ACHL Division 2
Loughgiel 2nds 1-19 Patrick Sarsfield 1-14
3rd July 2024
Match report and photos from Michael Corcoran at Fr. Healy Park, Loughgiel
On what could arguably have been the coldest summer evening in memory, it would take referee Lorenzo McMullan’s canary yellow ‘Réiteoir’ jersey to bring a splash of summer colour to the evening.
Sarsfield’s would come into this evening’s game needing a win to bolster their points to avoid relegation. That proved to be a difficult task against an in-form Shamrock machine and Sarsfield’s would be hampered with fielding a few ‘walking wounded’ as the season draws to a close.
A slightly later start than usual as the game tried to take full advantage of the evening light, but heavy clouds threatening a down pour at any instant smothered the elusive orange ball and left Fr. Healy Park grateful of at least a dry evening.
An eager Sarsfield’s could have been the first to point, but their shot at Loughgiel’s road end uprights went wide from a free as Donal McKernan learned that the wind would play a part in tonight’s game. It would be Loughgiel’s Cahal Hargan that would take the honours of pointing first from fifty metres out down the centre of the field.
Hargan would be in action soon for another point down the centre of the field, after Roan McGarry cruised his 65m puck over Andrew McStay’s bar.
Sarsfield’s Donal McKernan offered a dream sideline puck into the hands of Garry Lennon and a shot on goal put Loughgiel’s Mark Christie to the task but the sliotar cut wide across the goal mouth, leaving Christie with little to do.
Picking up his sliotar on the dugout side of the pitch, Odhran McFadden made a run down the left side and split the uprights for a fine point. Nine minutes had elapsed with Loughgiel 0-04 Sarsfield’s 0-00, but Sarsfield would get traction on the game after McMullan spotted an apologetic Donal McKinley lifting a ball that should have bounced a bit. The subsequent free by Donal McKernan found the ball net over the bar and Sarsield’s had a score on the board, quickly followed by their second point as McKernan fired a hefty puck into the wind all the way back from the dugouts.
Loughgiel’s minor call up, Liam Glackin was in solid form tonight and with quick reflexes, snatched a ball that was destined for a black and green jersey. Glackin protected the sliotar on his run and offloaded to Odhran McFadden, pointing for Loughgiel’s fifth point.
Sarsfield’s decided to play the short puck out in the first half and if it wasn’t won or broken down by Loughgiel, it would work its way down the dugout side of the field. From there, Loughgiel’s Ciaran McKay would battle it out for possession and on this occasion, after rolling the sliotar onto his stick, lobbed it into a waiting Maol Connelly playing full forward, and Connelly made no mistake at finding the net from short range.
The large ‘Fridge Raiders’ scoreboard displayed Loughgiel 1-05 Sarsfield’s 0-02 [in actuality it said Oisin’s from a previous game in case you spot that in the photos] and quickly changed to Sarsfield’s 0-03 as Garry Lennon lost his marker on a slip but unaware of an unmarked goal run opportunity, pointed instead. Move of the night must surely go to Sarsfield’s Daniel McKernan (Snr), winning a ball in front of his dugout, McKernan passed to Lennon who quickly fell into trouble from an advancing Loughgiel posse. McKernan offloaded back to a sweeping McKernan who had moved the full width of the pitch for a fine hurling point.
With Loughgiel 1-05 Sarsfield’s 0-05 on the scoreboard, the Shamrock’s seemed to have another gear in the box and ran up six points before Sarsfield’s replied with a point from a free, twenty-three minutes into the first half.
Another minor call up, Loughgiel’s Roan McGarry wasted no time in dropping a short range free over McStay’s bar after Eoin McGarry was tumbled around the 20m mark, and that was followed swiftly by two points from Hargan, one of those was the fruits of a ball hard won by Glackin on the low side of the pitch.
When Lorenzo McMullan spotted a helmet tap from Seamus Dobbin, Donal McKernan had the last chance to point before McMullan blew for the half, but the sliotar sailed wide of the mark leaving a half time score Loughgiel 1-14 Sarsfield’s 0-05.
The second half had a tactical air about the first twenty minutes as Loughgiel played to get close to strike for a goal as their confidence and score margin grew and Sarsfield’s played for goals as it was the only real hope of closing the gap. That period of play witnessed the sliotar going from one end of the pitch to the other, keeping Christie and McStay busy but after 23 minutes, Loughgiel had notched up another five points to Sarsfield’s three.
It wasn’t until the twenty-sixth minute that the bombardment on McStay would produce a result as a persistent Roan McGarry delt a hammer blow with a goal assisted from a timely pass from Connor O’Mullan, slipping the sliotar past McStay into an open net.
With little to no injury time accumulated in the second half, Sarsfield’s Daniel Smyth would close the scoring after 29 minutes from a free awarded as Anthony McGarrigle was brought down around the 45m line.
Seconds before the final whistle, Sarsfield’s Ruairi McAreavey took an injury to his right leg and offering prudence, McMullan blew for full time so that McAreavey could be attended to properly.
This was a different result tonight, compared to the first encounter back in April when five points separated sides on a Sarsfield’s 1-14 v Loughgiel 1-19 scoreline. Sarsfield’s Spectator sentiment overheard along the sideline summed it up “Looks like we are going down, the great escape is over…”
Loughgiel Scorers:
Cahal Hargan 0-04, Donal McKinley 0-01, Odhran McFadden 0-03, Eoin McGarry 0-02, Maol Connolly 1-00, Roan McGarry 1-08 (4f 1×65)
Sarsfield’s Scorers:
Jack Daniels 0-01, Daniel McKernan (Snr) 0-01, Daniel Smyth 0-02, Garry Lennon 0-01, Donal McKernan 0-04 (3f)
Photos from Wednesday evening’s game can be found in the photo album by clicking on the link here…
https://myalbum.com/album/dtQgVJVfyzt2tY/?invite=ceb210c0-5689-4ea7-8ad1-390b901808c2
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