By Brian McKee
Loch Mór got this top of the table clash off to a great start by putting the early pressure on Ardoyne Kickhams and were four points to one up within the first ten minutes. It was a sign of things to come though as Ardoyne’s Aran Stewart was in great form and began to peg the lead back with his free taking. The Kickhams managed to keep the tabs on Loch Mór even when it looked as though the lough shore men were going to turn the tables on last season’s results.
Oisin Mac An Bhiocaire was a constant threat in the Ardoyne attack and Loch Mór were never able to get to grips with his strong runs and incisive passing. It was such a strong run from Mac An Bhiocaire that punched a hole in the Loch Mór defence leading to a great strike from McKillen to bulge the Loch Mór net.
In a tight first half, Loch Mór enjoyed periods of dominance and Falloon in partnership with Turley in the full forward line kept the scoreboard ticking over. Enda Slattery was impressive for Ardoyne but Loch Mór were stamping their authority as the first half edged to a close. A long range free was turned on by Carson and despatched it to the back of the Ardoyne net. This was followed by a beautiful sideline cut by Turley and serious concerns were rising for the Ardoyne management team to address at half-time. A great save by O’hEireamhoin in the Loch More net denied the dangerous McKillen of a second goal to leave Loch Mór ahead by 3 points at the half-time interval.
Half-Time: Loch Mór 1-9 Ardoyne 1-6
The half-time break marked a total change in direction for this game. The Kickhams put over three points in quick succession to put Loch Mór under the cosh. Agnew pulled off a magnificent saved in the Ardoyne net, and quick thinking and interplay saw the sliothar move on to McGreevy and then to Stewart who was pulled down while racing through the Loch Mór defence, only to put the resulting free over the bar.
The second half saw Loch Mór score only two points and the dominance of Kickhams was impressive. While Loch Mór insisted on going for goal without success, Ardoyne kept the points coming and ran out comfortable winners to move to top spot in Division 4.
Full -time: Loch Mór 1-11 Ardoyne 1-16
Ardoyne: 1 JP Agnew, 2 Pascal Clarke, 3 Paul Baker, 4 Cormac Curran(0-1), 5 Sean Searle(0-1), 6 Caolan Wallace, 7 Christopher McShane, 8 Paul McGuigan, 9 Dean Goodall, 10 Enda Slattery, 11 Oisin Mac An Bhiocaire(0-3), 12 Pearse Hull(0-1), 13 Matt McKillen(1-1), 14 Aran Stewart(0-10), 15 Kealan McCallan, Diarmuid Martin, Cormac Barnes, Paul O’Halloran, Joe McDowell, Piarais O’Neill, Conor Flannery, Stephen Hill, Eoghain Mac An tSearraig, Cahal Keown, Eamon Mac Lochlainn, Matthew Crommie, Patrick McGreevy, Padraig O Deorain
Loch Mór: 1 Cathan O hEireamhoin 2 Jack McKenna, 3 Martin Robb, 4 James Magorrian, 5 Aaron Monaghan, 6 Conor Jones, 7 Oisin O’Boyle, 8 Martin Branniff, 9 Bailey Graham, 10 Sean Burke, 11 Cormac Dwyer, 12 Adam Falloon(0-2), 13 Darragh Turley(1-7), 14 Ferdia Carson(0-2), 15 Declan Phillips, 16 Aodhan Morgan, 17 David McAreavey
Referee: Eamon Hamill
