The build up to the All Ireland Senior Club hurling final started early for the pupils at St Joseph’s Primary School Dunloy when RTE cameras visited the school on Monday . The pupils sang the Dunloy song that was written by The Saffron Gael’s resident Dunloy fan Brendan McTaggart, who was there in a couple of different capacities, teaching the pupils the words, and to caputre the actions
Conor McGurk Cup – Quarter Final
Antrim 1-26 Armagh 0-21
Monday 9 January
Brendan McTaggart reports from Dunsilly
Antrim recovered from a slow start in this rearranged fixture on Monday evening to see off the challenge of Armagh with eight to spare.
On a bitingly cold evening at Dunsilly, it took Antrim until after the first quarter to find any sort of rhythm against the Orchard County who were depleted themselves in this McGurk Cup quarter-final.
In the end, the Saffrons had enough about them to run out comfortable winners in a game that by it’s very nature had very little flow. Of Armagh’s 21 points, 14 of them came from the hurl of their free taker Fiontann Donnelly while Antrim had nine different names on the score sheet and just seven of their 1-26 coming from placed ball.
For the 48 minutes he was on the field, Seamie McAuley lit up this game. He like the rest of the Antrim team had a slow start but McAuley would record 1-4 and showcased his talent. Eoin O’Neill impressed in the second half while Aaron Bradley looked lively throughout.
In defence, Niall O’Connor was solid at full-back while Enda Og McGarry and captain Gerard Walsh were notable.
The Saffrons had a few Dunloy players in the squad with Conor McKinley playing the second half as he steps up his recovery from a shoulder injury while Kevin and Nicky McKeague made the starting 15. Anton McGrath and Gabriel McTaggart were introduced at the half time interval with the Cuchullains having one eye on the club final on the 22 January.
After 15 minutes of this game, Karl McKeegan’s Armagh side were four points ahead. With the match played on Pitch 2 at Dunsilly, Antrim clicked into gear. By the 22nd minute they took the lead through an Eoin McAlonan point.
In a high scoring half, the Saffrons led by two points at the short whistle, 0-15 to 0-13. Darren Gleeson’s side certainly improving as the half progressed. The Antrim manager made four changes at the interval and while Donnelly got the first score of the half for Armagh, Antrim were playing with a bit more freedom. Paul Boyle’s introduction giving them something different as he made numerous runs from the middle third into the danger area.
The only goal of the game came in the 46th minute thanks to a piece of brilliance from McAuley. Eoin O’Neill playing the ball diagonally to the right hand corner towards McAuley. Collecting the sliotar, he rounded his man and made his way towards the goal where he made no mistake. A super piece of play to beat his marker and to show the presence of mind to strike unorthodoxly to beat Caolan Rowntree in the Armagh goals.
The major gave Antrim a five point lead and quashed any thoughts of an Orchard victory at Dunsilly with Gleeson ringing more changes throughout the second half.
The Saffrons now play Donegal in the semi-final, scheduled for this Saturday.
TEAMS
Antrim: Tiernan Smyth; Eoin Trainor, Niall O’Connor, Enda Og McGarry; Gerard Walsh, Kevin McKeague, Damon McMullan; Caolan McKernan, Eoin McAlonan; James McNaughton, Eoin O’Neill, Nicky McKeague; Seamie McAuley, Arron Bradley, Niall McKenna
Subs: Conor McKinley for K McKeague (HT); Gabriel McTaggart for N McKenna (HT); Paul Boyle for C McKernan (HT); Anton McGrath for N McKeague (HT); Ruairi McCormick for E Trainor (48); Niall McGarrell for S McAuley (48); Luke O’Connor for E McAlonan (53); Enda McCartan for J McNaughton (60)
Scorers: S McAuley 1-4; J McNaughton 0-7 (4f 1’65); E O’Neill 0-5 (1f); G Walsh 0-2 (1f); P Boyle 0-2; A Bradley 0-2; N McKeague 0-2; E McAlonan 0-1; A McGrath 0-1
Armagh: Caolan Rowntree; Barry Shortt, Tam McKavanagh, Stephen O’Keefe; Kane Laverty, Tiernan Nevin, Niall Lemon; Conor Renaghan, Peadar McBride; Fiontann Donnelly, Cormac Jennings, Eoin McGuinness; Shea Harvey, Ciaran Duffy, Sean Og McGuinness
Subs: Sean Watters for C Duffy (41); Fintan Woods for P McBride (51)
Scorers: F Donnelly 0-14 (13f); C Duffy 0-2; B Shortt 0-1 (1f); T McKavanagh 0-1; P McBride 0-1; E McGuinness 0-1; S Og McGuinness 0-1
Referee: Aidan McAleer (Donegal)
Danske Bank Casement Cup Hurling semi-final
St Mary’s Magherafelt 2-17 St Malachy’s Belfast 2-4
A great individual display by Cargin’s Conhuir Johnstone guided St Mary’s Magherafelt to the final of the Ulster Schools Casement Cup final on Monday afternoon at Dunsilly. In a re-match of last season’s decider the Magherafelt boys turned the table to book their place in the final. With Johnstone leading the line from centre forward St Mary’s dominated throughout and the game was all but decided at half time when last year’s beaten finalists led by 1-12 to 0-2 at the change of ends.
