Cumann Pheadaír Naofa 3-7
St. Pats 1-5
The U16 hurlers had a moral boosting win away to St Pats (an amalgamation of Ballyvarley & Ballela) side. With both teams eager to get their first win of the league campaign after defeats to the stronger Ards and south Belfast sides, it was to be a real battle of south Down pride to see who would come out on top of this real competitive hurling match.
With Cumann Pheadaír Naofa playing with the breeze in the first half it was the green & gold of St Pats that opened the scoring with a point from play. But with a man of the match performance from Thomas Magee at centre half back this proved to be the one and only time the blues were behind, his work rate throughout the 60 minutes ensured that his side would accept nothing less than a victory and 2 league points. At midfield Eoin Carr had an excellent day as did Ronan Cunningham when moved back to help out his midfield partner and it wasn’t long before the opening goal of the match came from the hard working Mike Lennon, which was quickly followed up with two Ronan Cunningham points, one from a free. St Pats struck back with a goal of their own, but it proved to be their last score of the half as the Warrenpoint side stamped their authority on the game even more when left half back Jake McNabb ensured his name was on the score sheet with a well place point. By now the blues were well in control, rarely being threatened in defence as Conan Kelly and Ciaran Fitzgerald snuffed out the St Pats attacking threat. A Mark McGivern goal just before half time ensured Cumann Pheadaír Naofa went in ten points ahead of their south down opponents, 3-4 to 1-1.
The second half proved to be a difficult time for Cumann Pheadaír Naofa. Having wind advantage the St Pats side switched from a running game to pumping high balls into the St Peters backline in a vain attempt to claw back a goal of their own. Adrian McNally & Decky Dinsmore quickly recognised this and made the tactical switch of moving Mike Lennon into the corner back position to add some extra height. As St Pats persisted on dropping high ball on top of Peter McCreeshs goalmouth, it was Conan Kelly who’s fine fielding ensured that goal attempts were minimised. As the half progressed St Pats were limited to just four points whilst Ronan Cunningham (twice) and Mark McGivern kept the scoreboard ticking over. The strong performances of Mike Lennon, Ronan Cunningham, Thomas Magee & Eoin Carr in the middle third of the field saw Cumann Pheadaír Naofa close out the game with a well earned victory.
With the first win of the league now under their belts, Adrian & Decky will want to keep up the momentum as the lads entertain Clonduff at Milltown in Wednesday night’s re-fixtured game.
CPN Scorers: Mike Lennon 1-1, Mark McGivern 1-1, Ronan Cunningham 0-4, Eoin Carr 1-0, Jake McNabb 0-1.
