Junior B Hurling Championship
Loughbeg Harps 1-8 Kickham’s Ardoyne 4-22
New boys Loughbeg Harps faced a baptism of fire in their Junior B Hurling championship opener against division 4 league winners, Ardoyne at Dunsilly on Friday night.
They came up against a side high on confidence following that successful league campaign and the North Belfast side took early control to put the game out of reach of their opponents from early in the game.
Goals from Patrick McGreevey in the first and seventh minutes and another from Dean Goodall in the 8th minute put the Kickham’s in a strong position with Goodall, Pearse Hull 0-2 and Daniel Moore adding points.
Loughbeg were giving it everything to contain their rampant opponents and Gary Murray, Ben McLarnon and Brian McManus replied with points but they were finding it difficult to break down a strong Ardoyne defence.
A fourth goal from Jim Og McAuley with 16 minutes on the clock and a flurry of points from Daniel Moore 0-4, Christopher McShane, Oisin McVicker and Jim Og McAuley had Ardoyne out of sight at the break when they led 4-11 to 0-6.
Francis Berry and two from Seanchan Duffin 0-2 were the other first half scorers for the new boys.
The goals dried up in the second half as Loughbeg tightened up in defence after the break but the points continued to flow for the league winners with Daniel Moore, Oisin McVicker 0-2, Patrick McGreevey and Michael McGreevey all on target by the 40th minute.
Sean Boyd briefly interrupted the onslaught with a good point for the Harps but even at this stage they were fighting a limitation battle with Ardoyne refusing to take their foot of the pedal.
McVicker would add three more to bring his personal tally for the evening to 0-6 with Michael McGreevey, Matt McKillen, Christopher McShane and Aran Stewart concluding the Ardoyne scoring.
Loughbeg never gave up and battled manfully against overwhelming odds and they were rewarded for their efforts when Brian McManus got in for a consolation goal with time almost up.
A harsh lesson for Loughbeg Harps but one they can learn from as they go into their second game against Belfast Saints on Friday 18th August while Ardoyne will face a stiffer test against Loch Mor dal gCais at Mallusk on the same night.
Loughbeg Harps: 1 Francis Boyd, 2 Gary Maybin, 3 Diarmuid Scullin, 4 Paul Quinn, 5 Rory Taggart, 6 Paul McChrystal, 17 Damian Carroll, 8 Gary Murray, 9 J O’Loughlin, 10 Seanchan Duffin, 11 Brian McManus, 12 Sean Boyd, 13 Ben McLarnon, 14 Fergal McConnon, 18 Francis Berry, 19 Ciaran Martin, 20 Mark Wash, 21 Mark Walsh, 21 Shane McGinty, 30 Ronan Devlin
Ardoyne: 1 JP Agnew, 2 Pascal Clarke, 3 Paul Baker, 4 Cahal Clarke, 5 Sean Searle, 6 Caolan Walsh, 7 Christopher McShane, 8 Dean Goodall, 9 Paul McGuigan, 10 Daniel Moore, 11 Micheal McGreevey, 12 Pearse Hull, 13 Patrick McGreevey, 14 Oisin McVicker, 15 Jim Og McAuley. 17 Aran Stewart, 18 Matt McKillen, 19 Cathal Keown, 23 Cormac Barnes, 25 Stephen Hill
Referee: Colin Thompson
