Abbey Cup final: South West Antrim Junior Hurling Championship
Con Magee’s Glenravel 0-17 St Enda’s 1-13
Neil ‘Vic’ McCann rolled back the year’s to give a virtuoso performance as he led a determined Con Magee’s to Abbey Cup success over St. Enda’s at Quinn Park on Saturday afternoon. 43 year old McCann fired over points from every distance and angle and was virtually unplayable throughout the hour. McCann struck 13 points in all as the Glenravel men edged out a battling St. Enda’s by the minimum in a tough uncompromising game of hurling where no quarter was asked or given.
He held his nerve late in the game to fire over the winner after a rare miss, a few minutes earlier and it was fitting that he was the man who stepped up to receive the trophy from the South West Secretary, James McVeigh.
This was an entertaining game played in a good spirit with Neil McCann for Glenravel and Philip Curran for the Hightown side dominating the score-board but there was also some excellent long-range shooting from several players on the St Enda’s side and from Padge O’Neill for Glenravel.
In the end however, Glenravel captain Neil McCann emerged as Player of the match, missing just two frees during the whole game and many of those scores came from around and outside the 65 metre line. Indeed with the teams locked on 1-13 to 0-16 and the game entering injury time he kept a cool head to slot the winner over from close to the sideline 65 metres out, having fired one narrowly wide when better placed just minutes earlier.
However towards the end of the first half and for the third quarter it looked as if the Con Magee’s would coast home, building up a 0-12 to 0-7 interval lead and then stretching that to 0-16 to 0-10 with a little over 10 minutes to play.
St Enda’s then raised their game with Micheál McGivern seeming to gather every high ball that came out his wing and Edward O’Connor and Manus Mullan taking over around the centre-field area. They also isolated Philip Curran on the edge of the square and he gave Shanlee Kerr plenty to think about over the hour.
However during this late period they missed a number of long-range shots and that in the final analysis cost them dearly. Curran won himself a penalty in the 56th minute and he hit it low to Ronan Donnelly’s left to bring the gap between the sides down to just two points, 1-11 to 0-16.
Conor McSteen and Curran closed the gap over the next four minutes before Vic McCann’s long free took the spoils in injury time.
The first half had been very evenly contested and after 20 minutes the teams were locked at 0-7 each, although Brendan Cormican looked to be struggling with the wily Neil McCann. Indeed the St Enda’s centre-half back picked up a yellow card as McCann floated over the last five points of the half.
At the other end, Ronan Donnelly brought off a fine double-save from Curran in the 28th minute with the sliotar worked out for McCann to find the range.
Overall an entertaining end of season tussle and it was appropriate that Neil McCann should get his hands on the Cup at the end as he finished with an impressive 13 points, five of which came from open play.
Con Magee’s : Ronan Donnelly, Damian O’Hagan, Shanlee Kerr, Stephen Atkinson, Brian O’Neill, Declan McBride, Cormac Scullion, Paddy O’Neill 0-2, David Higgins, Conor Carey 0-1, Neil McCann 0-13, 0-8 frees, Jonathan Fyfe, Caolan Mullan, Shane Woulahan, Ronan McCann 0-1.
Subs: Dean Kerr for C Mullan (ht), Odhrán McAleenan for J Fyfe (45).
St Enda’s : Paul Magill, Tiarnan Kelly, Doiminc Ó Muilleoir, Manus Mullan, Jason Marley, Brendan Cormican, Edward O’Connor, Kieran Kelleher, Mícheál McGivern 0-1, Darrach Cooper, Conor McSteen 0-1, Daniel Lowry 0-2, Philip Curran 1-7, 10 pen, 0-4 frees, Michael McNicholl 0-2.
