DIV 3 ALL-COUNTY HURLING LEAGUE

Carey and Armoy renewed old rivalries in this Div 3 All-County meeting at Pairc Naomh Padraig with the home team emerging as the victors with a six point win. The blustery conditions mitigated against high quality hurling on the day and the result hung in the balance until the latter stages of the match.

In the initial stages of the first half both sets of defences were on top of their game and scores were hard to come by. The stalemate was broken by a well-taken goal from James Black of Carey after some excellent approach work from Smyth. Armoy responded immediately with two quick points to keep the pot boiling. The tempo of the game began to rise with some great attacking play by both sides resulting in Carey adding on three points to Armoy's one. Then in the 22nd minute Armoy won the ball in the middle of the field and following a fine solo run the sliotar was dispatched to the net by Malachy Mc Clafferty to leave matters level. Just before half time Carey again took the initiative and edged in front with two points taken by Smyth and Mc Cambridge to leave the half time score 1-05 to 1-03.

Following the resumption Armoy demonstrated their determination to overcome the half time deficit by scoring a well-taken point almost immediately. However this optimism proved short-lived when Carey replied with four points on the trot. At this stage tempers began to fray somewhat with the referee having to brandish a number of yellow cards to both teams which seemed to take the tension out of matters. Carey then made some substitutions and introduced Mc Bride and Murphy for Mc Caughan and Hunter. The tide seemed to be going in Carey's favour at this point and their defence were now containing the Armoy attacks more resolutely. This allowed their attackers more latitude and Devlin and Mc Auley added two more points to the Carey tally. However Armoy weren't yet finished and in the 54th minute managed to eventually scramble the ball over the Carey goal line to set up an intriguing last few minutes. Once again Carey took the initiative from the puck out and Martin Cubby struck a great point from 25yds out under some pressured defending from Armoy. Armoy continued to press forward and sent over a point from a 65 to keep the pressure on Carey. Carey dug in and won some good possession in the half-forward line and added three more points as the game came to a close. When the ref blew for full time Carey had held on for a very valuable six point win in their quest to move up the Div 3 table.

FINAL SCORE - CAREY 1-16 ARMOY 2-07

Best for Carey were Mc Bride , Smyth and Black