July 31, 2020July 31, 2020 by thesaffrongael

Eight point Murphy gets Rossa the win

Creagh Concrete Minor A Hurling – Group 2

Ruairi Og Cushendall 0-14 Rossa 1-13

Rossa travelled to Cushendall on Thursday evening in the opening round of the Creagh Concrete Minor A Hurling Championship Group 2 and left Pairc Mhuire with a win after a tightly fought contest.

Daire Murphy put Rossa ahead after just two minutes but Cushendall responded well and came back with four of their own from Sean McAuley, Conlith McKinley, Fiontan McQuillan and Ciaran Magill to go 4-1 in front. Dylan Magee pointed for Rossa to leave just two between them but another point from Fiontann McQuillan restored their three point cushion, but four in a row from the visitors came back with points from Charlie Cooley Daire Murphy (2) and Caolan Duffin. Pearse McKeegan pointed to bring Cushendall level in the 21^st minute but two minutes later another Daire Murphy point gave Rossa a 0-7 to 0-6 lead which they held to the break.

Two Fiontann McQuillan points just after the restart put the home side back ahead but Rossa were upping the pace and they were soon back on terms with another point from Rauiri Murphy, and when Fionn McIlroy grabbed a Rossa goal the were thee ahead. Daire Murphy stretched the lead to four with his fourth point of the game but Cushendall fought back with two points from Padraig McKillop and one from Fiontann McQuillan to tie things up once more.

After falling two behind Cushendall were given the chance of salvaging something from the game when corner forward Stephen McAuley fired one between the posts but those hopes were dashed when Daire Murphy hit his eighth point of the game to give his team a two point win.

July 30, 2020July 31, 2020 by thesaffrongael

Ballyastle power on in second half

Creagh Concrete Minor A Hurling – Group 1

Dunloy 1-16 Ballycastle 2-26

**Ballycastle centre forward Fergal McKiernan in action against Dunloy’s Padraig McGilligan.**

Ballycastle got their Minor Hurling Championship campaign off to a winning start when they travelled to Dunloy on Thursday evening and beat the Cuchullains but 2-26 to 1-16. Twelve minutes into the game the picture was a lot different as Dunloy led by 0-7 to 0-1 with centre forward Barry Scott and Padraig McGilligan running the show. The Ballcastle defence were at sixes and sevens, and though the home team were playing with a strong breeze behind them the gap was getting to a place that was somewhat worrying.

The Ballycastle mentors then took action and brought Joe McToal back to act as a sweeper behind the half back line and that steadied the ship and when James Bakewell pulled a goal back with a clever lob, after spotting the Dunloy goalkeeper off his line, the gap was back to just two points. Twenty second later it was back out to five when Barry Scott fired home from close range, and with Conel Kelly, McGilligan and Scott adding points, in reply to similar scores from James Bakewell (2) and Tiernan Smith for Ballycastle, they held that five point cushion until half time (Dunloy 1-11 Ballycastle 1-6)

**Dunloy’s Barry Scott celebrates after scoring his team’s goal in the opening half**

Just how significant the breeze was in that first half soon became apparent after the change of ends and within three minutes the visitors had drawn level with points from Ciaran Smyth and Fergal McKernan, and a goal from second half substitute Darragh Kelly, who cleverly steered the ball into the net after a defensive mix up. Bakewell and Smith put Ballycastle ahead for the first time, and though McGilligan and Scott hit a couple of excellent points to Dunloy to keep in touch, it was clear the tide was turning.

Kelly hit two quick points to stretch the Ballycastle lead to four and suddenly the scores came thick and fast as Tiernan Smyth, Joe McToal, Fergal Kelly, Seamus McAuley pulled their team well clear with some excellent points, and in the end they were 13 to the good.

**Ballycastle captain Seamus McAuley in action against Dunloy’s Darra Watterson**

DUNLOY – Callum Mullan, Seanna Martin Ryan, Cathair McCloskey, Sean Scullion, Cathain Martin, Daire McMullan, Fiachra Martin, Eoin McFerran, Ryan Mort, Darra Watterson, Padraig McGilligan, Sean Og Martin, Barry McCloskey, Barry Scott, Conal Kelly.

Subs – Tom McFerran, Ciaran Coyles, Darryl O’Hagan, Ronan Doherty

BALLYCASTLE – Jamie Jo Burns, Jack Colgan, Liam McCollum, Mark McLean, Eoin Boylan, Jack McGowan, Ronan Laverty, Seamus McAuley, Reuben McLean, Cailin O’Connor, Fergal McKiernan, James Bakewell, Tiernan Smyth, Cormac Doherty, Joe McToal.

Subs – Darragh Kelly, Gavin McToal, Fergus McBride

Referee – Ciaran McCloskey (Loughgiel)

July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by thesaffrongael

South West Juvenile Fixtures

Thursday 30th July

Laverty Cup (round one) at 7.0pm

St James Aldergrove v Casement’s Portglenone

Friday 31^st July

Thomas Devlin Car Sales under-14 League (6.30pm)

St James Aldergrove v St Enda’s Glengormley

St Comgall’s Antrim v St Joseph’s Glenavy

Kickham’s Creggan v Erin’s Own Cargin

Con Magees Glenravel v St Ergnat’s Moneyglass

Cuchullian’s Dunloy v Glenravel (1)

All Saint’s Ballymena v Casement’s

Sunday 2^nd Aug

Thomas Devlin Car Sales under-12 league (10.30am)

