A 35-point win certainly makes a statement and hopefully for Bredagh it will signal that they are a team to be reckoned with this season.
Strength and conditioning coach, Peter Whan, had the Bredagh squad firing.
McGourty had two majors in as many minutes but tormentor in chief, Lorcan McMullan, was lording it. In between senior county star Donal Hughes was inspirational shooting 1-5 in a display that was close to man of the match was it not for McMullan edging it with his clinical finishing.
Irwin hoovered up anything loose and set up attacks while Hobbs fired over a lovely point and before you knew it Bredagh led 4-8 to 0-03 at the short whistle.
The second half was a continuation of the first with Irwin dispatching to the net, Galway’s ‘Hail Mary’ found the net and McMullan hammered a major into the top right corner to close out the game. Trainor shot over a hat-trick of points while Starr impressed to demonstrate his worth to the team. Donal Hughes sent his final point over the bar from all of 90 yards. The back four were solid throughout although Anderson will probably be annoyed at letting in a goal but he can thank McCollum who marshalled county star, Darren Hamill, very effectively and along with James Murray and Gilmore acted as a solid wall.
Curran looked solid which is a potential option for the future. Half back was another area of domination with Cormac Hughes growing from strength to strength while McGettrick looks like he’s finding his old form.
Kelly was his usual polished self and his replacement, Paul Doole, looked impressive.
Donal Hughes showed what he is made of while captain Paddy Byrne showed his versatility playing.
At half forward, Hobbs delivered good ball into the middle while Murray replaced Hobbs to good effect in the latter stages. Trainor was majestic.
The experience of McGourty, allied with the skill of McMullan, was a joy to watch. Niall Irwin excelled in midfield and Aidan Donaghy looked dangerous.
“This will be a great confidence booster and that sort of display should tell the boys that they are capable of beating any team in this league if they play like that,” said manager Eamon Mulvenna.
Panel and scorers: Jack Anderson, James Murray, Liam McCollum, Willie Gilmore, Stevie McGettrick, Cormac Hughes, Paul Kelly, Paddy Byrne (0-1), Donal Hughes (1-5), Darragh Hobbs (0-1), Emmett Trainor (0-3), Ian Galway (1-2), Lorcan McMullan (1-6), Gerard McGourty (3-1), Niall Irwin (1-1), Lorenzo McMullan, Mike Starr (0-1), Paul Doole, Georoid Murray, Aidan Donaghy, Ryan Curran, Mark Devlin.
Glen Rovers 3-11
Bredagh 3-09
With ten minutes remaining Bredagh were eight points behind but 2-2 in the last five minutes saw them draw level and they had the opportunity to go on and win this game.
But with the game well into added time, a soft free got Rovers the point they needed.
Bredagh had the wind in the first half and points from Hobbs, Donnelly, Galway and Irwin, who also added a first half goal, saw Bredagh lead 1-7 to 1-5 at the short whistle.
Armoy stretched their lead to eight in the second half and Bredagh were pretty much dead and buried.
With ten minutes to go Starr replaced the injured Donnelly while Georoid Murray and McGourty entered the fray.
Curran won a 21-yard free which Galway drove just over the bar. Another 21-yard free, won by Irwin, was dispatched into the bottom left hand corner by Galway and all of a sudden Bredagh were only four behind with a couple of minutes left. Cormac Hughes and Kelly drove their team forward and when Donal Hughes roofed the ball to the net, it was game on. Irwin was put through by Curran and was unlucky not to get his second major before Trainor fired over the equaliser.
In the dying stages Armoy split the posts to secure the win.
“Certainly our performance in the first half wasn’t great but the performance in the second half was a great improvement and better than last week’s against Ahoghill,” said coach Eugene Irwin.
Panel and scorers: Jack Anderson, James Murray, Liam McCollum, Willie Gilmore, Stevie McGettrick, Cormac Hughes, Paul Kelly, Paddy Byrne, Donal Hughes (1-0), Eoghan Donnelly (0-1), Emmett Trainor (0-1), Ian Galway (1-5 1-4f), Darragh Hobbs (0-1), Ryan Curran, Niall Irwin (1-1), Mike Starr, Georoid Murray, Gerard McGourty, Lorenzo McMullan.
U14 hurlers in sparkling form in Ulster Féile
Bredagh were the hosts of the Ulster Féile on Saturday 28 April. Included in their group were Na Magha, St Paul’s Belfast and arch rivals Ballygalget. Bredagh won two of their matches but were narrowly beaten by Ballygalget.
Bredagh 2-6 Na Magha 1-2
After a slow start Joe Hanrahan was forced to make some stunning saves. However, Michael Napier struck the back of the net and from that point on Bredagh scored a further two points.
In the second half Bredagh scored some fine individual points from Ronan Costello while Tim Cunningham found the back of the net.
Scorers: Michael Napier (1-01), Andy Harney (0-01), Ronan Costello (0-03), Niall McFarland (0-01), Tim Cunningham (1-0).
Bredagh 1-4 B’galget 3-4
Bredagh found themselves down by 2-01 but they picked themselves up with fine points from Cormac O’Rawe and Declan McCartney. Michael Napier bagged his second goal of the day leaving Bredagh trailing by two points at the interval.
Ronan Costello closed the gap near the end of the game before an obvious square ball goal flattered Ballygalget.
Scorers: Cormac O’Rawe (0-01), Declan McCartney (0-01), Michael Napier (1-01), Ronan Costello (0-01)
Bredagh 4-4 St Paul’s 4-3
Once again Bredagh found themselves two goals down before Joe Blaney struck over the bar from 30 yards.
Andy Harney fed Joe McKee who struck into the back of the net before Michael Napier scored just before half time.
Joe McKee hit his second goal of the match but St Paul’s quickly replied.
Andy Harney confidently put a free over the bar to reduce the deficit. The pressure continued and Niall McFarland drove the ball to the corner of the net. Colum McGuigan, Dylan Kerrigan and Conal O’Rawe thwarted many numerous attacks while Declan McCartney’s free found the net. St Paul’s had one last chance to restore their lead but Rian Woods confidently cleared.
Scorers: Joseph Blaney (0-01), Joe McKee (2-00), Michael Napier (0-01), Niall McFarland (1-00), Declan McCartney (1-00), A Harney (0-02).
BREDAGH: Conal O’Rawe, Niall McFarland, Michael Napier, Colum McGuigan, Sean MacFarlane, Tom McVeigh, Dylan Kerrigan, Andy Harney, Joseph Hanrahan, Lorcan Fahy, Joseph McKee, Declan McCartney, Cormac ORawe, Joseph Blaney, Rian Woods, Tim Cunningham, Ronan Costello.
