North Antrim U16 McMullan Cup – Semi-Final
Dunloy 2-16 Cushendall 1-11
Thursday 11 July
Brendan McTaggart reports from Pearse Park, Dunloy
Dunloy progressed to the McMullan Cup final with an eight point victory over Cushendall on Thursday evening. It was an entertaining contest where there were plenty of similarities to the senior contest between the same two sides 24 hours earlier with the home side holding a decent half time advantage and having to withstand a Ruairi Og comeback, it was the Cuchullains scoring power and stronger finish to the hour that proved to be the difference.
Dunloy fired over five of the last six points in the final quarter with Anthony Cochrane, Jay McAlonan and Daire Elliott all prominent in attack. Cochrane would finish with an impressive six points from open play for his hour while Daire Elliott’s goal midway through the second half gave Dunloy some breathing room on the scoreboard. Defensively, Jack McQuillan and Ollie McClements were excellent while James McGarry and Eunan Curry formed a strong midfield pairing with a great understanding.
Cushendall were best served by Dylan McNaughton, Nicholas McLaughlin and Cahir McCambridge in attack while Conor McCann excellent in defence but they couldn’t curtail a Dunloy attacking unit who had more threats and that little extra.
Playing with the help of the breeze, the home side raced into 4-2 lead after 10 minutes. Jay McAlonan’s free taking excelling for the Cuchullains while John Ferguson landed the home sides first score from open play. The Cushendall response came from Dylan McNaughton and McCambridge and but for the upright, could have had the first major of the game. A strong run from Shane McQuillan had him through on goal but his effort deflected off the right hand post.
Those two points remained the difference between the sides until Cochrane scored four points unanswered in the space of three minutes. The young Cuchullain showed an array of attacking skill with some super touch and ingenuity to put six between the sides with five minutes of the half remaining.
Cushendall finished the half strongly with Dylan McNaughton and McLaughlin (free) splitting the uprights to leave the half time score 0-10 to 0-6 in favour of the home side.
Despite trailing by four points, Cushendall made the best possible start to the second half. Charlie McNaughton finding the back of Eunan Brogan’s net after a mix up in the Dunloy defence. A point followed by the impressive McLaughlin to tie the scores, McLaughlin would add six frees along with that score to finish top of the scoring charts for the Ruairi’s and while Daire Elliott fired over to briefly halt the Ruairi’s momentum, a brace of frees from McLaughlin gave Cushendall the lead for the first time in the match in the 41st minute.
The Dunloy response proved to be match winning however with two goals in the space of just under three minutes. Eanna McGuckian collecting the sliotar down the Dunloy right and showed super skill and speed to evade the Cushendall defence before firing beyond Shane Coulter in the Cushendall goals from the most acute of angles.
With the next Dunloy attack, they forced a turnover deep in the Cushendall defence and recycled the ball to Elliott. He got the half yard needed to fire home from close range to put five points between the sides once again.
A free from McLaughlin rekindled the Cushendall challenge once more but the Cuchullains found another gear in those closing stages with McAlonan’s move to further out the field paying dividends.
Scores from Cochrane (two), Elliott (two) and McAlonan (free) where answered by a solitary pointed free from McLaughlin as the Cuchullains saw out the time that remained.
Dunloy will face Loughgiel in the final in what will be the opening match to Feis Sunday with a 1pm throw in at Glenariffe.
TEAMS
Dunloy: Eunan Brogan; Joseph Doherty, Aaron Doherty, Seamus McMullan; Jamie McMullan, Jack McQuillan, Ollie McClements; Eunan Curry, James McGarry; Damian McMahon, John Ferguson, Anthony Cochrane; Daire Elliott, Jay McAlonan, Eanna McGuckian
Subs: Padric O’Neill for E McGuckian (54)
Scorers: A Cochrane 0-6; D Elliott 1-3; J McAlonan 0-5 (5fs); E McGuckian 1-00; J Ferguson 0-1; J McQuillan 0-1 (1f)
Cushendall: Shane Coulter; Jake Laffan, Patrick Morgan, Cormac Burke; Charlie McAllister, Conor McCann, Eoin Quinn; Dylan McNaughton, Brian McNeill; Cahir McCambridge, Nicholas McLaughlin, Shane McQuillan; Charlie McNaughton, Connlaodh McNaughton, Conall Og Trainor
Subs: Eoin Lorcan Bradley for C Og Trainor (50); Oliver Mooney for C McNaughton (59)
Scorers: N McLaughlin 0-7 (6fs); C McNaughton 1-00; D McNaughton 0-2; C McCambridge 0-1; S McQuillan 0-1
Referee: Anthony McAuley (Ballycastle)
to see more photos from the game by Brendan McTaggart and Mickey Morgan click on the link below
https://myalbum.com/album/7pGQab4oL7WxXP/?invite=5680422a-ec4a-46f8-991d-0082d94471ef