Antrim ACHL Division 1 St. John’s v Loughgiel 2nd June 2024
Report and photo album by Michael Corcoran
Corrigan Park was bathed in warm sunshine for today’s ACHL game between St. John’s and Loughgiel. A prominent feature of today’s weather would be the north westerly breeze at the start of the match, which dropped almost in its entirety for the second half. Loughgiel took the breeze on the backs for the first half, playing towards the clubhouse.
Kevin Parke from St. Enda’s would officiate today’s match and promptly got things underway at 2pm. It would only be a matter of seconds before he would acknowledge a Loughgiel point from Dan McCloskey as he found space up the middle of the pitch to splice open the space above the bar. St. John’s picked up the games first free and marksman, Shea Shannon, sent the sliotar cruising over the bar to raise Parke’s hand for the point.
When a long ball fell short and going wide of St.John’s net, keeper Simon Doherty called to leave it, but teammate Ciaran Johnston hoped to recycle the ball and having spilled it wide, Loughgiel’s Declan McCloskey tucked the 65 over the bar.
Minutes later, Rian McMullan would have the Shamrocks’ supporters in awe as he caught Cormac McFadden’s puck out, spun around and delivered over the bar. A goal mouth scramble near Simon Doherty was readily diffused but an eager tackle on Eoin McGarry had Parke gesturing for a free and Loughgiel’s Shan McGrath stepped up to make it St. John’s 0-02 Loughgiel 0-04.
St. John’s Domhnall Nugent found himself running near the stand side close to 60m out and as the Loughgiel players closed in, the number 14 released the sliotar for a truly fine point that the Johnnie’s supporters up in the stand had given well in advance of it hitting the ball net but the exuberant Nugent would shortly bring Loughgiel’s Rory McCloskey to the ground attracting a yellow card but the Shamrocks’ free would drift wide.
Shea Shannon would bring his shooting qualities to the next two St. John’s frees around the twenty-minute mark in the game, but Loughgiel would claw one of those points back as Shan McGrath took a slap to the stick and made good of the awarded free.
Running off the mid field position, Shannon was allowed the advantage as Parke’s spotted an infringement. The Johnnies man made use of the play advantage and dropped the sliotar over McFadden’s bar to take a one-point lead in the game.
St. John’s looked energetic at this stage of the first half. Loose balls were enthusiastically chased, and close quarter passing was tight, though Loughgiel had the lion’s share of goal opportunities that went amiss. One of those loose balls was scooped up by Domhnall Nugent and offloaded to a running Aaron Bradley, who would point that and the next one. Loughgiel replied at the twenty-seven minutes mark, when Damon McMullan caught a high puck out and, on the turnaround, wasted no time in delivering for an efficient point.
The Shamrock’s would pull back another point when Cahal Hargan found Daniel McCloskey on a blazing run but point of the match would surely go to St. John’s Domhnall Nugent when he intercepted a loose ball on the stick close to the stand sideline and without taking the sliotar to hand, delivered over the bar from around 40m.
This would give St. John’s a two-point lead that would be short lived, as Dan McCloskey slowed things down mid field to find the passing hand of Christy McGarry, quickly followed by his point. McGarry would take the next point as a free, when Parke concluded that Loughgiel’s Damon McMullan was brought to ground.
St. John’s had an opportunity to go in for the break with a one-point lead but the drifting sliotar allowed referee Parke to call half time and both sides would walk in 0-09 apiece.
The second half had the Loughgiel supporters in a more buoyant form as Christy McGarry picked up where he left off before the break with a point within the first minute of the second half. St. John’s had the answer to that as they posted another four points in the next ten minutes before Loughgiel’s Maol Connelly tipped a ball over the Johnnies bar.
A sideline cut from Shea Shannon sailed close to one of the Loughgiel upright’s bringing referee Parke up to consult the umpires. Shannon was awarded the point and that would be a watermark in the game, as by now, the wind fell to nothing more than a breath. Loughgiel took full advantage and as St. John’s slipped into the duldrums, the Shamrocks would gain control of the game and notch another four points in succession before St. John’s half back, Matthew McCartin levelled the game at 0-15 points apiece.
Fifteen minutes would pass in the second half when the Shamrock’s kicked off a period of intricate passing in the Johnnies half. It felt like something was being worked up and Christy McGarry would put the Shamrock supporter’s out of their torture when he slammed the sliotar into the back of the St. John’s net for a goal.
Over the remaining phase of the game, St. John’s would only score one point, whilst Loughgiel racked up another six, one notable as Tiernan Coyle was dispossessed of his stick, the full back kicked the sliotar away from a following St. John’s pack to a waiting Rian McMullan who took the point.
Around twenty-eight minutes into the second half, St. John’s made an attempt on Loughgiel’s goals at short range, but a timely block by Seamus Dobbin, denied the Johnnies any hope of wobbling the Shamrocks and staging a comeback.
As Parke blew to pull the shutters down on the game, to the amusement of some of the St. John’s supporters, had the key to the shutters on the scoreboard not been allegedly taken on an Amsterdam stag do, it would have read St. John’s 0-16 Loughgiel 1-21.
Scorers for St. John’s
Matthew McCartin 0-01, Shea Shannon 0-07 (5f), Aaron Bradley 0-03, Daragh McGuinness 0-02, Domhnall Nugent 0-03
Scorers for Loughgiel
Declan McCloskey 0-03 (2f, 65), Damon McMullan 0-01, Cahal Hargan 0-02, Daniel McCloskey 0-02, Christie McGarry 1-05 (3f), Rian McMullan 0-04, Shan McGrath 0-02 (2f), Maol Connelly 0-01, Darragh Patterson 0-01
Today’s photos from the match can be found in the album here…