THE JIM Byrne Cup county Minor football league, which was initiated by the late Seamus Keevans back in 1967, has taken place every autumn-winter since, and has lost very little of its popularity, as this year's entry of 22 teams indicates.

Eight first round matches were scheduled for Sunday afternoon last at venues throughout the county. But due in particular to waterlogged pitches after the heavy rain of the previous week, five games were unavoidably postponed, and they are now due to take place at the same time and venues on Sunday, December 13.

In the three games which did take place in surprisingly good conditions, comfortable wins were recorded by Clongeen, Starlights and Ballinastragh Gaels (Kilanerin-Tara Rocks) over Sarsfields, Crossabeg-Ballymurn and HWH-Bunclody respectively.

The games which suffered were: Volunteers v. Duffry Rovers; Davidstown-Courtnacuddy v. Ballyhogue; Geraldine O'Hanrahans v. Munnerane Gaels (Taghmon-Camross and Gusserane); Ferns St. Aidan's v. White and Amber Gaels (Kilrush and Craanford); St. Martin's v. Newline Gaels (Bannow-Ballymitty and Clonard).

GROUP 1

Starlights 7-12, CrossabegBallymurn 2-4: The seriouslytalented Enniscorthy town side have already laid down a marker that they are going to be extremely hard to beat in this competition.

With the masterly Jack Kelly at midfield, and a brilliant halfback line of William Dunne, Alan Tobin and team captain Christopher Doyle, in addition to lethal forwards like Brendan Kearney and Brian Morrissey, the Starlights proved much too strong in this trip away to a young but very hard-trying Crossabeg-Ballymurn team.

The return of goalie Conor McDonald following a recent operation on his knee was an added bonus for the Starlights, as he did very well between the posts.

Crossabeg-Ballymurn never gave up, and they were best served by Cian Lambert, David Scallan and Josh Whitehead in defence, and Seamus Carroll, Martin Kehoe and Niall Murphy, who accounted for 2-2 of the home side's final score.

Volunteers and Duffry Rovers are the other two teams in this group, but they had a day off arising from the poor weather.

GROUP 4

Clongeen 3-13, Sarsfields 1-8: Sarsfields originally had home venue for this game. But, with their pitch unplayable, they agreed to travel to Clongeen, where they put up a much better show than the final scoreline might suggest - as they were actually leading ten minutes into the second-half, and only faded out of contention during the final quarter.

A Donal McDonald point inside the opening minute gave the home team the better start. But by half-time the Wexford town contenders proved to be slightly superior, as with the aid of three points from Colm Ó Corcora and one each from Dean Walsh and Seán Pailing, the Sarsfields were leading by 0-5 to 0-3 at the change-around.

One of the best players on view was Clongeen's Nigel Kehoe, and he accounted for their two remaining points before the break, in addition to having a couple of goalscoring attempts blocked on the line by Sarsfields 'keeper Seán Kearney who went outfield in a swap with Peter Furlong at the break.

Kehoe eventually found the net for Clongeen seven minutes into the second-half as he turned the tables by 1-5 to 0-6. Sarsfields responded immediately, as the skilful John Gannon goaled, and when Seán Pailing added a point it put them back in front, by 1-7 to 15.

A well-taken Paul Curtis goal in the 42nd minute was the score which turned the game very much Clongeen's way, as they dominated thereafter, with Paul Cahill and Paul Curtis scoring some excellent points, and Richard Rochford putting away their third goal with five minutes to go. Ciarán Byrne completed the Sarsfields' scoring in a late exchange of points with Jason Barnwell.

Clongeen: Ricky Rochford, Conor O'Grady, Emmett Sinnott, Marty Reville, Declan Redmond, Paul Curtis (1-4), Brian Whelan, Jason Barnwell (0-1), Donal McDonald (0-1), Peter Anthony Wall, Paul O'Grady (04), Michael Casey, Richard Murphy, Nigel Kehoe (1-3), Richard Rochford (1-0).

Sarsfields: Seán Kearney, Dean Murphy, Adam Roche, Peter Furlong, Danny Barnes, David Kehoe, Seán Pailing (0-2), Brandon Nolan, John Clancy, Dean Walsh (0-2), Ciarán Byrne (0-1), John Gannon (1-0), Colm Ó Corcora (0-3), Corey Ennis.

GROUP 5

Ballinastragh Gaels 3-12, HWH-Bunclody 1-8: Very little separated these north county outfits until the arrival of Conor Devitt, as he scored the two goals which swung the game very much the way of the Kilanerin-Tara Rocks combination soon after his introduction as a second-half substitute.

Others to shine for the winners, who were just one point ahead at half-time (0-6 to 0-5), were Eddie and Stephen Hughes, Mark Boland, David Conway and James Graham.

Meanwhile, Stephen Finn accounted for the HWH-Bunclody goal, with Paul Atkinson, Aidan Nolan, Jason Cowman and Pádraig Stamp also to the fore for the lads from close to the Carlow border.