Cumann Pheadaír Naofa 1-11
Castlewellan 1-1
In one of the finest team performances from the young blues all year, the U12 hurlers had a big win against a very good Castlewellan side. Having been beaten twice already this year by Castlewellan and managing to gain some measure of pay back at the start of the summer with one away victory, this was a game that could very easily have been a victory for the visitors, especially as the blues had suffered a demoralising defeat away to Ballycran last week and Castlewellan having beaten Carryduff. From the start of the game Captain, Liam O’Connor took the game by the scruff of the neck and slotted over three stunning points, all from about forty metres out. The blues midfield set up of Liam, Tiernan Kelly and Ruairi McIntyre worked tirelessly as did half backs Oisín Ruane, Mathew Duffy and James Sweeney very quickly snuffing out any threat, ably assisted by Mark Campbell the CPN defence put constant pressure on the Castlewellan forwards forcing them into snap shot which went wide of the target. Any time the visitors did break through they found that Darragh Austin was virtually impassable with two fine saves and blocks. Up front Oran Murney once more showed what a quality forward he is with a superb strike from out on the wing, making light of the narrow angle. The forwards of Tiernan Burns, Ben Lock and Jarlath Donnelly battled hard and worked well together chasing, tackling and hooking at every turn. With the blues up by a single score the game was delicately balanced when Caolan Freer found himself with the sliotar in hand, having received a pinpoint pass from Tiernan Kelly, as he turned to shoot his marker did just enough to put him off as his shot went within a whisper of being the opening goal for the blues. two minutes later Liam O’Connor doubled the one-point advantage with a thunderous shot that could so easily have ended up over the bar but whistled over the bar by inches. A fifth point from Liam saw the team take the half time break with the host 0-6 to 1-0 ahead.
On the resumption it was Oran Murney with another fine point out on the wing, followed by Tiernan Kelly that started off the scoring. Having had ten wides in the first half the pressure put on the Castlewellan defence eventually took its toll when another high ball to the edge of the square saw Oisín Ruane kick to the net having been hooked with his first attempt. Further out the field the Warrenpoint midfielders were now getting to top of matters and were quick to limit the visitors star players. The blues defence also stepped up to the mark and totally out played their markers, limiting them to a single point and two wide for the whole of the half. Once more it was the grit and determination of a whole team unit that gave Liam the opportunity to score the last three points of the match to seal a ten-point victory.
CPN were: Liam O’Connor 0-8, Oisín Ruane 1-0, Oran Murney 0-2, Tiernan Kelly 0-1
