Bathshack Senior Hurling Championship
Group 2
Tir na nOg 0-7 Dunloy 4-38
Saturday August 28
Brendan McTaggart reports from Whitehill
If Tuesday day night was them blowing off the cobwebs, today was the Cuchullains throwing the shackles off. This was as close to a 60 minute performance from the reigning champions as they put a message out to the rest of the county, they are still the team to beat. It was unfortunate for Tir na nOg that Gregory O’Kane’s men had put this type of performance in against them. Dunloy were irresistible, relentless, efficient, just plain class as they tore the home side apart from the first whistle.
Dunloy made one change from their drawn game against Cushendall with Eamon Smyth coming in for Paul Shiels. Aaron Crawford pushed into midfield to allow Smyth to play at centre half and both Cuchullains excelled.
It was the Dunloy attack that was simply awesome however. 4-33 from open play, 11 different scorers with seven points coming from their bench in the second half. Dunloy purred quickly into top gear and remained there for the vast majority of the hour, exposing a gulf between the two sides that proved to be insurmountable for the 2020 Intermediate Champions.
Sean Duffin did the majority of the scoring for the Randalstown side with two of his five points coming from open play but the Whitehill men couldn’t get any change from a hugely impressive and disciplined Dunloy defence. The Cuchullains defensive unit didn’t concede a free within scoring range until the 28th minute of the game and that was close to the half way line.
Keelan Molloy added to his highly impressive display against Cushendall with a further four points from midfield while Conal Cunning top scored with 1-9 before coming off after the second half waterbreak, his partnership with Chrissy McMahon on the inside forward line continues to blossom with McMahon raising five white flags over the hour. Cunning’s goal came just before the first half water break after good work from Elliott on the left to find space and pick a pass for ‘Coby’ and the Dunloy man made no mistake.
The three remaining Dunloy goals came from Seaan Elliott (two) and Eoin O’Neill, all in the second half as the Cuchullains showed no signs of dropping their intensity levels. There was already 20 points between the sides when O’Neill punished an error in the Tir na nOg defence after a poc out from Kevin Sheerin went loose.
Seaan Elliott’s goal came from similar circumstances with the Cuchullains pressurising the Tir na nOg restart while the fourth goal was cruel on the home side. O’Neill’s shot was stopped superbly by Sheerin but Elliott was on hand to finish and add further gloss to the scoreline for the Cuchullains.
Tir na nOg had chances at the other end but the Dunloy defence were imperious, superbly marshalled by Conor McKinley and organised by Ryan Elliott in goals throughout.
Both sides are on their travels next Sunday with Cushendall hosting Tir na nOg while Dunloy visit Corrigan Park and while it looks likely the Randalstown men’s championship race will finish in Pairc Mhuire, who goes directly through to the semi-final is still up for grabs but the Cuchullains have put themselves in pole position with this display.
TEAMS
Dunloy: Ryan Elliott; Phelim Duffin, Conor McKinley, Conor Kinsella; Ryan McGarry, Eamon Smyth, Ronan Molloy; Aaron Crawford, Keelan Molloy; Eoin O’Neill, Kevin Molloy, Eoin McFerran; Seaan Elliott, Conal Cunning, Chrissy McMahon
Scorers: C Cunning 1-9 (1 ’65, 3f); S Elliott 2-5 (1f); E O’Neill 1-3; C McMahon 0-5; Keelan Molloy 0-4; Gabriel McTaggart 0-3; Nicky McKeague 0-3; A Crawford 0-2; E McFerran 0-2; Kevin Molloy 0-1; Anton McGrath 0-1
Tir na nOg: Kevin Sheerin; Daniel Martin, Ryan O’Neill, Brendan Kerr; Ciaran O’Neill, Caoimhin Duffin, Declan Molloy; Aaron McNeilly, Ciaran McKeown; Sean Duffin, Ciaran Logan, Kevin Kerr; Niall Devlin, Eamon Og McAllister, Sean McKinley
Scorers: S Duffin 0-5 (3f); C Logan 0-1; N Devlin 0-1
Referee: Kevin Parke (Naomh Eanna)
