Clann na Banna keep their push for promotion up

Gary Quinn opened the scoring, pointing from a free.

After a succession of quick short passes, the ball broke to John Paul Gartland who was making his first start of the season, and he slotted the ball over the bar.

Darren McGrath and Paddy Feeney added further points to give the Clann a four point lead and they started to take control of the game.

It wasn’t long before the ball was in the net. Paddy Feeney and Liam McGarry linked up well to find Darren McGrath in space, who took on his man and rifled the ball to the roof of the net past the Carryduff keeper.

Feeney and Quinn added a further two points from play, and Connor Lenaghan rounded off the first half by collecting a quick side-line ball and losing his man to fire over the bar.

Carryduff started the second half brightly by scoring two quick points back to back.

The Clann defence didn’t rock though and stayed solid, passing the ball out well from the back and playing good counter attacking football.

The locals broke from defence once more for Quinn to point from play again and maintain a nine point lead. Carryduff managed another two points before Gary Quinn pointed another free for his fourth point of the game and to put the result beyond doubt.

Fresh Clann subs on the giant Carryduff pitch were enough to see the game out and put the Clann back on winning ways. Carryduff did however manage to grab a late consolation goal but it came too late.

- Clann na Banna U8s maintained their fine form at the Down Blitz in Glenn.

Their first match was against Attical. Liam Vaughan and Taylor Hill were combining well in the middle winning the majority of possession. Thomas Cunningham and Cian Gregg were rock solid in defence making it difficult for the opposition to get scores on the break. Aaron Moan showed some impressive moves in the forward line.

The second match saw Clann na Banna play against local rivals Aghaderg. Adam Maginn and Denis Kerr were excellent in conducting play. Jonathan McGrath in his debut season with the U8s won some important ball. Shea Malone and Ryse Berry were impressive in attack causing numerous problems for the opposing defence.

The third match saw the locals pitted against St. Michael’s. The first few minutes saw the Clann team blitz the St. Michael’s goal with some impressive scores from Taylor Hill, Liam Vaughan and Shea Malone. Saturday also saw the tournament debut of Cathair Ruddy, who was excellent in the Bann forward line. Caolan Hillen was strong in the Bann defence.