By Brendan McTaggart

Sunday 8^th March, Tullamore, Offaly.  It was all so different.  Beaming from ear to ear leaving a shell-shocked press room in O’Connor Park, Antrim had just performed an escape even Houdini would have been proud off.  Life was indeed, good.

A league final to think about and look forward to with the debates starting about any prospective venue.  No-one knew what was ahead.

“Confirmed for Croke Park, keep it to yourself until the news breaks.”  The phone call I got early the next day from a good friend.  Brilliant.  What I wanted, what everyone wanted.  As we manoeuvred our way through the week, it was clear there was only going to be one outcome.

It made my ‘Get your Saff on’ article look extremely stupid but that was merely an afterthought.  Corona was now more than a bottle you would carry in a blue bag.  A very real threat was now on our doorstep. 

If we are honest, no-one knew the extent of COVID-19 until it was on our doorstep.  I never took it lightly, far from it.  But just the sheer extent of the disruption if not the devastation it would and is causing in our homes was underestimated, by me anyway.

I’m not the only one who could say they miss the games.  The craic from all the characters you meet across the county, the smell of freshly cut grass and excitement of watching the games.  Hell, I even miss the abuse from those who might have had a differing view from what I wrote when covering their team and fighting with the elements while making notes on what’s going on.

Between matches, previews and watching or training camogie with my daughters, I could easily say I’ve gone from six days a week in GAA to a couple of hours a day in the backyard.  Changed times.  I can now say I’ve improved my ‘not so good side’ immeasurably while my daughters are ready to take on the world.

What the absence of anything GAA has revealed is how integral it is to our everyday lives.  The lack training to attend or a game at the weekend to look forward to leaves a void that takes some filling.  One look at the calendar we have in our kitchen reveals just as much.  Marked in March and April is the start of the club seasons while my eldest daughter had her Saturday’s marked and potential Feile glory………..Or so she tells me anyway.

Efforts made by clubs to ensure our communities stay together in the fight against this pandemic have to be applauded.  Up and down the county, clubs have been going the extra mile while the Saffron Gael and the McIlwaine Brothers have been delving into their archives to take us all back to yesteryear.  Black and white photo’s that have us all thinking on those golden games from a bygone era while the weekly quiz on a Monday night hosted by Vincent Rainey in his kitchen has been a welcome distraction and has helped with many who are in isolation.

Making the most of the situation we are faced with.

We all have our stories to share with what might have been.  Schools are out for spring never mind the summer while First Communion and Confirmation’s have been postponed. 

Two months later, we are still in a guessing game.  October has been muted for the restart of the inter-county game leaving the potential for club games to start in late summer.  It’s my opinion that we should leave the 2020 season with an asterisk beside it.  Play the league finals to finish the promotion conundrum in the depths of winter if it is required.  It doesn’t need to be in Croke Park and by the way the club groundsmen have been looking after their hallowed turf, there will be no shortage of availability but the focus should be on player welfare and getting ready for 2021.  This pandemic should be condemned to the history books before a thought is given to the resumption of our games.  An unpopular opinion but life is too short to be gambled with.  Advertisements and TV deals shouldn’t come into the equation. 

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That mean’s club champions hold onto their rewards from last season, leaving the MacNamee Cup in Toome and the Volunteer Cup in Dunloy until next year.  Every cloud and all that, I suppose.

In 1988 Cushendall hosted Cork in Munster champions Middleton in the All Ireland Senior Club semi-final at Pairc Mhuire. Conditions were tough and the Cork men even tougher as in a real battle.

This is the Ballymena Chronicle Report of the game that day

CUSHENDALL …… 2-5                              MIDDLETON ………. 3-11

Cork and Munster champions Middleton qualified for the final of the All Ireland Club Championship when they beat Antrim and Ulster champions Cushendall by 3-11 to 2-5 in the semi-final at Pairs Mhuire, Cushendall. The Munster champions turned in one of the best displays of hurling seen in this county for long and many a day and overall possessed just too much skill, strength and speed for Ruairi Og, who to their credit never gave up the fight and fought tooth and nail to the final whistle.

From goalkeeper Ger Power to full forward Colm O’Neill, the “Magpies” were a team of real class and from the eighth minute when right half forward Vincent O’Neill finished a long John Fenton ball to the net, they never looked in trouble.

Torrential rain that had fallen before the game had just abated as the teams took the field, but it left the well prepared Cushendall pitch soft and slippery, and overall, not suitable for hurling.

From the throw in Cushendall went on the attack and in forty-five seconds full forward Danny McNaughton pointed a 20-metre free to give his team the lead.

Two minutes later Middleton hit back with a point from their rangy corner forward Kevin Hennesy to square the match and two minutes later the Cork side would have taken the lead had it not been for a fine save by Cushendall goalkeeper Ciaran McNaughton from a long Tadg McCarthy ball.

