Antrim ACHL Division 2 Loughgiel v Cushendun Friday 10th May 2024
On a fine breezy summer’s evening where the media outlets were reporting on the possibility of a prominent display of the ‘Northern lights’, Cushendun came to Fr. Healy Park determined to shoot the lights out. And they nearly did just that with a brazen trio of goals.
Kevin Parke officiated tonight’s game and having won the toss, Loughgiel decided to ‘stay as they were’ and took the breeze on their backs and the match to Cushendun in the first half.
Loughgiel quickly took control of the game from the outset and ran up four points from Tiago McGarry and Nicholas McNaughton with no immediate reply from the Emmets. A dropping ball from Loughgiel’s Cahal Hargan fell onto the hand of Cushendun’s keeper but bounced out and over the goal line that would give the Shamrock’s a solid start of 1-05 before Cushendun’s Colm McKeegan would make his mark with an opening point.
The Emmet’s would continue to score three points from accurate free taking into the breeze from Connlaoth McNeill before Loughgiel would build up another five points to just one from Cushendun, though it was a marvellous display of efficiency as McNeill leaped high to collect his ball and dispatched it over Loughgiel’s bar.
Parke would bring the first half to an end, and it would remain to be seen if Loughgiel could hold onto their lead in the second half of eight points, as the scoreboard etched out Loughgiel 1-11 Cushendun 0-06 in the evening’s blue sky.
In the second half, the Emmet’s started out well with Conor Bannon sending two balls over the bar and into the ball net before Eoin McGarry would feature as a menace in the Emmet’s half along with McNaughton. Both players would gather up seven points between them but punctuated by Cushendun’s two goals from Colm McKeegan, one of those starting out as a free for Cushendun saved by Cahal McGrath but the loose ball was quickly delivered by McKeegan to the back of the Shamrock’s net.
Loughgiel remained calm despite the goals and continued to service the ‘Fridge Raiders’ scoreboard with additional points from Ronan McCollum, McGarry and Hargan before Cushendun replied with a volley of attempts to McGrath’s uprights, eventually finding the ball net. Scores stood by now, Loughgiel 1-21 Cushendun 3-13.
A last-minute goalmouth scramble in the Emmet’s domain resulted in a no goal as this was deemed a throw into the net. Players sensed the game edging to a finish and in the pressure cauldron squeezing the Emmets for a score, Connlaoth McNeill snatched the sliotar onto his stick and wasting no time to take it into his hand, bounced the ball off his hurll and swiftly tossed it over the bar for the game’s final score on Parke’s long whistle to give Loughgiel the win on 1-21 to Cushedun’s 3-14.
Both sides had their fair share of wide balls, but tonight, the Shamrock’s had done just enough in the first half to make a difference of eight points as Cushendun tipped the scales back in the second half with a seven-point difference. In this league, a game can hang on a knife edge as seen in tonight’s entertaining game.
