Travel Ireland Coaches Antrim senior championship
Loughgiel 3-13 Dunloy 1-13
DESPITE being out-scored by Dunloy 11-3 in the second half, Loughgiel comfortably recorded their second victory in the Travel Ireland Coaches Antrim senior championship on Saturday.
That suggests that the damage was done in the first half, more specifically in the opening seven minutes when the Shamrocks cracked home their three goals on their way to leading 3-10 to 1-2 at the break. There may be a little soul-searching as to why they malfunctioned during the second half, but they are still the team to beat in Antrim.
It was some start from Loughgiel! Caitrin Dobbin fired home the opening goal before 60 seconds had elapsed. The corner forward added her second in the sixth minute and Orlagh Laverty grabbed a third a minute later.
Dunloy were struggling to stay afloat at this point and they badly needed Cassie McArthur’s strike in the 15th minute to give them something to cling to. Dobbin was turning the knife with four points, Laverty added two and Roisin McCormick had three to her name by half-time.
Whatever happened at the break saw Dunloy emerge a different team and, as the half wore on, their confidence returned. They closed the gap with four points from McArthur, three from her cousin Áine Magill, three points from the Molloy sisters and one from Erin Elliott.
The gap though was too wide to fully close and Loughgiel added three points to keep them at arm’s length, including one from Lucia McNaughton making a welcome return to the team as a second half substitute.
Loughgiel sit out the next round of fixtures at the end of the month when Dunloy play Ballycastle.
Loughgiel: C Dobbin 2-4, 0-1 free, O Laverty 1-2, R McCormick 0-4, C Laverty 0-1, A Boyle 0-1, L McNaughton 0-1.
Dunloy: C McArthur 1-4, 0-2 frees, Á Magill 0-4, 1 free, C Molloy 0-2, 1 free, K Molloy 0-2, E Elliott 0-1
