Antrim Under 16 Hurling League – Division 1
Rossa 6-20 Ruairi Og 1-10
Rossa took a giant stride towards clinching the Antrim Under 16 Hurling League Division 1 title when they beat one of their main rivals Ruairi Og Cushendall in Wednesday evening’s league game at Rossa Park. The 2017 Feile champions were in great form giving a top class display of hurling to beat their visitors in convincing style. The Ruairis were short a couple from the team that lost to the Oisins in a thrilling game on Monday evening, but even allowing for that I doubt if the income would have been much different. The Cushendall boys had no answer to Rossa corner forward Marcus Toner who scored an incredible 4 goals and 7 points in a man of the match performance.
Early points from the midfield pairing of Ruairi Murray and Eoin Traynor got Rossa going and though Padraig McKillop pulled a point back for Cushendall in the third minute the next fifteen minutes were all Rossa. Marcus Toner led the line with four excellent points while Dairmuid Rogan and Pearse Short all fired over before Toner all but sealed the win with goals in the 16th and 17th minutes to open up a 2-8 to 0-1 lead.
Cushendall then had a good spell as Padraig McKillop hit three points and Frankie McCormick one to close the gap to nine but Toner was relentless in his scoring and three more from him and two from Ruairi Murray frees had the Belfast boys 2-13 to 0-6 ahead by half time.
The barrage continued after the break as Eoin Traynor grabbed his team’s third goal while Marcus Toner, Matthew McKernan, CJ Sullivan and Matthew McKernan (2) all added points in reply to just one from Colm McKeegan for Cushendall. Worse was to come for the visitors when three goals in as many minutes midway through the half, one from Conor Boyle and two from Marcus Toner put them over the horizon and out of sight. To their credit Cushendall kept battling to the end and Padraig McKillop and Frankie McCormick pulled back points before Austin Birt ended the game on a high with a goal.
The win puts Rossa four points clear of their nearest rivals Oisins who have a game in hand on their rivals. If they were to win that game again Slaughtneil next week they would then face Rossa in the final game of the season in Waterfoot on July 22nd. Incidentally the two meet next Monday evening in Glenariffe in the McMullan Cup.
