Antrim U21 Hurling Championship Semi-Final
Dunloy 1-19 Loughgiel 1-14
Brendan McTaggart reports from Armoy
It’s a rivalry that’s as old as the game itself and on Monday night Dunloy and Loughgiel served up a cracker in the semi-final of the U21 hurling championship. In a repeat of last years final at the same venue, the Cuchullains marched on with five points to spare after the hour was over but the Shamrocks made the holders work for their victory.
Three points separated the sides at the half way point, Ronan Molloy’s sixth minute major proving to be the games decisive score. The Cuchullains were lively all over the pitch in the first half but their fluency was disrupted when Eoin O’Neill saw red in the 20th minute, a blow for the Dunloy men at the time and Loughgiel were given a huge boost.
The Cuchullains management rejigged their side at half time with Anton McGrath dropping into a deeper role they nullified the threat of Johnny McErlain in the Loughgiel half forward. The Cuchullains began to dominate at the rucks and breakdown with Ryan McGarry and Callum Scullion also excelling but Loughgiel and James McNaughton in particular continued to probe and drag the Shamrocks back into the semi-final. McNaughton landed 1-10 in a man of the match performance for Loughgiel as he led the fight to Dunloy almost singlehandedly with his major reigniting the Shamrocks challenge late in the game.
Dunloy had excellent performances all over the pitch with their half back line especially stepping up to the challenge in the second half. Anton McGrath moving to a sweeper role proved to be a touch of genius as McGrath won the lion’s share of second phase ball in the second half. Ronan Molloy top scored with 1-3 all from play while Deáglán Smyth’s three second half points proved to be pivotal. Moving McErlain to full forward seemed like the obvious move to make for the Shamrocks when they needed majors to get into the game but they couldn’t land any quality ball into their target man to make the move effective enough. McNaughton and Rian McKee were lively in midfield with ‘Betty’ making numerous trademark runs through the middle of the Cuchullain defence but as the game drew on the Shamrocks were in need of majors. Apart from McNaughton’s effort, it wasn’t until the last attack of the game that they cut through the Dunloy defence again with McNaughton laying off a pass to Caolan McIlhatton with the Loughgiel forward hitting the sliotar first time but Ryan Elliott produced an outstanding save to deflect the sliotar over the bar. Time wasn’t the Shamrocks friend though as Dunloy held strong in the time that remained to book their place in the final at the end of a quality game of hurling.
Loughgiel opened the scoring in the second minute with full forward Caolan McIlhatton firing over his first of three points over the hour. Callum Scullion landed a point from distance in response for the Cuchullains before Eoin O’Neill combined well with Ronan Molloy to edge Dunloy in front by the fourth minute. It was a lead they would hold onto for the remainder of the game with Molloy’s major putting some early daylight between the sides. Molloy firing to the back of the net in the sixth minute with the assist coming from Conal Cunning.
Loughgiel responded well with points from Callum McKendry and McNaughton (free) closing the gap before Cunning landed his first of the match after catching the sliotar from a crowd of players in the 17th minute. McErlain pointed using his strength to shrug off two Dunloy challenges before firing between the uprights but the Dunloy attack looked more capable in the opening exchanges. They were prospering around the Loughgiel half back line with O’Neill and Seaan Elliott causing the problems for the Shamrocks. O’Neill influence on the game was growing just when his game was cut short. The linesman brought an incident to the attention of the St Teresa’s referee with Hamill giving O’Neill a red card. The Loughgiel response came via two point from McNaughton to take his tally for the half to three but a trio of points from Scullion, Ryan McGarry and Molloy restored the Cuchullains three point lead with time running out in the first half. Caolan McIlhatton and Eamon Smyth (free) traded points in the time that remained as Dunloy held a 1-7 to 0-7 lead at the short whistle.
Loughgiel were keeping Declan McCloskey spare in defence while the Cuchullains reshuffled their pack for the start of the second half. Deáglán Smyth moved into the forwards with McGrath dropping deeper while Molloy and Cunning occupied the strong Shamrock full back line for the second period.
A free from McNaughton opened the scoring after the restart and while frees from Cunning and Eamon Smyth opened a four point lead by the 37th minute, another McNaughton free soon after left the match ‘as you were’ at the interval.
McNaughton landed a huge free from his own ’65 to revitalise the Shamrocks once again but Dunloy began to cut loose. Their speed and agility with varying attacking options began to tell with Scullion landing his third huge point of the match before Molloy and Seaan Elliott opened a five point lead midway through the second half.
McNaughton (free) and Deáglán Smyth traded scores twice to leave the Cuchullains ahead 1-14 to 0-13 with eight minutes of the hour remaining and while McNaughton landed another free to leave just Molloy’s goal separating the sides. That however was the last score for five minutes at a crucial time of the match for the Shamrocks. When they needed to push on and try to eat into the Dunloy lead, the Cuchullains found another gear, landing four points in that same period – two frees from Cunning and one point each from Molloy and Seaan Elliott.
With time running out Loughgiel looked for goals and they got their reward in the last minute of normal time. McKee finding Aodhan McIlhatton who passed to McNaughton with the Loughgiel man firing low to the bottom corner of Ryan Elliott’s net despite the presence of three Dunloy defenders. A quality move that raised the hopes of the Shamrock support but time was running out for the men in red. Deáglán Smyth landed his third point of the match in the fourth minute of injury time before Loughgiel carved out one more goal chance, more through McNaughton’s will and desire to never give up. Chasing a lost ball before releasing the sliotar towards McIlhatton. The Loughgiel full forward looked a certainty to bulge the back of the net but Ryan Elliott produced a wonder save to deflect McIlhatton’s effort over the bar in the last action of the match.
Dunloy march on to the final where they will play Ballycastle for the right to be crowned U21 champions in 2018.
TEAMS
Dunloy: Ryan Elliott; Arron Crawford, Conor Kinsella, Adam Mullan; Ryan McGarry, Eamon Smyth, Callum Scullion; Ciaran Elliott, Deáglán Smyth; Seaan Elliott, Eoin O’Neill, Ronan Molloy; Anton McGrath, Conal Cunning, Chrissy McMahon
Loughgiel: Caolan McGivern; Corey Blair, Caolan Blair, Declan McCloskey; Odhran McMullan, Cathal McMullan, Conall Kerr; James McNaughton, Rian McKee; Aodhan McFadden, Johnny McErlain, Callum McKendry; Paul Boyle, Caolan McIlhatton, Paddy Laverty
Scorers for Dunloy: Ronan Molloy 1-3; Conal Cunning 0-4 (3 f’s); Deáglán Smyth 0-3; Callum Scullion 0-3; Eamon Smyth 0-2 (2 f’s); Seaan Elliott 0-2; Eoin O’Neill 0-1; Ryan McGarry 0-1
Scorers for Loughgiel: James McNaughton 1-10 (8 f’s); Caolan McIlhatton 0-3; Callum McKendry 0-1; Johnny McErlain 0-1
Referee: Eamon Hammill (St Teresa’s)
Pics by John McIlwaine