Cumann Pheadaír Naofa 3-5
Ballyvarley 6-11
For those parents who braved the chilly damp conditions in Milltown on Friday night to watch the u14s opening league fixture of 2019 a fifteen-point defeat somewhat flattered the visitors. Ballyvarley got off to a great start with a goal inside the first minute quickly followed by two points. The blues defence struggled with the big powerful running of the Ballyvarley half forward, who towered above his blues opponents. When Ronan McShane latched on to a cross field ball and sprinted down the wing, striking towards the goal, the sliotar ended up in the net, but was ruled out due to a square ball infringement. Not to be disheartened Oisín McGivern scrambled the sliotar over the line to leave just four points between the sides. With Seon McGinn & Mikey Keohane in the middle of the park excellently supported by Oran Murney they stood a very good chance of overturning the constant pressure of the visitors. Midway through the half Ballyvarley found a chink in the Warrenpoint defence when they were fortunate to grab two quick goals with the sliotar drifting over the top of the excellent Tommy Smith in goals. In fact had it not been for some of his lightning fast reactions throughout the game to turn a goal bound pile driver wide or deflect it over the bar the visitors would have romped home. The half ended with a Murney free shortly after McShane had pointed from a tight angled free 30m out to leave the blues trailing by 13points.
The second half saw an absolute transformation in the hosts performance, with Fionn Mathews now switched into the half back line, he was able to boss the Ballyvarley scoring threat leaving Oisín Gambold free to run at the opposition to grab the opening score with a fine point 40m out. Cumann Pheadaír Naofa were now a team transformed. As the reds pushed for another score the blues had Sean Crawford, Conaire McMahon and Sean Greenan to deal with, they played fantastically with some fine high fielding, tigerish tackling and brilliant clearances time and again. McShane and Murney linked up for the score of the game when Murney gathered the sliotar out towards the end line, set off on solo down the line and when two red jerseys advanced to close him down, a deft little hand pass to McShane, who had been shadowing his team mate, received the pass and returned it straight back with a flick of the hurl, Murney now at full pace, bore down on goals and struck the sliotar past the Ballyvarley keeper, much to the delight of the blues side-line. A mini revival was on the cards and although the blues were the better side in the second half, it was the lead that Ballyvarley had built in the first half that gave them enough of a cushion to soak up the blues improved performance. A second Murney goal closed the deficit slightly, but Ballyvarley had scored enough to see them with a fourteen-point win and get their season off to a good start.
