a different approach as they were now able to deliver the sliotar in a lot quicker and through one of these long balls, it was the presence of Lock that caused some panic in the Reds backline and it was his sheer determination that once again ensured that the sliotar ended up in the home net.
Craobh Rua came back as determined as ever and responded with a well taken goal of their own. The teams were now separated by just four points. Two Craobh Rua scores now had the visitors in a bit of a sweat when Lock latched onto a loose ball outside the twenty-metre line, turned and made just enough space to lob the sliotar over the crossbar to ensure that Rankins came away with the spoils with less than a minute to go.
Scores: James Duggan 2-4, Ben Lock 2-1, Darragh Austin 0-2, Oran Murney 0-1, Tiernan Kelly 0-1
