South Antrim U12 Hurling Final
Davitt’s 3-9 St Gall’s 2-5
After the disappointment on losing out on in two finals this year in North Antrim and Nipper Quinn A by a puck of a ball, Davitts U12 hurlers put two weeks of hard work in training to ensure preparation for the Division One league play-off against St Galls.
After losing one game each in the league, the Davitts loss coming against St Galls so this decider was always going to be a tight affair.
Davitts hit the ground running and scored the first three points of the game – the first two points came from some great play between Ruben Rogan, Cormac Mulligan and Sean Smyth. Aaron Tierney who was superb in the half back-line throughout the game then pointed a long range free to give Davitts the perfect start. St Galls got off the mark through a well taken free from a tight angle which seemed to settle them; the St Galls defence got on top and they started moving the ball well into the forward line. St Galls created some openings in the Davitts defence but with the defence marshalled well by Oisin Heaney they kept out the attack. It was nip and tuck for the remaining 10 minutes of the first half with both teams trading scores until Daire Melady struck a wonder goal to give Davitts a deserved half-time lead of 1-05 to 0-02.
St Galls came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and only for Michael Kennedy in the Davitts goal they would have got their rewards. The excellent Sean Smyth who was dominate in midfield throughout got the first few scores of the second half to settle the Davitts lads. To St Galls credit they lifted their game again and got the next three scores; a goal and some well taken points.
St Galls continued to put pressure on the Davitts full back line but Oisin Heaney, Kevin Mullan and Jack Hughes were up to the task and were well on top. Both teams traded further goals and points; Davitts ran out deserved winners on a score line of 3-09 to 2-05.
This game must be commended for how both teams played; fast moving hurling, played in the right spirit with plenty of respect between the players and mentors. A big thank you to Terry Reilly for refereeing the game. Davitts would also like to thank Gareth Bellew for his kind words to the young Davitt gaels.
To the Davitts team all year their attitude, commitment, discipline and skill have shone through to which our club are very proud off.