ACHL Division 2
Glenarm 2-16 Glenariffe 1-23
Oisins’ Glenariffe and Shane O’Neill’s Glenarm met for the first time in an ACHL game since the mid 1990’s and the old enemies didn’t disappoint in a real thriller at Feystown on Sunday. Rossa’s Ray Matthews was appointed to keep the peace and did a sound job in ensuring that things never got out of hand but to be fair to both sides, hurling was the priority from throw in as the former rivals got reacquainted.
Matthews did stamp his authority on the game when he sent off Daniel McAuley of Glenariffe for a second yellow card offence with the side’s level at 0-7 apiece after 15 minutes with the free taking of Glenarm’s Darren Hamill contributing to all seven of the Glenarm points.
Before Hamill began his exhibition of free taking it was Oisins’ Seanan McToal who brought off a spectacular save to deny Aidan Scullion at the expense of a ‘65’ which Hamill converted to get his side on the score-sheet.
Glenariffe took a time to get going but once they did they always seemed to get their scores easier and had a much wider range of scorers with Seanie McIntosh looking very impressive with his pace and movement as he opened the visitors account.
The Feystown men, who were promoted from division 3 last year were giving as good as they got and Aidan Scullion Looked to be in for a goal in the 21st minute but failed to get a touch from an inviting cross.
The Glenarm full-forward made amends, a couple of minutes later as he raced through for the game’s opening goal but Glenariffe kept chipping away with their own free taker, Alex O‘Boyle hitting a number of great long range effort and Kieran McKendry, Caolan O’Connor and Seanie McIntosh on target and it was the visitors who led 0-15 to 1-9 at the short whistle.
O’Connor extended the Glenariffe lead to four on the restart but another pointed Hamill free and one from play by Niall McGarel kept the home side very much in touch. Alex O’Boyle’s influence on proceeding was increasing however as he hit five on the bounce, two from more than 70 meters by the three quarter mark.
Niall McGarel got the Feystown men going again and Darren Hamill pointed a ‘65’ and when McGarel got on the end of a flick from Substitute, Blain McDermott to fire to the net the Feystown faithful roared their approval and the game was back in the melting pot.
Glenariffe replied with a goal of their own however when Brogan O’Connor found Seanie McIntosh with a superb cross-field pass and the corner-forward left his marker for dead before rifling his shot past Michael Abram to more or less tie matters up.
It was perhaps fitting that the final two points of the game fell to Alex O’Boyle of Glenariffe and Darren Hamill of Shane O’Neill’s. Both men gave an exhibition of free taking over the hour that would have graced any ground in Ireland and their contributions were well appreciated by the large crowd who attended.
This win keeps Glenariffe well placed in second place in the league on 8 points from 4 starts and level with Cushendun who have played a game more while Shane O’Neill’s find themselves at the other end of the table with one win from three starts but they showed today that they are capable of matching it with the best and are more than capable of climbing up the table.
Glenarm: 1 Michael Abram, 2 Aidan O’Neill, 3 Barry Hamill, 4 Conal Ward, 5 Liam Og McLoughlin, 29 Daniel Black, 6 Dylan McLaughlin, 7 Kieran O’Boyle, 8 Ben O’Boyle, 9 Brendan McDermott, 10 Ciaran Magill, 11 Darren Hamill, 12 Sean O’Boyle, 13 Liam O’Neill, 14 Aidan Scullion, 15 Niall McGarel, Subs: 24 Blain McDermott for Liam O’Neill, 17 Kieran O’Boyle
Glenariffe: 1 Seanan McToal, 2 Daniel McAuley, 3 Niall Murray, 4 Daniel Kearney, 5 Conor Patterson, 6 Donall Kearney, 7 Aaron Cosgrove, 8 Kieran McKendry, 9 Odhran Gillan, 10 Alex O’Boyle, 11 Caolan O’Connor, 12 Oliver Kearney, 13 Brogan O’Connor, 14 Kevin McDonnell, 15 Seanie McIntosh, Subs: 19 Daniel Haughey,
Referee: Ray Matthews (Rossa)
