Casement Social Club Junior Hurling Championship – Group 2
Saturday 20th August
Report by Niall Kelly
Naomh Bríd Cloughmills 2-20 Lámh Dhearg 3-09
A game of two halves. A cliché often cited in Championship season but this tussle between Cloughmills and Lámh Dhearg proved to be the perfect illustration of such a game. Cloughmills Bainisteoir Joe Baldwin must’ve imparted some words of wisdom on his charges at the interval. Trailing by five at half time, the hosts found their bearings in the second thirty and managed to transform their wayward shooting into scores as they were a much more potent and dynamic attacking unit in the business end of proceedings. Their Belfast counterparts were the epitome of efficiency in the first half and utilised the stiff breeze at their backs perfectly. Two emphatic finishes to the net from target man Conal McGuigan ensured that the Biddies would face an uphill battle in the second. A battle that they were more than up for. Michael Devlin and Stephen Smyth played integral roles in blazing the trail for the comeback with both men top scoring for their side with seven points a-piece.
The Hannahstown outfit got the scoring underway and punished the spurned chances their hosts were guilty of wasting. The Red Hands were 0-04 0-01 up in the first ten minutes thanks to some pinpoint striking from their talisman Odhran Waldron. Cloughmills in desperate need of scores managed to respond through points from Liam Kearns and Michael Devlin. Waldron was on hand yet again to increase the lead before midfielder Ciaran Boyd guided a threading ball to Conal McGuigan who unleashed an unstoppable drive into the helpless McKernan’s net.
Cloughmills responded admirably though and two excellently taken points from James Doherty and one from a placed ball from Liam Kearns reduced the lead to two once more before disaster struck yet again on the 29th minute. It was a familiar foe who inflicted the damage to the Cloughmills defence as yet again Conal McGuigan latched on to another high ball on with a superb fetch and drilled the ball home in an almost identical fashion to his first. Waldron and Stephen Smyth exchanged scores in injury time to leave the scores 0-07 to 2-06 in favour of the visitors at the short whistle.
The hosts were to come racing out of the traps in what set the tone for their tempo and determination for the remainder of the game. On the fortieth minute, they had successfully chipped away at the deficit and Stephen Smyth levelled proceedings after scores from Aaron Smiley (2) and Michael Devlin (2.) The men in red and white were somewhat shell-shocked at the ferocity and pace of the Cloughmills attack but responded well when that man Odhran Waldron pointed yet again before Ciaran Boyd split the posts from range with a well-deserved point on the 44th minute.
Cloughmills though were unperturbed and sought about going about their business in front of goal again. Two monster scores from opposite flanks from ‘Micky D’ and Eoin Dobbin drew the sides level yet again before the former sent over a sixty-five to take the lead for the first time in the game to a raucous roar of appreciation from the home faithful. It was a lead that the hosts refused to relinquish as they turned on the style for the remaining ten minutes. Stephen Smyth was wreaking havoc in the visitor’s defence. His trickery and pace were too much to handle and after firing over a superb score from over his shoulder, he then essentially sounded the death knell for Lámh Dhearg as he rifled home from close range following a storming run from Liam Kearns.
The scores kept coming as Kearns, Devlin and Smyth increased their personal tallies before Corey Blair put the icing on the cake after finishing a flowing move and a nonchalant disguised pass from Rian Dobbin. With the gap ten points as the game approached added time, the visitors had no other option but to revert back to a tactic that served them so well in the first half, as they launched the high ball into the square again to see what would stick. It’s not often a man can score a hat-trick and end up on the losing side but that is exactly what Conal McGuigan experienced in this one as he was on hand yet again in the dying moments to prod home among a melee of bodies. It would prove only to be a consolation and perhaps rather fittingly, Michael Devlin finished the scoring on the stroke of full-time with another expertly despatched free from range.
Both camps will have positives to take from today. For Cloughmills, they displayed a super resiliency and fighting spirit in order to take the two points from a perilous position. Although Lámh Dhearg will no doubt be somewhat disheartened with their second-half performance, they proved what a threat they can be in the first and made life very difficult for their hosts with solid performances across the pitch. Group Two of the Junior Hurling Championship is now beginning to take shape with Cloughmills atop of the pile on four points, followed closely by Glenarm. The next round of fixtures will certainly be an intriguing prospect with the top two and bottom two facing off.
Teams:
Naomh Bríd Cloughmills
C McKernan; M Dobbin, S McKendry, R Watt; J Duffin, C Laverty, A Smiley (0-02;) R Laverty, G Óg Laverty; J Doherty (0-03,) M Devlin (0-07,) E Dobbin (0-01;) C Blair (1-00,) L Kearns (0-03,) S Smyth (1-04)
Lámh Dhearg
R McClennigan; M McGuigan, J Brady, T McKenna; S.P Gibson, P Mervyn, F Mervyn; A McGuigan, C Boyd (0-01;) D Murray, O Waldron (0-07,) N McGarry (0-01;) A Ferris, P Fitzsimmons, C McGuigan (3-00)
