O’Neill’s All County Minor Hurling League – Division 1
Loughgiel 2-8 Dunloy 1-16
By John McIlwaine
A strong start which saw them take a 1-4 to 0-0 lead after six minutes set Dunloy up for a win over neighbours Loughgiel in Friday evening’s All County Minor Hurling League. The Cuchullains started like an express train and their performance looked like this was going to be one way traffic. Loughgiel were all at sea, though they had missed two good goal chances, but when Rian McMullan opened their account in the 12th minute they suddenly started to believe and two quick goals helped them to a 2-6 to 1-8 half time lead. However after the break Dunloy regained control and with centre back and captain Ryan McGarry dominating in defence they held the Shamrocks to just two second half points while adding eight themselves to claim the win.
The visitors were flying in the early minutes and Rory Mullan had them ahead inside thirty seconds. Chipper McFarline had them two clear a minute later and they took a decisivie lead in the third when full forward Padraig McGilligan fired a low shot to the net from an narrow angle on the right. A slick three man move cut Loughgiel open again on four minutes for Smith to score from close range and when Sean O’Neill pointed from the right wing on six minutes the gap was out to seven.
The Loughgiel fans must have feared the worst at this stage but when Rian McMullan got their opening score on twelve minutes things slowly began to change. Dunloy’s Seán Elliott cancelled out McMullan’s score within thirty seconds but Loughgiel were staring to display a bit of confidence and when a Michael McGarry point was followed by a Rian McMullan goal the confidence grew. Two minutes later full forward John Francis Connolly was pulled down when closing down on goal and McGarry drove the resultant penalty home to bring the Shamrocks level by the nineteenth minute. Dunloy responded well and two quickfire points from Sean O’Neill and Calum Scullion put them back on top but the Shamrocks hit four of the next five points (one from Connolly and the other three from McGarry) to give themselves a one point lead by half time.
When the lead was out to two less than a minute after the restart the home fans must have felt confident their team could get something from this game, but amazingly they would hit just one point in the 29 minutes which remained. Part of the reason for that was a dominant defensive display from centre back and team captain Ryan McGarry who broke down attack after attach. At the other end the Cucullains were starting to find their range again and with the increasing influence of Seán Elliott playing a major part they regained control. Three points from Elliott, one from Padraig McGilligan and two from Callum Scullion pulled them four clear by the 43rd minute. Rian McMullan pulled one back for the Shamrocks after some great work by John Francis Connolly but that was to be their last score and points from Anton McGrath and Seán Elliott in a low scoring final quarter safely sealed the win.
DUNLOY
Paul Doherty, DJ Crawley, Aaron Crawford, Ciaran McQuillan, Callum Scullion, Ryan McGarry, Barry Scott, Anton McGrath, Oisin McErlean, Ryan McFarline, Anthony Smith, Seán Elliott, Rory Mullan, Padraig McGilligan, Sean O’Neill
LOUGHGIEL
Kevin McGarry, Ruairi McCloskey, Declan McCloskey, Christie Dickson, Ciaran McKay, Odhran McMullan, Ryan Dallas, Shane O’Boyle, Conor Deery, Michael McGarry, Paul Boyle, Cormac McFadden, Frank Boyle, John Francis Connolly, Rian McMullan.
Subs – Enda Og McGarry for Dickson
Referee – John Carson (Ruairi Og)
Pics by John McIlwaine