Brilliant second half from U20’s
Blackwater 0-17 v 0-17 Davidstown-Courtnacuddy/HWH Bunclody
The U20s were behind by 3 points twice in the second half against a strong wind but still managed to lead by a point coming up to injury time. It was a first ever appearance in the Premier U20 (formally U21) grade for our club in a very wet and windy Pairc Naomh Brid.
The first half was a tight affair but the second half really sprung into life with our lads battling for every ball. Na Fianna started the stronger and were 3 up to no score after we hit a number of wides. Pad had us on the board from a free after 12 minutes while we were still 3 behind with 17 gone after Ross Berry put over a nice point. Shane Butler pulled off a good save to keep us in the game and the men in red kept us at a distance up until the 27 minute when another Pad free had us just 1 behind which it stayed until the break.
Davidstown started the second half in determined fashion and were three ahead again with the second half only 3 minutes old. Our lads though showed serious determination and we were level by the 9th minute with Ben and two excellent Pad points. Yet again 3 quick scores from Davidstown had them ahead but our lads started to really put the pressure on in the tackle and with Pad and Topar pulling the strings in midfield, we again scored 3 in a row by the 21st minute, one of those an exceptional score by Kevin, hoping on top of the bar and over. With momentum with us, we had strong performances all over the pitch with Eoin O’Neill a tower at full back ably assisted by the corner backs while Ben Redmond was clearing alot of ball to the hard working forwards. A minute after we levelled, we took the lead as Pad yet again scored from midfield which he repeated the same trick from their puck out. The game was a battle of who wanted it most with Na Fianna bringing it back to 1 a few minutes later. Unfortunately it was a long 7 minutes and just on the stroke of the end of the game, they equalised. Due to the darkness setting in, extra time couldn’t be played so a reply it is. The lads were missing a number of players so hopefully Dean and Denis will have a full contingent to pick from the next day.
1.Shane Butler. 2. James Cullen. 3. Eoin O’Neill. 4. Bryan Mooney. 5. Robert McMcGuinness. 6. Ben Redmond (0-1). 7. Paddy Cullen. 8. Pad O’Connor (0-11, 0-7 frees, 0-1 65). 9. Kevin Corrigan (0-2, 0-1 sideline). 10. Jake Nobbs (0-1). 11. Tomas Murphy. 12. Ross Berry. (0-1) 13. Josh Culleton. 14. Adam Murphy (0-1). 15. Ben Cullen