Ballymurn 2-2 Horeswood 0-2

Ballymurn produced an impressive, confident performance to win their first ever Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Rackard League MiniSeven’s hurling title in St. Patrick’s Park last Monday. After claiming their first football title only five days earlier, this truly was a memorable week for the Ballymurn boys after much hard work put in during training.

Ballymurn caused their opponents Horeswood problems from the start with the pace of Brody Murphy and Cathal Parker proving particularly difficult to deal with. A good steady defensive performance from Horeswood captain Ryan Rowe helped settle the ship in the opening minutes.

A remarkable amount of hooking, blocking and tough tackling plays saw scoring chances hard to come by in the first half. Indeed, it was seven minutes before Brody Murphy displayed silky ground hurling dribbling skills and a devastating ground stroke to beat Kyran Mylett in the Horeswood goal. Good scores from Alan Kehoe and Conor Foley put Horeswood right back in it at halftime.

The second half saw Ballymurn play with even more composure as they effectively shut down the Horeswood attack while using space up front to create chances. An early Brody Murphy point from out the field extended the lead before Brody teamed up with Patrick Redmond to create a goal worthy of winning any final. The final score came when the hard working Seán Walsh clipped over a point from out on the wing to create a reasonable safe six point gap. Were it not for an outstanding goal keeping display from Kyran Mylett in the Horeswood goal, this gap could have been greater.

Although Ballymurn will rightfully get the plaudits for completing a remarkable boys’ double, in truth it was really the Hurling 365 programme that was the success story of the night. Both of these teams were a testament to the brilliant new scheme that will hopefully see young players like these lead Wexford teams to further success in the future.

Ballymurn: Nick Scallan, Josh Waldron, Patrick Redmond, Brody Murphy, Seán Walsh, Mark White, Shane Cullen, Michael Cullen, Cian Walsh, Tadgh English, Adam O’Brien

Horewood: Kyran Mylett, Ryan Rowe, James Murphy, Jason Murphy, Conor Foley, Alan Kehoe, Cathal Parker, Kevin Wall, Alex Molloy, Ryan Mylett, Adam Harris, Andrew Crosbie