Armoy 3-13 Glenravel 1-16
Armoy emerged victorious in this Division 3 on a narrow three point margin but in truth the game could have gone either way. A strong breeze blew down the Armoy pitch which might have had an impact on the game as the sides amassed a total of thirty wides, fifteen each over the hour. Indeed both sides were more wayward in their shooting when they had wind advantage!
Glenravel settled well playing up the hill and into the wind and at the end of the first quarter held a three point advantage 1-05 to 1-02. Their scores all coming from Conleth O’Loan and Cormac McKeown whilst Conor Christie and Trevor Linton were on target for the home side. The second quarter however was totally dominated by Armoy who were buoyed by a fortuitous goal that looped into the Glenravel net – perhaps the defenders were blinded by the strong sun – but that goal energised the Glen Rover’s men and they would go on to record another five points without reply all from play. Again Linton was on target and he was ably assisted by Colin Lordan and Conor Christie giving Armoy a half time advantage of 2-08 to 1-05.
Ciaran Laverty and James Duffin would reduce the deficit to four points at the start of the second half before PJ McBride pointed a free from distance. Once again Cormac McKeown and Conleth O’Loan got on the scoresheet for the visitors who were starting to make inroads in the game. Half way through the second half the score of the game came from a sideline cut by Chris Quinn once again narrowing the gap to three however Armoy would goal shortly after that and again the gap was back to six. Glenravel were starting to mount some persistent pressure on the Armoy rearguard with further points from Conleth O’Loan, Cormac McKeown and Ciaran Laverty but the visitors gifted two scores to their opponents after sloppy defensive play and there was daylight between the teams once again. Glenravel went in search of a goal and were unfortunate when Ciaran Laverty’s pile drive scimmed past the right hand post with Conor Devlin in the Armoy nets beaten. Had that gone in who knows how the game would have ended. As it was, Glenravel finished with a couple of scores from Cormac McKeown and Ciaran Laverty but they couldn’t get level and had to accept the narrow three point defeat.
