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Ballyvarley U-14 Hurlers Make Down Squad And Defeat Antrim

15 August 2012

Ballyvarley Hurlers Conor Mc Polin, Stephen Mc Key, Ryan Harrison and Louis Murray all played their part in a strong Down performance at the recent Ulster tournament held in Dunloy Co Antrim. Down entered 2 teams along with all other Ulster counties for what turned out to be a competitive and enjoyable tournament.
 
 In the opening game against Donegal Conor Mc Polin wearing the no 12 (half forward) made an immediate impact by opening the scoring for the reds with an impressive drive forward and a fine taken point from the 45 yard line, only to then convert a free to begin what ended up being a demolition of Donegal who in return failed to score.
Down continued their dominance with Conor being central and involved in some excellent passing and movement which led to Down playing some of the most skillful and dominant hurling seen for some time at this age group. This team went on to comfortably beat Derry and Tyrone and take the most impressive scalp of all by defeating the strongly fancied Antrim side. 

In the second Down team all three Ballyvarley players Louis Murray (5 Half Back), Stephen Mc Key (13 full forward) and Ryan Harrison (10 half forward) all played some outstanding hurling and were central to the team performance. Through all games Louis was a rock in defence as he ensured nothing got past him and moved the ball up to the forward line at every opportunity. Stephen worked tirelessly throughout all games being rewarded with some fine scores while Ryan made many surging runs making life difficult for defenders.
All players had a great day and justified their selection and are a credit to Ballyvarley hurling. 
The Down team will now go forward to the all Ireland Blitz on Sept 1st as one of the fancied sides and we wish all lads involved good luck from all in the club

This year the U14 Ballyvarley team has continued to develop under the coaching of Peter McConville having won the County Feile Shield with a convincing win over Castlewellan. They went on to finish top of division 2 which in turn secured promotion to division 1 playing against the likes of Portaferry, Liatroim, Ballygalget, Ballycran & Carryduff. With some recent strong performances against Ballycran and Ballygalget this team is going from strength to strength and is now showing why they deserve to be in the premier league of county hurling.
Photo taken by Brian Cunningham.

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