O’Neill’s Antrim Hurling League Division 3
Cushendun 2-12 Creggan 4-12
Cushendun’s 1st half tally of 2.08 was matched by Creggan in the second half as they too notched up 2.08 to come out on top. At the short whistle Emmetts were 4 points ahead of their opposition and looked to have the visitors on the ropes but that wasn’t to be as the Lough Shore lads learnt a valuable lesson from the previous encounter with Cuchulainns when they collapsed in the last 15 minutes. However, this time in the last quarter when Creggan lads upped their game as their opponents ran out of steam and the visitors romped home with 6 to spare.
Oran McCann raised the 1st flag for the South West team – a free 1 minute in. Eugene Duffy responded for the North Anttrim team – a point from play. This was followed by 2 further points for Emmetts – Conlieth McNeill and Conal McHugh. McCann’s 2nd free was on target too and with 10 minutes gone the score was 0.2 to 0.3 to the Home Side. Conal McHugh added another point from play at 13 minutes in and it took Creggan a further 6 minutes before Conor McCann pointed to get his name on the score sheet. Creggan’s Keelan McCann caught the next puck out and directed it to his team mate, Liam McCann, who burst through on goal to blast the ball past Emmett’s net minder, Niall Campbell to leave the score 1.3 to 0.4 for the visitors. Creggan’s goal seemed to stare the home side as Conal McHugh and Eugene Duffy raised the next 3 white flags before Alex McMullan had the Umpire waving the green flag with 23 minutes gone. This was followed by another goal 2 minutes later by Eugene Duffy which rocked the visitors. Creggan’s Tommy McCann got the next point from play before the short whistle and left the half time score 2.08 to 2.04 for Emmetts.
Creggan re-emerged for the 2nd period 4 points down but quickly made amends scoring the next 2 points – Oran McCann & Conor McCann while their team mate, Liam Quinn, took Creggan’s 2nd major of the game to put his side 1 in front. The lead fluctuated for the next 5 minutes as the 3 McCann’s for Creggan, Conor, Liam & Oran, got a point each while Emmett’s Conlieth McNeill pointed and Conal McHugh bagged 2 more points. Kevin Small got on the scoring sheet for Creggan and a minute later Niall McAuley got on it 2 with 45 minutes gone. This was Emmetts last score of the game and for the next 15 minutes it was all Creggan as Tommy McCann got a goal. Oran McCann added 2 further points and Niall McAuley & Sam Maguire bagged 1 each.
Creggan management will be pleased with this score as they had to make several positional changes with 3 familiar faces away – Conor Small, Kevin Rice & Teddy McKeown – and 3 familiar faces back on the panei – James Carey, Dermot Carey & Liam Quinn. For much of the game it was nip & tuck with the lead changing several times but it was Creggan who had the stamina to finish it. Whilst Robert Emmetts will be disappointed for throwing away a 5-point lead midway through the contest, and would have been looking for revenge for Creggan defeating them in the Antrim Junior Final in 2014, having beaten them heavily twice in the League that year.
Creggan – 1. Emmett Long, 2. Jake McAteer, 3. Aidan Maguire, 4. Danna O’Hare, 5. Ciaran Rice, 6. Kevin Small (0.1), 7. Liam McCann (1.0), 8. Dermot Carey, 9. Keelan McCann (0.1), 10. Conor McCann (0.3), 11. Michael Maguire, 12. Oran McCann(0.4), 13. Tommy McCann (2.1), 14. Niall McAuley (0.1), 15. Liam Quinn (1.0), 16. Enda Maguire, 18. Sam Maguire (0.1), 19. Peter Graham, 20. Brendan Maguire, 21. James Dougan, 22. James Carey,
Robert Emmetts – 1.Niall Campbell, 2. Sean Hamilton, 3. Aidan Corbet, 4. Liam Hamilton, 5. Jack McKay, 6. Matthew McCartan, 7. Thomas Skelly, 8. Pierce Bannon, 9. Eoin McQuillan, 10. Conor McHugh (0.4), 11. Niall McAuley (0.1), 12. Conlieth McNeill (0.4), 13. Alex McMullan (1.0), 14. Eugene Duffy (1.3), 15. Conor Bannon, 17. Leo Morgan, 18. Donal O’Hara, 19. Michael Dunne, 20. Michael Aiken, 21. Peter Dunne.
Pics by Mickey Morgan