At the windy and rain soften turf of St Marks Dermot Donnelly & Chris Rooney took their U12 hurlers out for the first game of the season against a physically bigger & stronger Castlewellan side. With both teams opting to play 13-a-side it meant every child had plenty of time to show off their talents. Castlewellan playing with the strong wind in the first half took a full 20 minutes before they managed a score, a goal, such was the battling determination of the Warrenpoint defense, with Tiarnan Burns, Matthew Duffy, Oisín Ruane being kept busy in front of goals. It was the strong tackling, fielding and link play of half backs Niall Rice & Mark Campbell that helped Tiarnan Kelly & Darragh Austin with a supply of sliotar so that they could play good ball into Ruairí McIntyre & James Sweeney in half forwards. The forward line of Ben Lock, Jarlath Donnelly & Oran Murney found it hard to get any space against their bigger opponents and were often quickly closed down by the ‘town boys.
Having changed ends and saw the wind quieten down for the next 30 minutes it was hoped that the blues fortunes would soon change and scores were sure to follow. Having switched Liam O’Connor out of goals and given a roving half back role to play, it wasn’t long before the hard work of young Darragh Austin started to pay off. The Blues were now peppering the Castlewellan defence with long range shots and were extremely unlucky not to have several points on the board. But they never gave up and a shot from man of the match Matthew Dufy, gave the Castlewellan keeper no chance. Castlewellan pressed hard and within 3 minutes managed to score a rather fortunate gaol. Cumann Pheadaír Naofa now stringing some great passes together and switching the ball across the field replied swiftly with an Oran Murney point. It was now approaching the final few minutes and the Cumann Pheadaír Naofa boy knew they needed a goal to square thing up. It was then that Liam O’Connor had a pile driver of a shot deflected out and wide in what would have tied the game at 2-1 apiece, but Castlewellan held out for the last few minutes for victory, 2-1 to 1-1.
Alas the Warrenpoint side started off with defeat, but with such spirit and determination on display throughout the side, it is hoped that when the sides meet again in a few weeks’ time, that today’s thrilling and exciting game will have a much better outcome for the boys in blue.
CPN Side: Liam O’Connor, Tiarnan Burns, Matthew Duffy 1-0, Niall Rice, Mark Campbell, Tiernan Kelly, Darragh Austin, James Sweeney, Ruairí McIntyre, Oran Murney 0-1, Jarlath Donnelly, Ben Lock
