Ulster Under 20 Hurling final
Antrim 2-12 Derry 2-15 at Corrigan Park
A late scoring burst saw Derry dethrone champions Antrim in Saturday’s Ulster Under 20 Hurling final at Corrigan Park, a win that puts the Oak Leaf county into the A section of the Leinster Championship.
A dominant first half performance by the Derry side saw them take control of the game and they were well worthy of their four points lead at the interval. When the visitors hit the opening point of the second half to increase their lead to five, Antrim faced an uphill battle, but Derry failed to score during the next twenty minutes and the home side got themselves back into contention despite shooting a series of bad wides from frees and from play. With ten minutes left to play the gap was down to just two, but Derry substitute Ben Kealy hit a great point from play to put his side three clear as Antrim struggled to find any fluency in their play.
However with seven minutes left in normal time a good move saw Antrim full forward Ronan Eager break through to fire home his second goal of the game and bring the Saffrons level. The holders appeared to be in a great position at this stage, but Derry showed their mettle in the eight minutes which remained, outscoring the home side by 0-5 to 0-2 to deservedly seal the win.
Playing with a stiff diagonal breeze in the favour Derry opened the scoring in the second minute with a point from Segdáe Melaugh, but Antrim were soon level through Ronan Fitzgerald. Man of the match James Friel pit Derry back ahead when he pointed a free from distance and on six minutes they increased their lead to two when corner forward Odhran McElhinney popped over a point. Cormac McKeown, with a good point from out on the right wing, closed the gap for Antrim and a minute later the young Saffrons took the lead for the only time in the game when full forward Ronan Eager fired in a goal, despite being on his knees.
However the next ten minutes was all Derry, and with their two star men, Friel and O’Mianain running the show they hit a goal and four, with just a single Cormac McKeown point in reply. The two goals came within a minute of each other, O’Mianain firing a twenty metre free through the Antrim defensive wall, and then adding one from play a minute later.
Antrim fought back to close the gap with points from Cormac McKeown with another beauty from play and Aodhan McGarry adding two frees, but Derry were still four to the good at the break Friel displayed his suill from long range frees to add two more to his total.
When Derry opened the second half with another pointed free, this time from O’Mianain the gap was out to five again, as Antrim started to control the play. However the Saffrons could not make their advantage show on the scoreboard and after Nial McGarrel, Aodhan McGarry and Cormac McKeown closed the gap, the scoring dramatically dried up.
From the 40th to the 50th minutes they squandered a series of opportunities, six in a row going wide of the target. Eager.s second goal on 53 minutes, and a pointed free by Joe McLaughlin brought them back level, but they couldn’t push on and Derry finished strongly to seal the win
