Nipper Quinn Shield B Final – South Antirm Under 12 Hurling
St Gall’s celebrate winning the Nipper Quinn B Shield after their win over St John’s at Rossa Park. Pic by Mark Marlow
In a much anticipated game between two young neighbouring clubs the game didn’t disappoint and though it was a low scoring affair the game was full of intensity from the first minute to the last. St Johns settled quicker and their tackling and intensity and workrate seen them go a point up early in the game. St Galls were battling for every ball but struggled to settle into the match as St John’s put their stamp on the game with a high intensity game plan and the Corrigan Park boys added another point to go two clear. St Gall’s battled hard to get the ball into their forwards but the St Johns defence had their homework done and snuffed out any danger from the in-form Sean Bellew.
St Galls finally registered their first score after 10 minutes with Ethan Walsh working hard in the corner playing a great ball across the field to Michael Marlow who gave a simple handpass to Eoin Mullan who fired over from close range to cut the deficit to a single point. This was to be the last score of the half as both defences were well on top.
The second half started at the same ferocious pace as the first with St Galls levelling the game immediately after the restart with a well taken point from Eoin Mullan. St Galls had numerous chances to take the lead from frees but Cormac Austin was having a rare off day from the dead ball, but going into the later stages he finally found his range to strike 2 long distance scores and put his team in front. St John’s again battled back and 2 well worked scores left the game level with only minutes to play. The crowd were on the edge of their seats as both teams battled hard to get in front but both defences stayed firmly on top to the end with Cathair Carberry having a goal chance well blocked by the St Galls defence while at the other end Ethan Walsh fired wide when he struck the ball first time on the ground and Sean Bellew struck for goal only to be well blocked down by Conan McKinney.
It looked set for extra time as these two well matched sides could not be divided, but St Galls got a free late in the game in their own half back line which Cormac Austin fired over the bar and with just a minute on the clock he stretched the lead to two after sending over a 65.
Pics by Mark Marlow