Down U20 hurlers bring home the All-Ireland B title once again
All-Ireland U20B Hurling Final: Down 1-22 Tyrone 4-11
Down hurlers retained the Richie McElligott Cup on Saturday with a brilliant 1-22 to 4-11 victory over Tyrone in the All-Ireland U20B final in Kingspan Breffni Park.
The Mourne side opened game with a point from their captain Noah Rogers. The promising start continued for Down with a point added by John Duggan and a brace from Cathal Coleman before Tyrone registered their first from Francie Rogers and Down’s lead was wiped out in the twelfth minute with a Tyrone goal scored by Pierce Mullin was swiftly followed by a second provided by Eunan Campbell.
Aidan Woods tagged on a point from a free to give Tyrone a 2-2 to 0-5 lead and their dominant spell continued with Woods and Liam Griffins stretching their advantage to five.
Coleman stopped the rot with the next point and Liam Blaney reduced the deficit to three 0-7 to 2-4 and while a brace of points from Mullin widened it to five again Down finished the half strongly with a point from Duggan and two from Coleman to narrow the margin to two with Tyrone leading 2-6 to 0-10 at the break.
Coleman continued where he left off in the second half, sending two more over the bar to level proceedings 2-6 to 0-12 but Tyrone put a spanner in the works once again when Shea Monroe hit their third maximum.
That didn't bother this determined Down side however as they were soon level again with points from Luke McCabe, Rogers and Blaney and when Woods converted a couple of frees in reply and Tyrone nabbed their fourth goal to lead 4-9 to 0-15, Down showed their resolve.
Shea Pucci hit the net 20 minutes into the second half and Coleman sent the next two scores between the sticks. Traded points between Monroe and Blaney kept it a two-point game with two minutes of normal time remaining but Down once again finished the half strongest with Coleman converting a brace of frees and Ben Taggart scoring the last to secure the 1-22 to 4-11 victory for the Mourne side who are All-Ireland Champions for the third time in the last four years.