Club News
31/08/02 Tournament delight for young Johnnies
Tommy Best Tournament Teams, Mentors and Organisers in Corrigan Park
On Saturday at Corrigan Park, St. John's G.A.C. hosted the annual Tommy
Best Memorial Under-10 hurling tournament. Teams from Antrim, Down, Derry
and Armagh participated in the tournament and the youngsters present gave
an exhibition of hurling skills throughout the day.
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Eight teams played in the competition comprising host club, St.
John's, Keady (Armagh), Dungiven (Derry), Ballycran, Ballygalget
and Portaferry (Down) and North Antrim's Dunloy and Cushendall.
The teams were divided into two sections for the round robin stages,
with the top two teams in each section advancing to the semi-finals
of the competition.
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A Ballycran hurler tries to get the ball past his Dunloy marker |
Throughout the competition, all of the teams delighted the spectators,
with their high level of skill, determination and sportsmanship. Following
some very close games in the early stages, Cushendall, Ballycran, Ballygalget
and St. Johns emerged to enter the knockout stage of the competition.
The first semi-final was a battle between Ballycran and Ballygalget and
the second between Cushendall and St. John's.
St. John's hurler unleashes the ball |
Ballygalget qualified in style for the final with excellent performances
from James Murray, Gerard Roddy and midfielders Daniel Toner and
Andrew Smith. Ballycran's midfielders Conor Dorrian and Michael
Mc Cullagh worked very hard throughout the game and forward Ryan
Stuart made life difficult for the Ballygalget defence.
St. John's defeated Cushendall 2-3 to 1-0 in an entertaining game.
Eoin Laverty hammered home the goal for Cushendall and although
that was the only score for the North Antrim side in the semi-final,
Paddy Mc Naughton, Cahir Mc Naughton and Conor Mc Allister best
served them during the game. Seamus Clarke and Andy Mc Gowan scored
the St. John's goals and a number of points by sharp-shooting full-forward
Declan Cregan helped them on the road to victory and a place in
the final.
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| Watched by a large crowd of spectators, the final between St. John's
and Ballygalget got underway. The game was a closely fought affair
and little separated the sides. Jude Whyte and Joe Garland produced
some quality hurling at midfield for the Johnnies and both Conor and
Ciaran Johnston are worthy of mention. St. John's won the final on
a 4-2 to 2-2 scoreline and only for some outstanding stops by Pádraig
Nugent in goals for St. John's the score could have been much closer. |
"You looking at me?" |
St. John's had a successful double on the day with Declan Cregan winning
the poc-fada competition. Tommy Best's son Rory, congratulated the teams
and made the presentations to runners-up, Ballygalget and winners, St.
John's. He thanked all the teams that had entered the competition and
congratulated the under-10 mentors who organised it and made it such a
success.
Johnnies Poc Fada winner Declan Cregan with the other usual suspects
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