Month / October 2022

by thesaffrongael

Rasharkin claim the Shield in extra time

U13 SW Football Shield Final

Rasharkin 1-10 Glenavy 3-1

It took extra time to separate the protagonists in this highly entertaining and sporting South West U13 Football Shield final in Moneyglass on Sunday and both teams deserve great credit for the fare served up on the day and in the end it is a pity there had to be a loser.

St. Joseph’s looked on their way to victory when they led by a point as the clock counted down but a great point from Paul McMullan with virtually the last kick of the ball sent the game into extra time and it was Rasharkin who pushed on to eventually claim the title.

It was McMullan who opened the scoring with a Rasharkin point and the boys from Dreen dominated the opening exchanges with Patrick Carey, Liam Kearney and Conor McGaughey pointing them into a four point lead before Jude Burke finally got Glenavy off the mark from a pointed free.

St. Mary’s responded with an excellent point from Sean Casey but St. Joseph’s were starting to play themselves into the game and Eoin Nelson brought them right into contention with a well worked team goal.

Suddenly things were going the way of the Chapel Hill side and within a few minutes they had scored two more goals, each a mirror image of the other as the Rasharkin defence failed to deal with a high ball into the danger area and Eoin Nelson applied the finish on both occasions to complete his hat-trick.

St. Mary’s looked rattled but they recovered with a fine long range point from Shea McFerran, and another from Sean Casey and a goal from Jude Casey to leave it all square at the halfway stage with the good crowd who were in attendance looking forward to some of the same in the second half.

HT Rasharkin 1-7 Glenavy 3-1

The second half turned into a low scoring affair with both defences dominating and scores became hard to come by. It was Rasharkin who finally got the score board going again when Conor McGaughey pointed a free but Eoin Nelson replied from a similar award and then Ronan Arthurs edged Glenavy ahead from another from distance.

Shea McFerran, who had been outstanding for St. Mary’s throughout, levelled matters once more but when Jude Burke edged the Chapel Hill side ahead again with time almost up, the Shield appeared to be heading for Glenavy.

The excitement in this exciting drama was not yet over however and Paul McMullan struck a fantastic late equaliser to send the game into extra time.

The scoring dried up during the opening period of extra time as both defences dominated and it was beginning to look like these two very evenly matched opponents could not be separated as Richie Leahy threw the ball in for the final time.

It was St. Mary’s who found that little bit extra during the closing period as mid-fielder Shea McFerran pointed them ahead and this score seemed to lift the Rasharkin side and Liam Kearney added another as the Glenavy resistance was finally broken.

As St. Joseph’s battled to get back into contention they left themselves open at the back and Kearney put the contest out of their reach with the game’s final point with Shea McFerran dropping deep to strengthen the winner’s defence in the closing stages.

An excellent game of football which was a good advert for Gaelic football and for sportsmanship and both sides and their mentors should be commended for the fare they served up on the day. Both teams were littered with players who displayed the skills of the game and no doubt we will see many of them represent their clubs in the future.

Rasharkin: 1 Caolan Gribben, 2 Dara McFerran, 4 Darren Stockman, 5 Sean Casey, 6 Ruairi Doherty, 7 Patryk Stalka, 8 Shea McFerran, 9 Patrick Carey, 10 Conor McGaughey, 11 Daniel Belton, 12 Liam Kearney, 13 Jude Casey, 14 Paul McMullan.

Glenavy: 1 Calden Daly, 2 Cian Garland, 3 Cormac Hamilton, 4 Quinn Rogan, 5 Cormac Mallon, 6 Reece Denver, 7 Martyn McGranles, 8 Ryan Green, 9 Jack Duffy, 10 Ronan Arthurs, 11 Callum Eastwood, 12 Eoin Nelson, 13 Jude Burke, 14 Matthew Mulligan, 15 Oran Loughan, 16 Donncha Devine, 17 Connor Creaney, 18 Oisin Farrell, 19 Niall Mulvenna 20 Shea Higham.

Referee: Richie Leahy (Naomh Comhghall)

by thesaffrongael

Prenter to the fore as Moneyglass retain LGFA Senior Championship title

Antrim LGFA Ladies SFC Final

St Ergnats 2-18  St Pauls 1-9

Orlagh Prenter was very much to the fore as St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass repeated their success of last year when they defeated St. Paul’s in the LFFA Senior Football championship final in convincing fashion at Davitt’s on Sunday. Prenter was to amass an impressive total of 0-16 (0-14 frees) over the hour as the Marian Hill girls dominated from early in the contest to run out convincing winners in the end

St. Paul’s had been the dominant force in ladies football for nearly a decade but in recent years the balance of power has swung decisively in the direction of the South West girls who retained their senior title to add to a clean sweep of titles at juvenile level.