Football ace Johnstone, showed he adapt to the small ball with no trouble, as he proved far too difficult for the St Malachy’s defence to contain and he shot a goal and seven points in the wind-assisted first half to put the game to bed at half-time.
No less impressive were his MacRory Cup colleagues James Sargeant and Niall O’Donnell in the half-back line, while John McGurk hoovered up any ball that came past them.
Segdae Mac Adaimh got the opening point for St Malachy’s and Rónán Edgar from a free put them 0-2 to 0-1 up after Johnstone had opened his account at the other end. However the Antrim Road side failed to score for the rest of the half as St Mary’s took control out the field and Johnstone orchestrated the forward line.
Johnstone fired over from an acute angle on the right to tie the teams and Sargeant landed a long range free to put them ahead in the 5th minute. With Jack Convery placing O’Donnell for a fine point a minute later, St Mary’s were building up a head of steam.
Patrick Birt got in on the scoring just before Johnstone crashed home the opening goal in the 12th minute. The Cargin man then landed five points in a row, the opening two from frees.
Midfielder Charlie Curley interrupted the run to tag on a point, but Johnstone and Lorcán O’Donnell finished the first half scoring to make it 1-12 to 0-2 at the break.
Any complacency St Mary’s might have had going into the second half was knocked out of them by Rónán Edgar who careered through their defence to find the net within 45 seconds of the re-start. James Sargeant sent over a long range free in response and, at the other end, Pádraig Kelly did well to smother and clear a goal-bound free from Edgar.
Callum Walsh kept St Malachy’s going with a point in the 35th minute, but St Mary’s weathered the storm and gradually regained control of the game, helped by points from Birt and Johnstone (two frees).
Then in the 50th minute a long clearance out of defence was taken at pace by Johnstone who ran straight through the centre and fired the sliotar to the roof of the net for his second goal.
In fairness Edgar responded with a decent goal at the other end and Caoimhín Killyleagh added a point. But they were mere consolation scores with AJ McCann shooting over from wide on the right to complete the scoring for Magherafelt.
St Mary’s will now face Rathmore Grammar in the final after the south Belfast school overcame St Colman’s Newry in the other semi-final.
St Mary’s: Pádraig Kelly, Leo Gribbin, Odhrán Mulligan, John McGurk, Rónán McCallion, James Sargeant (0-2 frees), Niall O’Donnell (0-1), Charlie Curley (0-1), Luke Burns, Michael Walls, Conhuir Johnstone (2-9, 0-4 frees), Jack Convery, Lorcán O’Donnell (0-1), AJ McCann (0-1), Patrick Birt (0-2)
Sub: Ben McLarnon for N O’Donnell (55).
St Malachy’s: Liam McCafferty, Jake Massingham, Conor McAllister, Emmett Casey, Eoin Brown, Cian O’Connor, Oisín Kelly, Caoimhín Killyleagh (0-1), Evan Stanley, Segdae Mac Adaimh (0-1), Ronan Edgar (2-1, 0-1 free), Eoin Duffy, Diarmuid Martin, Callum Walsh (0-1), Cillian O’Brien.
Subs: Ray McKenna for D Martin (45), Pádraig McKevitt for E Stanley (45).
Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup, Round 2
Antrim 0-09-2-10 Cavan
By Kevin Herron
First half goals from Martin Reilly and Brandon Boylan helped Cavan to a 2-10-0-09 win over Antrim in Sundays McKenna Cup clash in Portglenone.
Reilly struck an opportunist goal after Ryan O’Neill’s pointed effort came off the bar and Boylan added a second after the Saffrons had chipped away with three-points in succession.
The visitors may have added another couple of goals over the course of the sixty minutes, but Mick Byrne pulled off a string of impressive saves.
Cavan were first off the mark in Portglenone when Ciaran Brady claimed a mark and Oisin Brady was on hand to convert.
Oisin Kiernan was adjudged to have touched the ball on the ground at the other end and that presented Dominic McEnhill with the chance to restore parity and he dually obliged.
The hosts began to take a foothold in proceedings, but failed to take advantage on the scoreboard as McEnhill, Pat Shivers and Ruairi McCann were off target.
They were made to rue those missed opportunities when Cavan hit the opening goal of the game in the 9th minute.
Ryan O’Neill dropped an effort that looked to be heading over- though it dropped against the bar and Martin Reilly got to the loose ball ahead of Dermot McAleese and guided a low shot past Mick Byrne and into the net to give his side a 1-01-0-01 lead.
Reilly could have doubled his goal tally midway through the half after Brandon Boylan dinked the ball across to Reilly in the small square, but Byrne turned away his shot at this time of asking.
Cavan went close again within 60-seconds, Tiarnan Madden slipped in Oisin Brady whose effort cannoned off the bar. Brady was threaded through again, and Byrne did well to parry with his foot.
Antrim pulled a score back at the other end when Dermot McAleese played in Patrick McBride to float over the Saffrons second point of the half.
Back-to-back scores arrived courtesy of Oisin Brady, the first a confident shot that sailed over from play and the second was his second converted free of the half- from a difficult looking angle.
Antrim’s best scoring run would follow with three points on the spin. Oisin Lenehan got on the end of Mick Byrne’s kick-out and picked out Patrick McBride on the charge, he laid the ball off to Pat Shivers to pop over his first score of proceedings.
Ruairi McCann then kicked a superb 45’ and after Shivers was felled; Dominic McEnhill kicked his second free of the half to make it 1-04-0-05.
Their momentum was halted as Cavan hit their second goal of the game two minutes before the break.
Ryan O’Neill got his fist to a hopeful pass forward and it allowed Brandon Boylan to chase a loose ball which he poked past Byrne and to the net.
Killian Clarke kicked a super point in the aftermath with Shivers dropping one over at the other end as Cavan took a 2-05-0-06 lead in at the midway point.
Killian Clarke picked up where he left off before the break, kicking a fantastic point to extend Cavan’s lead almost ten minutes into the second period.
Goalkeeper Liam Brady then came up to kick a free from range and Oisin Brady increased his tally from the same scenario as the visitors were 2-08-0-06 ahead.
Things could have been much worse for Antrim had goalkeeper Byrne not pulled off two impressive saves to add to his many from the opening half.
First denying Ryan O’Neill and then after Cavan had pulled the Saffrons defence apart and the ball was worked to Martin Reilly- the corner-forward wound up for a shot that Byrne was equal to.
Talisman Brady converted his second free of the half and brought his personal tally to six in the process.
Antrim were staring down the barrel of ending the second period without a score. Their best chance of note came from a Patrick McBride effort that was inches past the post on the 45th minute.
They did rally late-on though as Dominic McEnhill kicked his third free of the afternoon and half-time substitute Ryan Murray added a second from the placed ball 60-seconds later.
Brady ended Cavan’s scoring for the afternoon, taking a pass from Oisin Kiernan and swinging over his second point from play.
Ryan Murray would get on the end of his own intended pass and shoot over the final score of the contest as the Saffrons fell to a 2-10-0-09 defeat and attention now turns to their league opener with Offaly at Corrigan Park on January 29th.
