Casement SC Antrim Junior Hurling Championship, Group Two
Gort na Móna 0-13 St Brigid’s, Cloughmills 1-19
Cloughmills St Brigid’s fought their way back from six behind at half time to beat Gort na Mona convincingly at Enright Park on Saturday evening in the opening game of the Casement Social Club JHC Group 2
Playing down the slope, and with the wind at their backs, the home side had the better of things in the first half and with Declan Hughes, Patrick McCaffrey and the evergreen Desi McClean leading the way they opened up a six point lead by half time.
With the strength of the wind a major factor it was clear six was never going to be enough for the Turf Lodge men and soon after the restart the Biddies started to reduce the deficit. Three pointed frees by Eoin Dobbin showed the visitors were on the right path and they were soon back on terms when Laim Kearns, Ruairi Laverty and Mickey Devlin hit the target.
It was all one way traffic now as the Gorts struggled to get a foothold and what was a big task soon became massive as they were reduced to 13 men. Smyth and Dobbin saw the Biddies open a gap and when Liam Kearns got in for the only goal of the game there was no way back for the home side.
With everything in their favour at this stage the Cloughmills men pushed home their advantage and they were nine to the good by the time match referee John O’Connor sounded the final whistle.
GORT NA MÓNA: J Kelly Jnr; J Connolly, C Devlin, C Henry; D Dixon, P McHugh, N Gibson; N Henry (0-1), G McKenna; N Healy, P McCaffrey (0-4, 2 frees), D Boyd; D Hughes (0-1), T McCaffrey, D McClean (0-7, 4 frees)
Subs: E Loughran for D Dixon (15), M McMullan for J Connolly (24), M Carlin for N Healy (38)
CLOUGHMILLS: C McKernan; M Dobbin, S McKendry, S Martin; K O’Boyle (0-1), C Blair, J Duffin; R Laverty (0-2), J Smyth; E Dobbin (0-9, 7 frees), M Devlin (0-2), L Kearns (1-2); C Butler,O Corrigan, S Smyth (0-2).
Subs: C Laverty for O Corrigan (41), R Dobbin for J Smyth (44), M Reid (0-1) for C Butler (50), C McGuckian for S Martin (53).
REFEREE: John O’Connor (Ballygalget)
