St Malachy’s, Portadown 2-12 Ballyvarley 1-7
Games like this serve to remind us why we no longer call pre-season games “friendlies” as Ballyvarley’s young senior hurling team were severely challenged by the power and tenacity of this skilful St Malachy’s team.
An opening scoring blitz from the Portadown side was accompanied by a sharp introduction to the power, speed, and tenacity of hurling at senior level and we feared that the youthful Reds would sink under the pressure. However, they just kept their heads down and worked their way manfully into the game, cutting an eleven-point deficit down to four and making this game a very enjoyable contest.
The Reds ended the first half strongly, dominated the third quarter and with just a little better finishing they could have been much closer at the end.
Very impressed by the learning curve shown in this game.
Scorers:
Conor McPolin 0-4, James Teague 1-0, Matthew Malone 0-2, Liam Conlan 0-1.