It was St. Paul’s who were first to threaten and Lara Dahunsi won possession from the throw in and her inch perfect pass placed Fionnghuala Rocks who looked set to open the scoring but her shot on goal sailed agonisingly to the wrong side of the post.

Had she scored then things might well have been different but it was Moneyglass who recovered from that early scare and Rebecca Bradley gave them the lead as she pointed her side ahead after six minutes to settle some early nerves and Orlagh Prenter followed with another before Fionnghuala Rocks atoned in part for her earlier miss with St. Paul’s opening score in the 10th minute.

Orlagh Prenter who top scored for St. Ergnat’s in their win over St. Paul’s

Slowly the St. Ergnat’s girls began to assert their authority on matters and they struck with the game’s first goal in the 15th minute when defender Elanor Mallon got on the end of a pass from Orlagh Prenter to blast to the net and put her side in a commanding position.

Prenter was having a massive influence on proceeding as she fired over a number of frees before Marie O’Neill added another from play as the girls in blue started to put distance between themselves and the opposition and St. Paul’s were badly in need of a score to keep their hopes alive.

And they were given a glimmer hope just before the break as Kirsty McGuinness pointed a couple of frees to reduce her sides half-time deficit to 9 but the Shaw’s Road girls still looked to have a mountain to climb in the second half as the  half-time scoreboard read 0-6 – 2-9 in favour of Moneyglass.

St Paul’s started the second half on the front foot with Fionnghuala Rocks scoring from a free before Moneyglass were reduced to 14  after Emma Louise McAreavey  was sin-binned  as she brought down Kirsty McGuinness who looked in for a goal.

McGuinness placed the resulting penalty kick into the bottom left corner of the net, giving her side renewed hope as it cut the deficit to five points 5 points but they were unable to build on that early second half success.

Cathy Carey takes the long way round as the St. Paul’s defence close shop

It was Moneyglass who again grabbed the initiative as Orlagh Prenter replied from three converted frees as she punished some indiscipline in the St. Paul’s defence as a bit of frustration began to creep into their play.

Orlagh Prenter continued to dictate matters as St. Ergnat’s finished strongly as she pointed from over 25 yards to bring her total into double figures and it was clear at this stage that there would be no way back for the former champions.

St. Paul’s woe was increased as Caitlin McGuinness was sin-binned after dragging down Cliona Griffin inside the 21-yard line but they did keep going to the end and earned some reward as Hannah Doherty and Fionnghuala Rocks tagged on  late points but it was to prove too little too late.

And it was that girl Prtenter who would have the final say as she brought her personal total for the evening to 0-16 to leave her side convincing 12 point winners in the end to bring about scenes of rejoicing at Davitt’s Park at the final whistle.

St Ergnats: A McCann, A McCauley, E L McAreavey, S O Neill, E Mallon 1-0, R Bradley 0-1, L McCann, C Griffin, C carey, M O Neill 1-1, A Devlin, O Prenter (0-16 14 frees), B Devlin

Subs: S McErlain, A Boyd, D Connolly, G Laverty, C McKeely, O Rooney, E McCoy

St Pauls: S Murphy, C Stewart, C Brown, O McGuinness, S Tennyson, S McCann, N Burns, L Dahunsi, A Tubridy, N Nic Ionnrachtaigh, N Ritchie, C McGuinness 0-2(1 free), K McGuinness 1-2 (1 pen), F Rocks 0-4 (4 frees), H Doherty 0-1

Subs: G McGroarty, N Matthews, M Hanna, E Kelly, A Healy, M Connolly, C Mervyn, O Murray

by thesaffrongael

St John’s Carnlough beat Davitt’s in Shield final

Antrim Camogie Development Shield final @ Cargin

Report and pics by Brian McKee

St John’s Carnlough 2-6 Davitt’s 3-1

St John’s Carnlough and Davitts obviously were not giving any credence to their Development Shield game being a warm up to the Cup final that was to follow, as they served up an exhibition of skill and commitment at Cargin yesterday that would be the envy of many more established teams.

St Joseph’s went into the attack from the throw-in, with two points soon coming from Sian McNeill. Cora Magee quickly established her influence at midfield and controlled a lot of the play in opening half.

Davitt’s Niamh Corr and Zara McCann both broke the St John’s defence only to be thwarted by great saves from Kelly Agnew in the Carnlough goal. However a period of relentless pressure from the West Belfast side in the second quarter eventually led to a goal by Niamh Burn.

St. John’s went back ahead with a goal from Niamh Reid and Sian McNeill then stoked over another point to see Carnlough enter the half-time break with a three point lead.

Half-time score: St John’s 1-03 Davitts 1-0

The rain that fell incessantly during the second quarter of this game gave way to bright sunshine at the start of the second half. The pattern from the first half continued as each team enjoyed a period of dominance but unable to make that count on the scoreboard.

