It’s back to the hurling this weekend with semi-finals in the Senior, Intermediate and Junior grades and a final in the Junior B.
Sarsfields v Tir na nOg
ANDERSONSTOWN SC IHC Semi-Final Dunsilly 7-30
Sarsfield’s and Tir na nOg get proceedings underway at Dunsilly on Friday night in what promises to be a full blooded championship encounter with the Whitehill side starting as slight favourites but I don’t expect that there will be much between these two fully committed sides.
Tir na nOg finished second in Group 1 on score difference to Emmet’s Cushendun who will be in action in the other semi-final on Saturday with both side winning three of their four games
Shane O’Neill’s Glenarm, Carey Faughs and St. Gall’s all fell to the Randalstown side in the Group stages but they did suffer defeat to Cushendun at the Riggs.
Sarsfields topped their group with wins over Kickham’s Creggan before blotting their copybook with a defeat to neighbours St. Paul’s at the Bear Pit but recovered to defeat Glenravel and came with a late Kevin McKernan goal from the penalty spot in a winner takes all win over Glenariffe on the Stewartstown Road.
The McKernan clan, Gerard, Kevin, Daniel and Caolan, Niall McKenna and Gary Lennon will carry the hopes of Sarsfields into Friday night’s clash which could go either way with a tentative vote going to Tir na nOg.
ANDERSONSTOWN SC IHC Semi-Final
Saturday 1-30 Glenravel
Emmet’s Cushendun v Kickham’s Creggan
Last year’s beaten finalists, Emmet’s Cushendun take on Kickham’s Creggan in the second IHC Semi-Final in Glenravel. Emmet’s went into last year’s final against Clooney Gaels at Dunsilly but lost to a good Ahoghill side and will relish the opportunity to put that defeat to bed when they face a Creggan side who had an indifferent league campaign but ran into form in the championship.
They finished second in Group 2 to Sarsfields, who they lost to on day 2 but recorded good wins over Glenariffe, St. Paul’s and Con Magee’s and are here on merit.
Cushendun have excellent performers in keeper, Gareth McGhee, Sean McKay, Donal O’Hara, Dominic McQuillan, Harry and David Kilgore and Conlaoith ‘Loaf’ McNeill and will start Saturday’s semi-final as favourites.
Their opponents Creggan can never be dismissed when it comes to this stage of the championship and after losing to Portglenone in the Football Championship can focus on the hurling and players like Aidan McKeown, Liam McCann, Jake McAteer, Thomas McCann and the superb Conor McCann have the ability to spoil the party for the North Antrim side.
CASEMENT SC JHC Semi-Final
Saturday 1-30 Armoy
Glen Rovers v Gort Na Mona
Glen Rovers topped Group 1 with three wins from three starts with victories over Davitt’s, St. Mary’s Rashasrkin and Lamh Dhearg in a sometimes bad tempered affair in Armoy.
By virtue of topping the group they have home advantage for this semi-final and will start as favourites against a Gort Na Mona team who had a poor league campaign but have improved in the championship with wins over All Saints in Ballymena and came from behind to beat a fancied Rasharkin at Enright Park in one of the games of the championship.
Conor Devlin, John Dillon, Liam Dillon, Thomas Burns, Ciaran McKenna, Turlach McBride, Eamon McCaughan, Trevor Linton and Owen Kinney bring a wealth of experience to this semi-final.
Armoy should have enough to edge this one but they should be wary of a Gort na Mona side who have improved as the championship has progressed and in Padraig McHugh, Niall Henry, Patrick McCaffrey and the evergreen Dessie McClean have a wealth of experience.
CASEMENT SC JHC Semi-Final
Cloughmills 1-30 Saturday
Cloughmills v Lamh Dhearg
The second semi-final of the JHC sees St. Brigid’s Cloughmills host Lamh Dhearg and like Armoy, the ‘Biddies’ have home advantage by virtue of topping their group and will start this one as favourites.
The Cloughmills side has a wealth of experience after stepping down from Intermediate with Liam Kearns, Chris McKernan, Sean McKendry, Stephen Martin, Johnny Duffin, Martin Dobbin, Ruairi Laverty, Michael Devlin and Stephen Smyth leading their challenge.
Lamh Dhearg have performed well in the championship themselves with their only defeat coming away to Armoy in the group stages. They lost that one by a goal but recovered to record a comprehensive semi-final victory over All Saints at Hannastown.
Former Antrim and Ulster player, Michael Herron will lead the lines in attack and the veteran full-forward rattled the All Saints net four times in that one while Adam Murray was also in sparkling form. Sean Paul Gibson, Odhran Waldron, Fionn Mervyn and Niall McGarry are all strong performers but St. Brigid’s should advance to the final.
Junior B Hurling Final 2-00pm Saturday Musgrave Park
Kickham’s Ardoyne v Loch Mor Dal gCais
Both sides finished the group stages with similar records with two wins and a draw in a group that included Belfast Saints and Loughbeg Harps. Both of Saturday’s opponents recorded wins cover Belfast Saints and Loughbeg Harps with that draw coming when they met each other on the 18th August.
That one finished 2-14 each and Saturday’s final could be just as close but by virtue of their high scoring in the other two games Ardoyne, who won division 4 of the league will start as slight favourites.
JP Agnew, Paul Baker, Sean Searle, Paul McGuigan, Oisin McVicker, Matt McKillen, Cormac Barnes and Pearse Hull will head the Ardoyne assault while Sean Burke, Declan Phillips, Oisin O’Boyle, Conor Jones, Michael Morgan, Ferdia Carson and Darragh Turley carry a serious challenge for the Lough Shore side.