Antrim Camogie League – Division 1
Cushendall 5-16 Ballycastle 2-8
Cushendall won Tuesday evening’s top of the table clash in Division 1 of the Antrim Senior Camogie League when they beat Ballycastle by 5-16 to 2-8 at Pair Mhuir.
A goal inside the first minute by full forward Oralgh O’Hara gave the home side the perfect start, but points from Riana McBride and Ellen McIntosh in the next two minutes closed the gap to a single point. That was as close at the ‘Town’ would get though as the Ruairis hit 1-3 without reply inside five minutes to put a bit of daylight between themselves and the visitors. Anna McNeill started it with a point, before corner forward Orlaith McAlister got her team’s second goal on five minutes. O’Hara added a point from a free and McAlister one from play to open the gap to 2-4 to 0-2 by the seventh minute.
An exchange of points from Ballycastle’s Aine Donnelly and Cushendall’s Orlaith McAlister kept the gap at eight, but Ballycastlle got back into contention with a Riana McBride point and an Elen McIntosh goal, but points from Dervla Cosgrove and Orlagh O’Hara were followed by goal number three for the Dall by corner forward Orlaith McCurry.
With half time fast approaching Ballycastle came back with a goal and a point from full forward Janey McIntosh to close the gap back to four, but three on the trot from the home side deep in injury time from Orlagh O’Hara (2) and Dervla Cosgrove gave Cushendall a seven point lead at the break, 3-9 to 2-5.
The high scoring nature of the game continued after the restart as Riana McBride and Aine Donnelly pointed to close the gap to five, but Ballycastle would score just one more time in the final 25 minutes as Cushendall took control.
Points from Orlaith McAlister, Orlagh O’Hara and Dervla Cosgrove were followed by goal number four through Orlaith McAlister in the 42nd minute and at this stage the only thing in question was the size of the winning margin. With ten minutes left to play Aine Donnelly got Ballycastle’s last point of the game, but the home side finished with a flourish as Orlagh O’Hara grabbed three more points, Orlaith McAlister got goal number five, while Cara O’Boyle got the last score of the game.
