Intermediate Hurling Championship – Group 1 – Round 1
Shane O’Neill’s Glenarm 0-24 St Brigid’s Cloughmills 0-21
Shane O’Neill’s Glenarm were pushed to the pin of their collar before getting the better of St Brigid’s Cloughmills in the opening round robin game of the Intermediate Hurling Championship at Feystown on Saturday afternoon.
Going into the game every pundit was predicting a convincing win for the Glenarm men, especially after the great display they put up in the relegation-promotion final against Down side Ballycran just over a week and a half ago. However Cloughmills were up for the task and for most of Saturday’s game they held the upper hand for long periods.
Glenarm, were really up against when they had a man red carded early in the second half, but to their credit they stepped up to the plate when the odds appeared to be stacked against them, and with ace forward Niall McGarel pulling the strings they eventually gained the upper hand to win by three in the end.
Tempers flared in the dying minutes as both teams pushed hard for the win but common sense soon returned and both will live to fight another day (pardon the pun). The win was vital for the Shane O’Neills side who travel to Carey Faughs in their next game in two weeks, time. Cloughmills came out on the wrong side of things in the end, but they can be proud of their performance today. They have home advantage next time out when they face St Gall’s and going by Saturday’s performance a win is certainly not out of the question there.
A Dylan McLaughlin point in the first minute gave Glenarm an early lead, but they would not get their noses in front again until the final quarter when they eventually got on top going down the home stretch. Jimmy Doherty and Marty Dobbin came back with points for the Biddies, and though McGarrel replied right away for the home side, three points in as many minutes from Eoin Dobbin, Marty Dobbin and Liam Kearns gave Cloughmills the upper hand again.
McGarrel was causing lots of problems for the opposition and two more points by him and one each from Ciaran Magill and Dylan McLaughlin got the home side back on terms. However every time they got level again Cloughmills got their noses back in front, and they went in at the break holding a deserved 0-13 to 0-11 lead.
When Eoin Dobbin stretched that lead to three a minute after the restart Glenarm’s task was getting much more difficult. Things went from bad to worse when a Glenarm player received a straight red card, but strangely enough it appeared to be the wake-up call they needed and soon afterwards they started to claw their way back. Two points from McGarrel and one from Dylan McLaughlin brought them level, but each time they tied things up, the Biddies found an answer and Eoin Dobbin, James Doherty and Liam Kearns all took turns in answering McGarrel points to push their team into the lead again.
A great long range point from a free by Darren Hamill eventually gave the home team back the lead and though Clouhmills did manage to draw level again, the home side landed the last three scores of the game through McGarrel (2) and Sean O’Boyle to clinch a vital win.
GLENARM
Michael Abram, Joshua Quinn, Barry Hamill, John Scullion, Aidan Scullion, Darren Hamill, Declan McDermott, Kieran O’Boyle, Daniel Black, Dylan McLaughlin, Ciaran Magill, Blain McDermott, Michael Furey, Niall McGarel, Sean O’Boyle.
CLOUGHMILLS
Christopher McKiernan, Rian Dobbin, Sean McKendry, Johnny Duffin, James Doherty, Ruairi Laverty, Geoffrey Og Laverty, Stephen Smyth, Kevin O’Boyle, Martin Dobbin, Callum McKendry, Liam Kearns, Reece Watt, Corey Blair, Eoin Dobbin.
REFEREE – Colm McDonald (St Gall’s)
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