Bathshack SHC Group 2
Cushendall 2-21 Ballycastle 0-12
Ruairi Og’s, Cushendall proved too good for McQuillan’s, Ballycastle in this Senior Hurling Championship Group 2 opener in Cushendall on Saturday evening.
A goal from championship debutant, Joe McLaughlin after 20 seconds gave the Ruairi’s the perfect start and they never looked back. The home side went on to lead 1-11 to 0-4 at the halfway mark and even at this juncture, it looked a long way back for the visitors.
Sean McAfee struck for a second Cushendall goal, five minutes after the restart to all but end any lurking notions of a Ballycastle comeback and a flurry of points saw the home side run out convincing winners by 15 points.
Neil McManus added a 2nd minute point to McLaughlin’s dramatic opener before Tiernan Smyth got Ballycastle off the mark with a point in the 4th minute.
It provided only temporary respite as the Ruairi’s replied through Scott Walsh, Neil McManus, Francis McCurry and Ronan McAteer with four points on the bounce by the 12th minute.
Conor Boyd briefly halted the one way traffic towards the ‘Castle’ goal as he struck a fine point from a free in the 14th minute but again the response was decisive as the ‘Dall’ replied through Alex Delargey and two from Francis McCurry.
That pattern of play would continue as Tiernan Smyth raised Ballycastle’s third white flag in the 24th minute with McManus replying with two for the home side and Smyth and McManus would exchange late points to leave it 1-11 to 0-4 in favour of the Maroon’s at half time.
Things wouldn’t get a lot better for Ballycastle in the second half though they battled all the way despite being short of a number of key players as Eoghan Campbell got his name on the score card with a Ruairi’s point in the 2nd minute.
Cathal Conor replied with Ballycastle’s fifth of the evening and Sean McAfee and the ever reliable McManus extended the home lead to 12 by the 6th minute before the visitors sprung into life.
Conor Boyd, Tiernan Smyth and two from Seamus McAuley saw them enjoy their best spell of the game and close the gap to eight by the 11th minute and suddenly there appeared to be a glimmer of hope for the visitors.
That glimmer was quickly extinguished and McQuillan’s wouldn’t score again for the next 15 minutes as Cushendall returned to the offensive in dramatic fashion.
Neil McManus led the way and Ronan McAteer, Scott Walsh, McManus again and Joseph McLaughlin would move the home side 13 clear by the 25th minute and it was well and truly over.
Ballycastle continued to fight against what had become impossible odds and Fearghal McKiernan and Seamus McAuley replied with points but these scores brought another reply from Niall McCormick and Ronan McAteer.
The final score would fall to Ballycastle’s Ryan McCook as he split the posts in injury time but it would have no bearing on the final result and it is Cushendall who get this year’s championship campaign up and running with an opening day win.
They face St Enda’s on Friday the 18th August a team who began their campaign on Sunday against Loughgiel while Ballycastle must regroup for their clash with the Shamrock’s, two days later on Sunday 20th August.
