Brid Og v Carryduff
Venue: Musgrave Park
Date: 02nd Sept 2014
Brid Og’s P4/5 hurlers welcomed Carryduff to Musgrave Park for a challenge game. It was great to see over 40 children turn out between both teams. With such a large number of players it was agreed to split the teams into a younger and an older age group.
The older team consisted mainly of P5 children. It was initially agreed that the game would be 2 fifteen minute halves. However after the second half it was agreed that another 15 minute session would be played, due to the quality of play on show from both teams.
The Brid Og team got off to a flying start and the Carryduff defences were place under relentless pressure in the opening section of the game. This resulted in 3 goals in quick succession, with David, Zack K and Pearse taking one each. There was some great goal keeping by Eoin who managed to fend of numerous attacks from the Caryduff forwards. This score line placed the team in a strong position at the break. During the break the Carryduff Mentor obviously revised tactics with the team, made a few positional changes and strengthened its defensive lines.
This change initially made it more difficult for our forwards to break through and as a result the teams focus changed from goal scoring to getting the sliotar over the bar. Carryduff scored 2 goals in quick succession which took our players by surprise, the tally could have been much higher had it not been for some great saves by Pearse. However nerves were quickly settled again when David managed to register another goal. Seeing the danger, Carryduff responded and their forwards breached our defensive line and registered another goal late in this section of the game. Peter, Anna and Zach W played brilliantly in their forward position and did their best to take advantage of any balls which penetrated the Carryduff back lines. Rory and Mel put in great shifts in a range of positions and stayed focused on moving the ball on at all stages of the game and were involved in some great tackles. At the end of the second session the scoreboard read Brid Og 4-2 Carryduff 3-0.
During the break the team were reminded that the game was far from over and that the focus in the last section needed to be on keeping the ball moving and close marking of our opponents. The last session of the game was perhaps the most exciting and saw some great skill displayed by both sides. Carryduff had identified our key movers and were sticking to them very closely, making scoring more difficult. When Carryduff managed to score another goal James was dropped back into a defensive position and did a fantastic job of clearing his lines and providing a strong defensive line along with Dara, Saoirse and Jack. There was just enough time for Zack K to score another goal before the final whistle. The final score was Brid Og 5-2 Carryduff 4-0.
This was perhaps the best game of the season so far and was played in a clean and fair manner at all times by both sides. It was great to see the team display the skills developed over recent training sessions and a St Johns mentor who watched the team on the side line complimented the team on their performance at the end of the game. It is important to remember that the game is not just about scoring goals or points and that it takes a team to work as a cohesive unit to win a game. It was great to see so many players field tonight and it was great to see Peter and Zach W back on the pitch (welcome back boys you did brilliantly).
Thanks to Peter for bringing the Carryduff team to the game. Thanks to John and Ciaran for helping with the teams and refereeing and also thanks to Darren for releasing me from my refereeing duties after the first session of the game, he undoubtedly did a better job.
Brid Og p5 Team
Anna, Dara, Eoin, Jack, James, Mel, Pearse, Peter, Rory, Saoirse, , Zack K, Zach W,
The P4 team faced a physically bigger Carryduff team, also over 3 periods. The teams were well-matched in skills, but the Down team’s use of their strength helped them get the better of the Ogs. In the first two periods Carryduff had the better chances. Liam, and then James, in goals made good saves and cleared their lines well. Carryduff did manage to get a couple of goals and a couple of points though. Brid Og kept battling and in the final period Joe scored a well taken goal, which the team deserved, and Carryduff were restricted to a single point as the young Ogs played their best hurling of the evening.
A special mention to Ben & Rory who were making their debuts for Brid Og and to Ronan who was making the step up to play with older kids for the first time.
It was great to see over 20 kids out playing for Brid Og and we hope we see them all regularly at training in the future.
Ben, Conor, Corey, Dara Q, Donncha, James, Joe, Liam, Oisin, Ronan,Rory
