Clonduff staged the annual Gary Murray U12 Football Tournament in glorious sunshine on Saturday 25th July 2009. Sixteen teams from Down, Tyrone, Armagh and Louth participated in what can only be described a a ‘Feast of Football’ in the 11-a-side tournament. There were four groups of four, guaranteeing each team at least three games of 15 min duration. Rostrevor, Glenn, Warrenpoint A and Clonduff A emerged winners from their groups, each team having won all their games. In the semi finals Rostrevor beat Glenn and Warrenpoint A beat Clonduff A in two tight games which could have gone either way. Reigning champions, Warrenpoint faced near neighbours Rostrevor in the Final – and what a spectacle it was! Warrenpoint led by a point at half time but with the help of a rising wind Rostrevor pulled it out of the bag in the second half to emerge as worthy winners. The Murray family presented the trophy to the Rostrevor Captain Joseph Morgan who was also presented with the Lily Murray Cup for ‘Player of the Tournament’ although there were close contenders from many of the other teams who did not reach the knock-out stages.
The tournament ran like clockwork – many thanks to the organisers and particularly the match officials Henry Brown, Tony McGreevy, Shane McGreevy (Young Whistlers), Sean Fearon, Paul Shields, Cathal Murray, Aidan Carr and Ben Brennan (referees) – Ben took charge of the Final and not forgetting to thank Niamh McGreevy who acted as ‘runner with results’.
