Andersonstown Social Club Antrim Intermediate Hurling Championship – Group 1
St Galls 2-13 Glenariffe Oisín 2-16
An unanswered 1-5 salvo in the second quarter helped fire Glenariffe to a deserving three-point win at a wet De la Salle Park on Saturday afternoon reports Paul McIntyre.
The result leaves qualification for the semi-finals in their own hands as they aim to join St Galls in the last four.
But Chris Dornan will be left scratching his head as to what went wrong with his team after the dominated the opening proceedings at Milltown Row.
When Gregory McGreevy swept home a loose ball to the Glenariffe net in the 8th minute, it helped to open up a five-point advantage for the Belfast side. Five minutes later and Jackson McGreevy free pushed that lead out to six and St Galls were looking good to finish their group campaign with four wins from four outings.
But for some reason St Galls just seemed to stop and the visitors took full advantage.
Another catalyst for Glenariffe’s fightback was a 25th minute goal.
A long ball into the St Galls square caused havoc and full forward Seamus McDonnell finished smartly to the net past Kurtis McGreevy.
Three frees from Alex O’Boyle saw the arrears slowly erode away and right on the half-time whistle, Odhran Gillan capped a fine run by splitting the posts to send his side in at the break one point ahead, 1-8 to 1-7.
Another O’Boyle free and a Caolan O’Connor effort opened a three-point lead and despite two changes at the interval, St Galls were struggling to find a way back into the contest.
But they were thrown a lifeline in the 36th minute.
Gregory McGreevy’s effort for a point was dropping short and Paul McMullan manged to beat the ball away but only as far as Mark Napier.
Napier composed himself to rifle a shot into the roof of the Oisín’s net to level the tie.
Napier then went on to register three points in the next ten minutes but Paul McDonnell kept the visitors in touch as St Galls hung on to a two-point lead.
The game’s decisive score arrived with ten minutes remaining.
Glenarrife’s Paul McDonnell robbed Paddy Friel of possession and his effort for a point dipped at the last minute to finish in the far corner of Kurtis McGreevy’s net.
The pendulum had now sung back in the visitors favour when Seanie McIntosh pointed in the final minute Glenariffe held a healthy four-point lead.
McMullan in the Oisín’s goal denied St Galls an avenue back into the game a minute later with a great stop to deny Napier a second goal with Niall Murray reacting the quickest to help protect the Glenariffe goal.
Instead, St Galls had to settle for efforts from Tómas O’Ciarain and Hopkins to cut the gap to two points with the tie now deep into injury time.
St Galls laid siege to the visitor’s goal hoping for the goal that would claim victory, but it was Glenariffe’s ace marksman O’Boyle who had the final say with his seventh point in the 64th minute.
This result leaves it a straight shootout between Glenarriffe and Sarsfields to decide who will join St Galls in the semi-finals.
Teams & Scorers:
St Galls: Kurtis McGreevy, Lorcan O’Ciarain, Joe McDaniel, Euan Rushe, Niall O’Neill, Ryan Irvine, Conleth McCarthy, Jack Hopkins (0-2), Jackson McGreevy (0-1f), Tómas O’Ciarain (0-3), Gregory McGreevy (1-0), Paddy Friel (0-2f), Fergus Donnelly, Ciaran McCaffery, Mark Naiper (1-5 2f).
Replacements: Ruairi Wilson for McDaniel (28), Anton McCaffery for Friel (HT), Aodhan Gallagher for Donnelly (HT), Marcus Donnelly for C McCaffery (42).
Glenariffe: Paul McMullan, Michael Haughey, Niall Murray, Daniel Kearney, Michael O’Boyle (0-2) Conor Robert Patterson, Michael Gettens, David Kearney, Odhran Gillian (0-1), Caolan O’Connor (0-1), Alex O’Boyle (0-7f), Oliver Kearney, Seamus McDonnell (1-0), Seanie McIntosh (0-3).
Replacements: Paul McDonnell (1-2) for Gettens (44), Shane O’Connor for Gillan (49), Aaron Cosgrove for McIntosh (63).
Referee: Mr Fionntan McCotter (Sarsfields)
