Antrim Hurling League – Division 1
Cushendall 2-19 St John’s 5-12
St John’s stretched their lead at the top of the Division 1 table when they travelled to Cushendall on Friday evening and came away with a two points win. For most of the game Cushendall had looked the mostly likely winners, and after turning around with a four point cushion they stretched their advantage to six early in the second half. However the Johnnies kept battling throughout and after closing the gap to a single point going into injury time, they grabbed a late winner to seal both points.
St John’s centre back Matthew McCartan gave the visitors an early lead but the home team hit back with four on the trot from Neill McManus, Ciaran Neeson, Joe McNaughton and Ryan McCambride. On ten minutes St John’s were awarded a penalty and centre forward Oisin McManus drove it home, but the home side found a quick reply as Joe McNaughton hit the net within a minute at the other end.
Back came the Johnnies and Lorcan Heenan got their second goal to keep themselves on a par with the county champions, but a late scoring burst at the end of the opening half which yielded four in a row, three of them from Neill McManus, gave them a four point cushion at half time. 1-12 to 2-05.
Three points from Neill McManus and one from Alex Delargy early in the second half saw Cushendall pull clear again but they couldn’t shake off the Johnnies challenge as the Corrigan Park outfit played some really sharp hurling. Going down the home stretch it looked like they had had enough to earn the points. However St John’s fought for every ball and further goals from Donal Carson and Ruairi Galbraith grabbed the scores that game them the win.