St Enda’s Glengormley v St James Aldergrove

St Joseph’s Glenavy v St Comgall’s Antrim

Erin’s Own Cargin v Kickham’s Creggan

Con Magees Glenravel v Cuchullian’s Dunloy

Casement’s Portglenone v All Saint’s Ballymena

Laverty Cup (round one) at 7.30pm

St Mary’s Aghagallon v Tir na nOg Randalstown

Kickham’s Creggan v St Joseph’s Glenavy

St Enda’s Glengormley v All Saint’s Ballymena

Cuchullian’s Dunloy v St Comgall’s Antrim

July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by thesaffrongael

St. Comgall’s up and running

GYMCO JFC Group 2

St Comgall’s Antrim 4-6 O’Donnell’s 1-5

St. Comgall’s, Antrim, who had a bye on day one got their GYMCO campaign up and running with a good win over visitors O’Donnell’s at a damp Dunsilly yesterday evening. Only a point separated the sides at half time with the Antrim town side taking a 1-2 to 1-1 lead into the break.

It was a different story in the second half as the home side found their shooting boots and went on to run out winners by ten points. A second Half Scoring Spree got Adrian Dougan’s St Comgall’s on theirway, however there was certainly a lot to talk about in the somewhat close encounter between two battling sides. The crowds were attracted to St Comgall’s Championship opening round and it was the home side who opened the scoring with Miles Devine and Tom Patchett adding a second. Both sides were in full Championship mood and after five minutes of play saw two yellow cards for the visitors. Strong running from O’Donnell’s Jim Donnelly and Ciaran Mc Kissock saw them launch a number of attacks but these were well dealt with by the St Comgall’s defence. St Comgal’s put themselves under serious pressure after 10 minutes of play when Joe Webb was sent to the side-line for 10minutes after pulling O’Donnell’s Joe Rafferty to the ground. O’Donnell’s took advantage of the extra man and drove up the filed adding scores through the strong running Ciaran McKissock. St Comgalls were to suffer a further blow just before the HT with Caolan McKeown sent to the sin-bin.

HT Score St Comgalls 1-2 v O’Donnell’s 1-1

The second half was not looking promising for St Comgall’s starting with 14 men against a stiff breeze. A few stern words and a shrewd change in tactics from Manager Adrian Dougan at half time sent St Comgall’s on their way. Driving runs from Ruari Griffin and Paddy O Connor saw miles Devine finish off a superb move to put the ball past O’Donnell’s net minder Colm Walsh. St Comgall’s grew stronger and stronger as the game progressed with further driving runs form Dylan Murdock and Louis Higgins in Midfield. With O’Donnell’s working the short kick out to perfection, using the advantage of their extra man they surged down the field with Connor O’Donnell and Jordan Toner working tirelessly. The home side had other ideas with Kian Walker and Caolan McKeown putting in a number of great tackles and creating turnovers. The introduction of Patrick Quinn and Colm Griffin for St Comgall’s gave a further boost to the home side as they stepped up their attacks with further scores securing victory. After two Championship games on the trot O’Donnell’s will get a deserved rest this weekend. However St Comgall’s have to prepare themselves to travel to Fennel Park. Here they will come up against Championship favourites, Ross Carrs, Ardoyne and this game should decide who will top Group 2.

GYMCO Championship round up

In the other games played in the GYMCO JFC last night Peares had four points to spare over visitors Ballycastle, Laochra Loch Lao caused the shock of the round with a win over St. Malachy’s and Kickham’s Ardoyne recorded a facile victory over John Mitchell’s.

RESULTS

St. Comgall’s 4-6 O’Donnell’s 1-5

Pearses 2-8 Ballycastle 2-4

Laochra Loch Lao 1-7 St. Malachy’s 0-8

Mitchell’s 0-0 Ardoyne 7-26

If anyone has a report on any of the games not featured on the Saffron Gael then send it to ptrckmclwn@yahoo.co.uk or john.mcilwaine@yahoo.co.uk

July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by thesaffrongael

Improvement from Aldergrove but St. Brigid’s prevail

Northern Switchgear

Senior Football Championship-Group 3

St. Brigid’s 1-17 Aldergrove 1-12

Photographs: Bert Trowlen

St. James Aldergrove were on the wrong side of a bad beating at the weekend when they went down to Erin’s Own Cargin but despite losing again on Wednesday night, they showed a big improvement at Musgrave Park against St. Brigid’s

St. Brigid’s lost their last outing away to Aghagallon and a win here was imperative if they were to retain hope of qualifying for the knockout stages and in the end their greater scoring power got them over the line.

It was nip and tuck throughout the opening half with a goal from the excellent Seamus McGarry in the 21^st minute keeping the visitors in touch with Peter Webb, Ronan McGrady, Ethan Carelton and John Morgan prominent for the home side.

McGarry was causing plenty of problems for the St. Brigid’s defence and at half time the sides were level at 1-6 to 0-9 with all still to play for in the second half.

Aldergrove kept in touch with their opponents during the early second half exchanges with Kian Jones knocking over a couple of points but things took a turn for the worse when they had a player dismissed for a second bookable offence after ten minutes and slowly St. Brigid’s began to get on top.

Peter Webb brought his personal contribution to 0-4 with John Morgan, Ronan McGrady and Ronan Brolly all finding the target and when Brolly fired to the net in the 22^nd minute the momentum was all with the home side who eased home winners by five points.

Peter Webb, Ronan McGrady, John Morgan and goal scorer, Rory Brolly were prominent for the Musgrave Park side while the Aldergrove Management will be pleased with their teams performance if not the result.

Seamus McGarry was again their go to man while young Kian Jones was another who continues to impress as the Grove finish their campaign this Sunday with a visit to Aghagallon and St. Brigid’s face a tough away test against unbeaten Cargin.