Antrim Senior Hurling Championship
Dunloy v Loughgiel – Pairc MacUílín, Ballycastle @ 2-45
By John Curly McIlwaine
It is regarded as one of the greatest rivals in hurling and between them Loughgiel and Dunloy have won 33 senior titles, but they have only met in a final on four occasions. Part of the reason for that is that they don’t often have a top team at the same time. When Loughgiel were in the heyday back in the 1960s Dunloy were still searching for their first title. Dunloy were winning their share of games against the Shamrocks in the league and in Carnivals, which were very popular at that time, but when it came to the championship they could not make the breakthrough.
When both of them won their way through to the final in 1963 the Cuchullains must have felt this was their chance to make the breakthrough, but alas it was not to be and Loughgiel won a hard fought final in Glenariffe by 3-6 to 3-2. Loughgiel went on to dominate that decade, winning further titles in ’66, 67, 68, 70 and 71 and while Dunloy reached the final in 1976, they were well beaten by Rossa. It was another eleven years before the red ribbons were on the Volunteer Cup again when the Shamrocks came from nowhere and beat Ballycastle in the 1982 decider, before going on to claim Ulster’s first All Ireland Club Hurling title the following spring.
Ballycastle gained revenge the following year in the final in Dunloy and the Shamrocks were not seen again at the top table until 1989 when they beat St John’s in the decider at Casement Park.
However Dunloy were coming up on the rails after a sustained period of juvenile success and they made the breakthrough at senior level the following year when they beat Rossa in the 1990 final after a replay. They had to watch from the sidelines for the next three years as Cushendall won three in a row, but they bounced back in 1994 and their great rivalry with Cushendall saw they two of them dominate Antrim hurling for the next 20 years. The Noughties were to be dominated by Dunloy and Cushendall and in 2003 the Cuchullains finally gained revenge for that 1963 defeat when they beat Loughgiel by 1-16 to 2-12 in one of the best finals for years.
Four years later they met again when it was also a tough and tight affair, and the Cuchullains moved ahead of their rivals with a 1-16 to -0-16 victory in another epic encounter.
2012 saw the last meeting between them when Loughgiel levelled up the ‘series’ with a 1-11 to 1-07 win under the Casement Park floodlights to complete a three in a row of titles, and just in case nobody has mentioned it they were also All Ireland champions for the second time.
Dunloy are back on top and have annexed the titles of 2017 and 2019. On Sunday they go for their third title in four years. A win would bet their 14th in all and that would bring them within six of the Shamrocks, but if the men in red were successful they go eight ahead in the titles race. On and on it goes down through the decades. Another chapter will be written on Sunday in this great hurling story but just who will hold the bragging rights for the next year or so, is anybody’s guess.
The final meetings
1963 – Loughgiel beat Dunloy 3-6 to 3-2 in Glenariffe
2003 – Dunloy beat Loughgiel 1-16 to 2-12 in Casement Park
2007 – Dunloy beat Loughgiel 1-16 to 0-16 in Casement Park
2012 Loughgiel beat Dunloy 1-11 to 1-07 in Casement Park