All County Junior B Hurling Championship
St Agnes’ 5-28 Loch Mór Dál gCais 2-6
All County Junior B Hurling Championship
St Agnes had a safe passage to the final of the Junior B Hurling Championship at Tir na nÓg on Saturday when they easily accounted for Loch Mór Dál gCais in the first of the two semi-finals. Loch Mór Dál gCais is a hurling club set up for enthusiasts in the Crumlin, Glenavy, Aghagallon area and they have been progressing nicely at juvenile level in recent years. However the senior team they entered are badly short of numbers and when three of their key players were unable to turn up for Saturday’s game they were in a dilemma. Officially they probably should not have been allowed to field, but St Agnes were keen to play the game and so the referee sporting agreed to let it go ahead. The first half was a procession of scores by the Aggies and in the first time in my years covering hurling the Aggies goalkeeper never had to touch the ball, not a save, not a single puc-out.
Loch Mór Dál gCais 55 year old goalkeeper Liam Burke in action against St Agnes’ Martin Robb. Pic by John McIlwaine
By half time the Belfast men led by 4-18 to 0-00 and there were a quite a few people suggesting the game should be called off at this juncture. However both teams wanted to play on and so the game restarted and when Loch Mor got the first score of the second half there was in ironic cheer, but the score gave the 13 men a lift. The Aggies came back with two more points of their own but suddenly Loch Mór Dál gCais were beginning to compete and when Conor Murray deflected a high ball to the St Agnes net on 44 minutes they were leading the second half scoring. With their two half backs Ruairi Moran and Loran Rooney gaining in confidence they hit a few really nice scores and probably would have won the second half until the Aggies big full-back Marty Robb, who was playing the second half at full-forward, flicked a lovely ball past 55 year old Liam Burke in the Loch Mór net.
In the end St Agnes’ got a game and all five subs got a run out in the second half as they booked their place in next week’s final against All Saints. Probably not the competitive game they would have wanted going into a final, but the other option was no game at all. For Loch Mór Dál gCais a bit of pride was restored in the second half and another chapter written in the club’s history.
St Agnes – Christopher Fay, Neil Gillespie, Martin Robb, Briondan McLarnon, Cormac Flannery, Ronan Carroll, Brian Keatings, Mark Caldwell, Conor Pelan, Shane McCafferty, Declan McLarnon, Conor McLean, David Quinn, Kevin Grieve, Sean McIlhatton.
Subs – Declan Crummey, Martin Duffy, Pascal Clarke, Christopher Catney.
Referee – Ciaran McCloskey (Loughgiel)
Pics by John McIlwaine