Cumann Pheadaír Naofa 2-16
Castlewellan 1-6
Although the result shows Cumann Pheadaír Naofa had a comfortable 13-point win and are through to meet Newry Shamrocks in the eagerly expected semi-final, this was a game that Conor Tinnelly & Tom Daly would rather put behind them. Minus the services of Jamie Grant, who has been a midfield revelation this season, Matthew Teague & regular net minder Decky Doyle through holidays and work commitments, Castlewellan could easily have been the betting man’s favourite to cause an upset and dump the blues out of the championship in the last round of the round robin section.
At a resplendent, sun kissed Clonduff Park Cumann Pheadaír Naofa only needed to draw to ensure a semi-final berth in the Down Junior Championship, but a nervous jittery start by the firm favourites who shot eight wides within the opening seven minutes set the tone for the first half. John “Joker” O’Kane, having struck several wides finally found his range to get the opening score with a beauty of a strike close to the midfield touch line on eight minutes. The blues nerves began to settle slightly, when Oggie Murphy was quickest to react after a Cathal Fagan goal bound strike was parried and his ground stroke flew into the net. Cumann Pheadaír Naofa, playing with a two-man full forward line to maximise the pacey Cathal Fagan and Tom Daly strike force, saw a lack of quality ball in the final quarter as many possible scoring chances went awry. It wasn’t until midway through the half when Fagan found room to slip his marker and he unleashed a rocket from outside the twenty-metre line that bulged the Castlewellan net. Minutes later the ‘Town struck back with a goal of their own to bring the blues lead down to a rather shaky three points. Joker extended the favourites lead with a sixty-metre free on nineteen minutes, but Castlewellan refused to let this deter them and within a minute brought it back to a three-point game once more. Cumann Pheadaír Naofa who had manged a 46% scoring rate by this stage, were finding the challenge of Castlewellan, who they had beaten twice in the league this year by more than eight points, hard to shake. The final ten minutes saw the sides exchange scores with O’Kane (twice) and Fagan responding to Castlewellan scores as the blues went in at half time four point to the good, 2-5 to 1-4.
When the second half resumed it was once more a game of cat and mouse as Castlewellan opened the scoring seconds in to the restart and Cumann Pheadaír Naofa replying through Oggie Murphy, Antoin Magill and O’Kane. The tempo of the game seemed to change after the fifteenth minute as the blues ramped up their scoring whilst also quashing the Castlewellan scoring threat. Magill was now starting to play a starring role and, on several occasions, found himself bearing down on goal, when played through by Joker and consequently managed to bag himself six second half points for his efforts. The Blue machine finally found fourth gear and were now confident that there was to be no upset.
The blues can thank their back line, worthy of any other championship this year, Saran McElroy, James McParland and Tomas Magill unbeatable under pressure, ensuring that their stand in veteran keeper Liam Boyle was rarely troubled over the sixty minutes. Indeed, whenever he was called upon his steely nerve was quick to quash any Castlewellan danger efficiently and his lengthy puc-outs often found the lively and tireless work rate of midfielders Conor Keenan and a Man of the Match display from Antoin Magill, who were instrumental in almost all of Warrenpoint scores and attacking play. Joker, who after returning from holidays, was Joe Canning esk from a dead ball once he settled into his normal rhythm.
Cumann Pheadaír Naofa will now meet local rivals Newry Shamrocks in the Junior Championship semi-final in what will surely be the tie of the championship thus far. Both sides are capable of victory on their day and have seriously experienced and skilful ball players within their ranks, and if both sides are at full strength then this really will be a thriller worthy of any big stage game in the county.
Team: L Boyle, T Magill, J McParland, A O’Brien, S McElroy, M Rafferty, F Murphy, C Keenan, A Magill 0-6, K McCullagh, O Murphy 1-1, J O’Kane 0-7, C Fagan 1-2, T Daly, N McParland
M Murphy for McCullagh, E McConville for O’Brien
