Under 19 Hurling League – Division 1
Ballycastle 7-14 Cushendall 1-14
Goals were the deciding factory at Pairc MacUillain on Monday night when Ballycastle beat Ruairi Og Cushendall in the opening game of the Under 19 Hurling League. A hat trick from full forward Criosti ‘Bamba’ McAuley in the first half helped Ballycastle to a 4-7 to 1-6 half time lead, their other goal coming from Conor Donnelly, while Cushendall’s goal came from midfielder Callagh Mooney. After the break the goals kept coming and two from substitute Fionn Mullan and one from centre forward Tiernan Heggarty completed the scoring.
The first half was actually very closely contested, and while McAuley’s first goal came in the second minute, Cushendall hit back and were a goal ahead when Mooney got their goal in the 20th minute. However all was to change in the run up to half time as Ballycastle hit four points through Conor Donnelly, Orann Donnelly and McAuley (2) to go a point ahead by the 27th minute. However the real damage was done in the next three minutes as Conor Donnelly got his team’s second goal before Bamba hit two inside a minute to stretch the lead to ten at half time.
Three points at the start of the second half from Tiernan Heggarty (2) and Darragh Donnelly stretched the lead to thirteen points and Cushendall faced a real uphill challenge. The got the gap back to nine as Austin Birt, Oran McCambridge (2) and Niall McGarel (2) all hit the target but two goals in three minutes from substitute Fionn Mullan ended any chance of a comeback and Tiernan Heggarty put the icing on the cake with Ballycastle’s seventh goal