Antrim: M Byrne, P McBride (0-01), C Hynds, P Mervyn, D McAleese, J Finnegan, E McCabe, R McCann (0-01 45’), O Lenehan, M Jordan, S McGarry, C Stewart, P Shivers (0-02), K Small, D McEnhill (0-03f). Subs: R Boyle for E McCabe (10), R Murray (0-02, 0-01f) for P Shivers (HT), P McCormack for R Boyle (43), C McGirr for P Mervyn (52), C Duffin for K Small (52), S O’Neill for M Jordan (52), O Eastwood for R McCann (52), C McLarnon for O Lenehan (67), J Dowling for D McEnhill (67), C Higgins for C Stewart (67), R Hanna for M Byrne (67), C McGettigan for D McAleese (67).
Cavan: L Brady (0-01f), J Cooke, P Faulkner, E Finnegan, C Brady, D McVeety, T Madden, K Clarke (0-02), E Maguire, G Smith, B Boylan (1-00), O Kiernan, M Reilly (1-00), R O’Neill, O Brady (0-07, 0-01m, 0-04f). Subs: C Madden for B Boylan (47), R Donohoe for E Maguire (47), C Brady for K Clarke (53), C Rehill for E Finnegan (58), C Moynagh for C Brady (58), T Noack for M Reilly (58), C Madden for P Faulkner (62), C McGovern for R O’Neill (64).
Walsh Cup Senior hurling – Group One
Dublin 3-26 Antrim 2-22
Antrim started their Walsh Cup campaign with a seven point defeat to Dublin at Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon but despite defeat it was an encouraging display by the men in Saffron. The final scorline was a little unkind to the visitors as Dublin got a goal in the final minute to put a somewhat one sided slant on things. Not that Dublin didn’t deserve their victory, for they were well worthy of the win, and were never headed throughout the hour.
With the Dunloy players all missing Antrim started with four debutants, with the Loughgiel’s trio Rory McCloskey Paul Boyle and Rian Bubbles McMullan plus Sarsfields Caolan McKernan all in the starting line-up.
With their centre forward Joe Flanagan in impressive form Dublin held the upper hand through the first half. Flanaghan hit nine in the opening half but with Neill McManus on target from frees and Mick Bradley and Niall McKenna adding scores from play the visitors kept in touch. A Liam Murphy goal on 25 minutes put Dublin well clear but a great spell before the break and a series of excellent points from Paul Boyle, Rian MMullan, James McNaughton (2) and Neill McManus left them just two in arrears going in at half time. (1-14 to 1-12)
A Liam Murphy goal in the opening minute of the new half swung the game firmly towards Dublin but Antrim kept in touch and a good little spell during the half saw them close to within a goal again as Daniel McKernan, James McNaughton and Mick Bradley all found the target and when McManus set up Niall McKenna for a well taken goal it was game on again.
Paul McMullan denied the Dubs what looked like a certain goal when he somehow got a hurl to a shot by substitute Andrew Jamieson-Murphy, when Paul Boyle pointed at the other end second later the side were level with just 13 minutes left on the clock.
However the Dubs finished stronger and pulled away to win by seven in the end.
DUBLIN: D Perry; J Bellew, D Gray (0-1), E Moran; D Power, C O’Leary (0-2), D McBride (0-1); C Costello (0-1), A Mallett; C Dowling, J Flanagan (0-14, 8 frees, 3 65s), C Boland (0-1); C O’Sullivan (0-2), G Whelan (1-1), L Murphy (1-0).
Subs: J Madden for A Mellett (49), C Boyle (0-1) for C Dowling (49), A Jamieson-Murphy (1-2, 0-1 free) for L Murphy (55), C Burke for C Costello (57), A Considine for D Power (62), E O’Donnell for J Flanagan (67).
ANTRIM: P McMullan; P Burke, R McCloskey, N O’Connor; M Bradley (0-3), E Campbell (0-2), C Bohill (0-2); J Maskey, D McKernan (0-1); P Boyle (0-1), J McNaughton (0-4, 1 free), N McKenna (1-2); R McMullan (1-1), N McManus (0-3, 2 frees), C McKernan (0-1).
Subs: S Walsh for D McKernan (50), E O’Neill for N McManus (50), D McMullan for C McKernan (50), A Bradley for R McMullan (56), E McAlonan for J Maskey (56), S McAuley (0-1) for P Boyle (61), E Og McGary for M Bradley (61), G Walsh for C Bohill (61), E Trainor for R McCloskey (64)
REFEREE: Eamonn Furlong (Wexford)