St John’s got the second half off to a flyer with two points from Sian McNeill but a goal from Davitts reduced the lead to a single point. Sian O’Neill found the back of the net to increase the St John’s lead to four points. A point apiece from both sides left a margin of four points between them as the game entered its final minutes.

Paula O’Neill in the Davitts goal had a stormer of a game and at one stage pulled off two great saves in succession to thwart the Carnlough ladies.

Davitt’s battled until the final minute of this exciting game when the result was still in question. A further goal from Davitts left the minimum margin as the final whistle got closer, but it was Sian McNeill who calmed St John’s nerves with a further point to leave two points between the teams at the final whistle.

Sian McNeill led the fight for the St John’s with a personal tally of 1-06 with Niamh Reid picking up the other goal, and while Carnlough celebrated at the final whistle, Davitts showed their class in the way in which they responded to a very close defeat.

St John’s players celebrate at the final whistle

St John’s Carnlough: Margaret Quinn, Pauline O’Loan, Teresa McAllister, Serena McCarry, Maria Cunning, Hannah McLaughlin, Bernice Campbell, Cora Magee, Claire Feeney, Katie McMullan, Sian McNeill (1-6), Jamie Abram, Niamh Reid (1-0), Lindsay McQuillan, Marie-Claire Milliken

Davitts: Paula O’Neill, Katherine Wallace, Stacey Murdoch (1-0), Ciara McConvey, Marie Therese McGivern, Roisin McShane, Orlaith Mackin, Patricia Taggart, Sarah Sharkey, Linda McCann, Niamh Corr (0-1), Zara McCann, Saorla Maguire, Roisin Dornan (1-0), Cliodhna McGoldrick (1-0)

by thesaffrongael

Cuchullains storm to decider

Bathshack Senior Hurling Championship Semi Final

Dunloy 5-21 St John’s 1-12

Sunday 2 October

Brendan McTaggart reports from Dunsilly

While many within the county had predicted a Dunloy victory in this semi final, not many would have prophesised this outcome.  Dunloy stormed to the final of this years senior hurling championship with what was quite simply a breathtaking display against St John’s.  

Yet for the first ten minutes of this tie, the Johnnies looked really good.  Using the sliotar intelligently with crisp and precise passing, pulling the Dunloy defence and creating space.  But once the reigning champions clicked into gear, they produced a simply dazzling brand of hurling that left the Corrigan Park men chasing shadows.  The Johnnies weren’t helped with a series of unforced errors and any discrepancies were punished by the men in green and gold as Dunloy went through the gears with relentless ease and played with a frightening pace.

A pace that was sustained for 20 plus minutes of the second half as Dunloy all but sealed their place in the final by half time.  Three goals in the opening 30 minutes, 2-6 in a 10 minute period that saw St John’s register one attempt at the Dunloy goal and 2-5 of that tally all coming from play.

The only break in the Dunloy momentum in that period was a red card for Miceal Dudley.  Referee Mark O’Neill cutting short the St John’s midfielders game for an off the ball incident involving Paul Shiels and effectively hammering the nail into the Johnnies championship coffin.

The second half was more about damage limitation for St Johns.  Dunloy looked like they could cut loose at any moment.  The Cuchullains movement, passing and vision was only matched by their athleticism and fitness.  A willingness to run endlessly, cutting St John’s open and creating chances at will. 

The opening goal came when St John’s held a one point in the ninth minute.  It was the minimum the Johnnies had deserved such was their play in the opening exchanges but a series of wide’s meant they couldn’t put any score board pressure on the Cuchullains.  A break from Nigel Elliott sent Conal Cunning free and Coby finished to the back of the net.

Oisin McManus hit his third free of the match in response but Dunloy began to go through the gears.  By the time their second goal came in the 22nd minute they held a five point lead.  Nigel Elliott capitalising on a poor puck out from Simon Doherty to find the net.  The third goal came four minutes later and was simply brilliant.  Forcing a turnover in midfield, Coby Cunning found Ronan Molloy.  Another one-two between the pair saw Cunning through on goal and he added his second major to give Dunloy a 12 point lead.

The red mist descended on Dudley and for the second year in succession, the Johnnies were down to 14 men against the Cuchullains in the semi final.

Leading 3-11 to 0-5 at half time, Dunloy never lifted their foot off the throat of the Johnnies championship hopes.  Their fourth goal came just three minutes into the second half, Keelan Molloy taking his tally to 1-3 for the game after Ryan McGarry and Cunning combined to set him free.

