North Antrim U15B Hurling championship final
All Saints 2-8 Tir na nOg 4-11
A hat-trick from full-forward, Caleb Smith and a strong mid-field performance from the towering pair, Dylan McLarnon and Brendan Devlin provided the platform for a Tir na nOg victory over All Saints in this North Antrim U15B hurling championship final at Quinn Park, Ballymena today.
Smith struck with his first goal in the third minute but James McGarry and John Ireland replied with points for the home side before Caleb Smith moved the visitors two in front from an 8th minute free.
Smith added another free from 20 meters as Tir na nOg enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges and with Dylan McLarnon and Brendan Devlin imposing their presence at mid-field the Ballymena side were experiencing difficulty in getting meaningful ball into their forward line.
Disaster struck for the Quinn Park side when a ‘65’ from Dylan McLarnon sailed all the way to their net through a crowded goalmouth to create a six point gap and it was a gap that the Ballymena side were never able to close despite a sterling effort.
They went on to enjoy the better of the remaining minutes of the opening half however, out pointing the opposition 0-4 to 0-1 with James McGarry 0-3 frees and Jack Dowds on target and Dylan McLarnon replying from a free to leave it 2-3 to 0-6 at half time but with the visitors about to enjoy the advantage of the breeze in the second half.
With the breeze now at their backs Tir na nOg regained the initiative at the start of the second half with Dylan McLarnon striking a great long range point before Caleb Smith got in for his second goal in the 5th minute to put considerable distance between the sides.
The home defence were starting to wilt under the constant pressure and finding it hard to get past the mid-field barrier imposed by Devlin and McLarnon and Caleb Smith increased the Tir na nOg lead as he completed his hat-trick in the 9th minute.
Despite facing an almost insurmountable obstacle the Ballymena side kept battling away but James McGarry had his attempt at goal from a close range free charged down and cleared before pointing another free but Tir na nOg replied through Caleb Smith and Tiarnan Bonnes to move 11 ahead at the end of the third quarter.
A massive point from 65 meters from McLarnon increased that lead to 12 and the home side would have been forgiven for throwing in the towel at this stage but to their credit they kept battling to the end.
McGarry pointed a 22nd minute free and then Conall Boyd squeezed his shot to the net from an almost impossible angle, off a defenders stick to give them a glimmer of hope but Tir na nOg eased the pressure with points from the impressive Smith, McLarnon 0-2 and Bonnes.
All Saints kept going to the end with the crossbar denying them a second goal but they were finally rewarded for their efforts as Conall Boyd’s dropping shot finished in the visitors net with time almost up.
It was as close as they got and it is Tir na nOg who are North Antrim U15B champions and it is a title their performance on the day fully merited. They were solid in defence with Patrick McCloskey and Donal McLornan anchoring a solid unit.
The long striking Dylan McLarnon was excellent at mid-field and had good support from Brendan Devlin while Caleb Smith proved a match winner in a very sharp attack.
All Saints, while well beaten in the end deserve a lot of credit for their never say die attitude and were unfortunate not to add to their tally in the closing stages and the hard work being done by Liam Martin and his coaching team should reap its reward in the coming years.
All Saints: 1 Antoin Martin, 2 Anthony Logan, 3 Patrick Murphy, 4 Finn Connon, 5 Caolan Laverty, 6 Robert Crooks, 7 Conan McKeown, 8 Jakub Kaczmarek, 9 James McGarry, 10 Sean O’Brien, 11 Jack Dowds, 12 Conall Boyd, 13 Michael Connolly, 14 John Ireland, 15 Ryan O’Boyle, 16 Calum McKervey, 17 Joe McGarry, 18 Leo Wright, 19 Shayne Dorrity, 20 Rory Mulholland, 21 Liam Logan
Tir na nOg: 1 Eoghan McParland, 2 Odhran Gillespie, 3 Patrick McCloskey, 4 Aodhan McGuckian, 5 Joel Robb, 6 Donal McLornan, 7 Ronan Neeson, 8 Dylan McLarnon, 9 Brendan Devlin, 10 Connor O’Neill, 11 Tiarnan Bonnes, 12 Ronan McLornan, 13 Ruairi Robb, 14 Caleb Smith, 15 Michael Kelly, Subs used: Oisin Sisk, Austin Mooney, Neitanis Lusunda, Daniel McManus
Referee: Pete Hyndman (Glenarm)