Cushendall were faring well in these opening minutes but they lacked the finishing touch and chances of scores which would have boosted their confidence went abegging.

They looked set for a goal in the sixth minute when centre half forward Alister McNaughton pulled on a ground ball 20 metres out but Middleton’s keeper Ger Power dived to his left to turn the ball round the point for a 65. James McNaughton pointed the 65 to put the Ruairi Og back in from but inside a minute Middleton were level again when their centre half forward John Hartnett broke through for a point.

Two incidents inside the next minute started Cushendall’s slide. The first was on the edge of the Middleton square where full back Mick Boylan and Cushendall full forward Danny McNaughton were involved in an off the ball incident which saw McNaughton knocked out cold and left him in a stupor for the remainder of the game. The other was Vincent O’Neill’s goal from Fenton’s long centre and really it was the beginning of the end for the Ruairi Og. Four minutes later Middleton’s corner forward Ger Fitzgerald fire the ball to the Cushendall net and within a minute John Fenton pointed a free from thirty metres to put the “Magpies” seven points clear.

Danny McNaughton pointed a close in free in the fifteenth minute to close the gap to six points but a well taken point from full forward Colm O’Neill three minutes later opened the gap to seven again.

For the remainder of the half Cushendall played their best hurling of the match and with their back line of James McNaughton, Leonard McKeegan and Terence McNaughton playing some great stuff they had Middleton under a lot of pressure. It must have been heart breaking for this stout-hearted trio to see their efforts come to nothing as repeatedly they left the ball in around the Middleton square only to see it returned just as quickly. During that spell Cushendall shot three wides and missed a great chance of a goal when corner forward Laurence McAlister “fresh aired” a John Carson cross on the 14-metre line.  As it was, it was Middleton who found the target when the centre half back pointed a free to give the Munster men a 2-5 to 0-3 half time lead.

Middleton came out with all guns blazing in the second half and after just two minutes they had a goal disallowed for a square ball infringement. However this was but a temporary respite for Cushendall as two minutes later a combination of good work by Middleton full forward Colm O’Neill and a rare slip by Cushendall centre half back Leonard McKeegan put corner forward Kevin Hennesy in the clear just 10 metres out and from that range goalkeeper Ciaran McNaughton had no chance.

The Magpies turned the screws and inside the next six minutes they added four more points, three from the sweet striking Fenton and one from Hennesy to effectively kill off the match as a contest. Not that Ruairi Og gave up the fight far from it.

  They hammered in a goal through corner forward Alister McGuile in the fourteenth minute but Middleton hit back swiftly with points from a Fenton free and a real beauty from Ger Fitzgerald.

  As in the first half, Cushendall produced their best hurling in the final twelve minutes when they had scores from  and a James McNaughton 65, a Leonard McKeegan side-line cut and a goal from Laurence McAlister following a goal-mouth scramble but it was a case of too little too late, as there was  no was they were going to catch the Munster men.

 Overall Cushendall need not feel too disappointed as they were beaten by a very fine team and I doubt if even at their very best they could live with such high-class opposition. It was testimony to just how entertaining the Middleton team were by the fact that the large crowd stayed on to the final whistle even though the result was inevitable a long time before that.

It is hard to single out ant individual on the Middleton team as they performed as so well overall as a unit but in Denis Mulcahy, Sylvie O’Mahony, Edser Cleary, Sean O’Brien and Pat Hartnett they had defenders of real class. Tadg McCarthy had a fine hour at midfield and while Fenton was nowhere near as prominent from play his superb striking was no doubt a vital part of this Middleton victory.

Up front John Hartnett and Vincent O’Neill (in spells), Kevin Hennesy and the gifted Colm O’Neill were the stars.

 For Cushendall, goalkeeper Ciaran McNaughton could not be faulted for any of the goals while in the full back line Brendan McGaughey and Brendan McAlister (in the second half) were best.

 The half back line were again Cushendall’s strongest sector and though they were never dominant throughout they all turned in fine displays. Dominic McKeegan had a fine game at midfield while in a disappointing forward line Sean McKeegan, Laurence McAlister and Alister McGuile (in the second half) were best.