St John’s responded with a major of their own in the 36th minute.  Padraig Nugent firing low from a 21 yard free with the sliotar deflecting to the back of the net.  Dunloy were spraying the sliotar to all corners of Pitch One at Dunsilly and the game descended into all the intensity of a challenge game.  St John’s suffocated the space in their defence and restricted the Cuchullains to striking from distance, which they duly took on a number of occasions.

Dunloy’s lead had stretched to 17 points when they scored their final major of the evening.  With 56 minutes on the clock, Ronan Molloy surging down the right hand side and sending a rasping drive from an acute angle to add further gloss to a health scoreline for the Cuchullains.

On this kind of form, it will take a special performance to stop the Cuchullains from keeping the Volunteer Cup in Pearse Park for a fourth year in a row.  An intriguing match lays ahead in two weeks time.  

TEAMS

Dunloy: Ryan Elliott; Phelim Duffin, Ryan McGarry, Oran Quinn; Aaron Crawford, Kevin Molloy, Eamon Smyth; Paul Shiels, Deaglan Smith; Nigel Elliott, Gabriel McTaggart, Ronan Molloy; Seaan Elliott, Conal Cunning, Keelan Molloy

Subs: Anton McGrath for D Smith (30); Nicky McKeague for K Molloy (45); Kevin McKeague for R McGarry (45); Eoin McFerran for N Elliott (51); Chrissy McMahon for C Cunning (51)

Scorers: C Cunning 2-7 (4fs); Keelan Molloy 1-3; N Elliott 1-1; P Shiels 0-3 (1f); R Molloy 1-00; C McMahon 0-2; S Elliott 0-1; R McGarry 0-1; D Smith 0-1; A McGrath 0-1; N McKeague 0-1

St John’s: Simon Doherty; Odhran Carleton, Ryan McNulty, Conal Morgan; Peter McCallin, Padraig Nugent, Michael Bradley; Andy McGowan, Miceal Dudley; Shea Shannon, Ciaran Johnston, Conor Johnston; Ruairi Galbraith, Aaron Bradley, Oisin McManus

Subs: Oisin Donnelly for A McGowan (26); Jack Bohill for R McNulty (40); Stephen Tierney for P Nugent (49)

Scorers: O McManus 0-5 (5f); P Nugent 1-00 (free); R Galbraith 0-2; Ciaran Johnston 0-2; S Shannon 0-1; A Bradley 0-1; O Donnelly 0-1

Referee: Mark O’Neill (Armoy)

by thesaffrongael

Four-in-a-row for super Shamrocks

Antrim Under 17 Hurling Final

Loughgiel 3-16 Cushendall 1-11

Loughgiel won their fourth minor title in a row when they beat Cusehndall in Sunday’s final in Ballycastle. Red hot favourites going into the game the young Shamrocks found the going tough in the opening half as wind assisted Cushendall opened up a five point lead by half time. The Ruairis actually stretched their lead to six early in the second half, but Loughgiel gradually reeled them in and with corner forward Roan McGarry in superb form from both frees and from play, they eventually took over to run out winners by eleven points.

Joseph McLaughlin put Cushendall ahead from a free in the second minute of the game, and they had a series of good chances to increase that lead but were wayward in their shooting. It was fourteen minutes before Darragh Patterson got Loughgiel’s first score to level up the game but McLaughlin came back with one at the other end to put Cushendall back ahead. Roan McGarry’s first point on 17 minutes tied things up yet again but as the half progressed Cushendall began to get on top and points from John Mitchell and Fiontan Bradley. Ronan Fitzgerald replied for Loughgiel, but Joe McLaughlin and Oran McCambridge pointed with a minute of each other to put the Ruairis 0-6 to 0-3 ahead.

Jack McCloskey, who played with a bad shoulder injury, got a point from a free and Roan McGarry added another from play, but a point from play and a goal from a penalty by Joseph McLaughlin gave Cushendall a five point lead at the half time whistle.

When Thomas McLaughlin got the first point of the second half to increase the lead to six within a minute of the restart Cushendall must have felt they were in with a chance, but a goal and three points from corner forward Roan McGarry in a devastating six minutes spell turned the game in the Shamrocks favour.

Codai McGarry and Roan McGarry put the winners two clear, but Cushendall kept in the race and a Thomas McLaughlin point on 47 minutes kept them in touch. Points from Ronan Fitzgerald, Roan McGarry and midfielder Liam Glackin began to put a bit of daylight between the sides, but Oran McCambridge replied for Cushendall to keep the Ruairi’s hopes alive.

However Loughgiel finished with a flurry scoring goals through substitute Conan Johnston and Jack McCloskey, plus four more points to run out winners by eleven and claim their fourth title on the trot.  

Above – L-R, Tony Shivers presents the cup to team captain Ben McGarry, the Saffron Gael Man of the Match award to younger brother Roan McGarry, while corner back Ashdon McGarry points out the four in a row