Carey Faughs Hurling Club are celebrating their 120th anniversary this year. To mark the event they are incorporating it with the annual club dinner on Saturday 18th November in Carey Hall, which the club recently acquired. The club was founded in 1903 by a local school teacher Patrick Moore, a native of Co Kerry. Incidentally local rivals Shane O’Neills Glenarm were formed the same year and they will be among the guests on the night, along with members of the 1959 and 1961 Carey teams who were senior finalists in those years. Although always a small club the Faughs managed to pick up three senior County championships. In 1906 they became the first north Antrim club to do so, and they follwed it up in those early years by winning again in 1916 and 1923.

With three County intermediate titles 1990 2002 and 2021. The inaugural Ulster Club Iintermediate Championship also crossed the Margy River in 2004 . Nowadays the club are only fielding Senior and junior teams, due to a diminishing numbers in the community but under-age hurling and camogie are being catered for as they have joined forces with local clubs Armoy, Cushendun and Cloughmills to form Naomh Padraig GAC.

Pictured is the first team from St MacNissi’s Garron Tower to become Ulster Senior hurling champions exactly 70 years ago.

1953-4 St MacNissi’s Garron Tower team picture.

Back: Fr Paddy McKavanagh (coach), Liam Vaughan (Ballymena), Jim McGrath (Fermanagh and later Belfast St Agnes club player), Francis McRory (Ballymena), Anthony Logan (Dunloy), Brendan MacAuley (Cushendall), Bernard O’Kane (Coleraine), Stanley Parfitt (Belfast St Agnes).

Front: Dan Gillan (Loughgiel Shamrocks), Denis O’Hara (Cushendun), Mickey Young (Newbridge), Willie Devlin capt (Glen Rovers Armoy), Carl O’Neill (Ballymena), James Brown (Glenravel/Dunloy), Tom Gillan (Loughgiel Shamrocks).

Three players missed the picture call – Patsy Black (Glenariffe), Jim Mitchell (Glenariffe) and Neil McKillop (Cushendall).

If you want to know more about this team, the origins of Ulster Schools’ hurling and the Mageean Cup down through the years, come along to a talk by Séamas McAleenan in St Louis Ballymena on Wednesday 6th December – two days before the 2023 Mageean Cup final

Danske Bank Mageean Cup

St Patrick’s Maghera 2-12 Our Lady & St Patrick’s Knock 2-7 

A Fionn McEldowney double helped St Pat’s Maghera secure a semi-final spot in the Mageean Cup when they beat Our Lady & St Patrick’s Knock in Wednesday evening’s semi-final at Cloney, Ahoghill. McEldowney, who has played most of school hurling in defence, lined out at corner forward and it proved a master stroke by team manager Paul Hughes as the Slaughtneill player showed great skill to score 2-2 of his team’s total, both goals excellently finished by the no. 15.

St Pat’s dominated the first half on the scoreboard and led by 2-9 to 0-4 at the break. The Knock side had a world of possession but they shot a series of bad wides, while Maghera were much more efficient. Free taker McKaigue Cahal McKaigue took advantage of a series of opportunities from placed balls to open a gap while the skilful touches of corner forward McEldowney saw them race to a commanding 2-9 to 0-4 lead by half time

Knock came more into the frame in general play during the third quarter, but hitting the target proved a real problem and it wasn’t until 51^st minute that they raised their first flag of the second half. All of a sudden St Pat’s appeared to lose their edge and when full forward Sé Pucci hit the Maghera net there was suddenly some hope for the Knock side.

When Frank Kane grabbed a second goal for knock there was renewed hope for Knock but St Pat’s found a response when it was needed and kept the Down school at bay to set up a semi-final meeting with St Killian’s sometime next week.

Maghera: F McEldowney 2-2, C McKaigue 0-6, 5 frees, G McIvor 0-2, J McCloy 0-1, T McHugh 0-1.

Knock: S Pucci 1-2, 0-1 free, F Kane 1-1, B Taggart 0-3 frees, R McCamphill 0-1.