  Middleton scorers – John Fenton (0-5), Kevin Hennesy (1-2), Vincent O’Neill (1-0), Ger Fitzgerald (1-1), Sean O’Brien (0-1), John Hartnett (0-1), Colm O’Neill (0-1)

  Cushendall scorers – Alister McGuile (1-0), Laurence McAlister (1-0), James McNaughton (0-2), Danny McNaughton (0-2), Leonard McKeegan (0-1)

   Middleton – G. Power (Capt.), D. Mulcahy, M. Boylan, S. O’Mahony, E. Cleary, S. O’Brien, P. Hartnett, T. McCarthy, J. Fenton, V. O’Neill, J. Hartnett, J. Boylan, G. Fitzgerald, C. O’Neill, K. Hennesy

 Cushendall – C. McNaughton, B. McAlister, S. McNaughton, L. McKeegan, T. McNaughton, D. McKeegan, F. McAlister, J. Carson, A McNaughton, S. McKeegan, L. McAlister. Subs, B. McNaught for D. McNaughton 48 mins: D McNaughton for J. Carson 49 mins

            Referee – Gerry Kernan (Offaly)

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2013 will be regarded as the breakthrough year for the hurlers of Kickham’s Creggan when their hurlers lifted their first Ulster title. The Staffordstown Road side had come close two years earlier when they lost in the Ulster final but they made no mistake this time when they overcame Craobh Rua of Armagh in an exciting final at the Athletic Grounds.

                       Ulster Junior Hurling Championship Club Final 2013

             Creggan Put 2011 Final Defeat Behind Them to Take Title

                        Creggan 1-16 v Craobh Rua 1-14

ANTRIM champions Kickhams Creggan collected the provincial crown in more emphatic fashion than the scoreline might indicate at the Athletic Grounds, Armagh on Sunday.

The Antrim champions were beaten at the same stage of this competition two years ago and it was obvious from the throw in that they were in no mood to suffer the same fate on Sunday.

They always looked that yard sharper than their Armagh opponents and when Conor McCann opened with a point they never looked back. Eoghan Robb relied from a ‘65’ for the losers but the Armagh Champions were always playing catch up.

Robb was tp prove the Craobh Rua scorer in chief as he added three first half frees with their only score from play coming from Paul Cunningham. By that stage Creggan had moved three ahead with Oran McCann leading the way with a wonderful point from play and some well executed frees.

Ahead by 0-8 to 0-5 at the interval thanks mainly to the accuracy of McCann, their cause was certainly helped when Craobh Rua pair Ryan Lewis and Michael Garvey were shown red cards in the 46th and 47th minutes.

Conor McCann extended the Kickham’s lead with an excellent point on the restart as his side began to take control. Ryan Lewis for Craobh Rua and kevin Rice for the Antrim champions received their marching orders when things began to get a bit heated with 12 minutes remaining.

A couple of minutes later Michael Garvey was sent for an early bath and with him went any lingering hopes the Armagh side had of salvaging anything from this game as the Antrim side began to exploit the space.

Creggan finished with a flourish with substitute Matthew Nelson hitting a good point and Oran McCann following from a free as they moved 0-12 to 0-6 ahead by the 53d minute. To their credit Craobh Rua fought to the end and Kyle Kane kicked an injury time goal followed by a point from Fiachra Bradley but these scores only served to put a better look on the final result.

Creggan were always the better team and dictated play from early on and had it not been for the difficult conditions might have won more comfortably. In the end McCann’s seven-point haul proved central to their success.

A wonderful day then for Antrim clubs as Loughgiel took the Senior title while Clooney Gaels defeted Cuchullain’s in the Intermediate decider so the Creggan win completes an Antrim treble and gives Antrim fans something to look forward to when the respective All Ireland semi-finals come round early next year.

Scorers – Kickhams Creggan: O McCann 0-7 (5fs, 1 ’65’), C McCann 0-3, J Carey, M Nelson, C McGrenaghan 0-1 each.

Craobh Rua: E Robb 0-4 (4fs), K Kane 1-1, P Cunningham, F Bradley 0-1 each.

Kickhams Creggan – B Prenter; D McCann, A Maguire, D Totten; F McAuley, A McKeown, M Johnston; S Maguire, T McCann; J Carey, O McCann, K Rice; C McGrenaghan, J Dougan, C McCann. Sub: M Nelson for Dougan (48).

Craobh Rua – R Lundey; M Lewis M Fleming, H Hanna; S Casey, M Garvey, M Doran; F Bradley, R Lewis; P Cunningham, M Bradley, C Devlin; E Robb, P O’Connor, K Kane. Subs: F Burns for Devlin (19), A Nutley for Hanna (33), J O’Hare for O’Connor (43).

Ref – J McAndrew (Monaghan)

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Kevin Rice, Creggan strikes the sliotar goalward.

Conor McCann fires over a Creggan point.

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Action from Craobh Rua v Creggan.

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The Creggan captain Stephen Colgan lifts the Ulster Junior Hurling Cup aloft.

74) Creggan Kickham’s celebrate after defeating Craobh Rua in the Ulster Junior Hurling Championship club final in Armagh.

Treble Ulster success for Antrim clubs

It proved a great day for Antrim clubs with Loughgiel taking the Senioir title and Cloney Gaels defeating Cuchullain’s of Armagh in the Intermediate final

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