Castlewellan 'Feel the Burren' in Championship opener

Burren made short work of Castlewellan in their Senior Football Championship Round 1 fixture, with a resounding 24-point victory on Friday night.

It was a cagey first couple of minutes in Mayobridge, as both Burren and Castlewellan exchanged wides. The deadlock was broken in the third minute by a hooked Luke McCabe effort.

The game sprung to life nine minutes in, when Murdock claimed a kick-out and broke through the heart of the Castlewellan defence before some quick hand-passing led to the ball landing onto the boot of Dara Mussen who volleyed home.

The goal was perhaps overshadowed by an unfortunate injury in the build up to Down ace Danny Magill, who was replaced by speedster Liam Kerr.

Good defensive set-ups were the main feature of the first quarter. Both teams exchanged a number of turnovers across the first 15 minutes, as they attempted to adjust to the intensity of the Down Championship.

Burren added to their lead in the sixteenth minute through James McCann. This was followed by a quick transition from Burren ending with a Dara Mussen point, bringing his tally to 1-1 and his teams lead to four points.

Burren began to show their Division 1 standard in the second quarter when Kerr added a point. Castlewellan struggled to get their hands on the ball, as Croskery’s booming kick-out was proving ineffective.

Scores from Ryan Cunningham and McGrath followed, and the town were faced with a nine-point deficit after 29 minutes. Good defensive play from Harry Magill and Donagh Murdock ensured that Castlewellan weren’t in any position to start to chip into Burrens lead.

Burren’s patience paid off in spades when a long winded spell of possession ended with another score for Ronan McGrath.

Off the ball angled runs and sharp hand-passing was Burren's weapon of choice in their attacking play, as they broke down Castlewellans low block defence with relative ease.

Ryan Cunningham and Odhran Murdock both pointed in the final minutes of the first half as the 2025 runners-up went from strength to strength.

The last act of the first half was a Ronan McGrath point which capped off a first half that won’t live long in the memory. The scoreboard at the short whistle was bleak reading for Castlewellan supporters 1-11 playing 0-1.

A half time rallying call from the Castlewellan men seemed ineffective as Donagh Murdock fisted a point from close range.

The long kick-out from Croskery continued to no success as a miss from Tiarnan Dorman was met at the other end with a score from James McCann.

My prior line of ‘intensity of the down Championship’ seemed somewhat tongue in cheek 35 minutes in as two scores in quick succession from Kerr took the lead to 17 points.

Former Manchester United Academy player Ruairi Croskery entered the fray 37 minutes in for the town as they hoped for an Ole Gunnar Solskjær-esque substitution.

A point from Gareth McKibbin on 42 minutes doubled his teams tally and made it 1-16 0-2. Burrens defensive intensity was relentless, as they turned a defensive turnover into a Dara Mussen score. Burren used their huge lead to introduce a number of championship debutants, including Cormac Ward, Michael Murdock and Tiernan Ryan. The exhibition of fielding from Odhran Murdock continued into the night as he finished off a mazy run with a third point. The first two pointer of the night was one of consolation and it came 50 minutes in from McKibbin.

Harry Magill got his second score of the evening in what was a brilliant performance from the half back. Points from debutants Ryan, Murdock and Ward followed to increase Burrens lead to 20.

The tale was told as a sea of bodies descended to the car park in Mayobridge minutes before the final whistle. McKibbin continued to battle on for Castlewellan as he kicked his fourth point of the night.

The red mist descended over Luke McCabe in the final seconds of the game as he was given a straight red card for dissent towards referee Mark Turley.

Points from Donagh and Sean Murdock wrapped up a 24-point win for Burren in a dismal first round game in the Down SFC.

MATCH STATS

Burren: D. Mussen (1-3), L. Kerr (0-4), R.Cunningham (0-3), O.Murdock (0-3), R. McGrath (0-3), H.Magill (0-2), J.McCann (0-2), T. Ryan (0-2), D.Murdock (0-2), C.Ward (0-1).

Castlewellan: G.McKibbin (0-4, 1tp), L.McCabe (0-1).

Referee: Mark Turley.