JHC – Group 2 – Round 1
Glen Rovers Armoy 3-20 Gort na Mona 1-13
Pics by Dylan McIlwaine
Last season’s beaten finalists Armoy got their 2024 campaign off to a winning start when they beat Gort na Móna in Friday evening’s Junior Hurling Championship opener in Armoy. When they led by 1-04 to 0-00 after ten minutes it looked like it was going to be an easy evening for the Glen Rovers side, but as it turned out it was far from easy as the visitors fought their way back into the game. Six in arrears at the interval Gort na Móna came back strongly at the start of the new half and a Dessie McLean point and a goal from Patrick McCaffrey cut the gap back to just three points. There was just four points between the sides midway through the second half and there were a few anxious looks among the home support, but with Trevor Linton leading the line they found their rhythm again and late goals from Owen Kinney and Kieran McToal helped them run out winners by thirteen points.
The home side sprung from the traps and points from Conor Christie, Trevor Linton, Turlach McBride and Eoin O’Boyle, plus a goal from Linton, which he fired in off the ground, gave them a 1-04 to 0-00 lead in the tenth minute.
The evergreen Dessie McClean opened the visitors score with a point on eleven minutes and when Thomas McCaffrey added another things began to look a bit more promising for the Belfast side. Thomas Burns and Owen Kinney came back with points for Armoy to restore the seven point advantage, but with McClean at the heart of everything they did Gort na Móna began to claw their way back and three in a row from McClean and one from Caffrey left just three between the sides. McClean grabbed another on 27 minutes but the home side finished with a flurry with points from Arthur Devlin and Linton to go in at the break with a 1-10 to 0-07 lead.
As the rain began to fall again at the start of the second half the Turf Lodge men closed the gap back to just two points when McClean grabbed an early point and when corner forward Patrick McCaffrey grabbed a goal, just two points separated the sides. Trevor Linton settled the home side’s nerves when he hit three, and Turlach McBride hit another between the 28th and 32nd minutes, but McClean (2) and McCaffrey hit back again to close the gap.
The visitors kept themselves in contention up until the final ten minutes but Armoy finished strongly and a well taken goal by Owen Kinney and one from substitute Kieran McToal wrapped up the win and got the Rovers campaign off to a flyer.
ARMOY
Conor Devlin, Callum Coyles, Shane Devlin, Liam Dillon, Turlach McBride, Arthur Devlin, Emmet O’Hara, Ronan Lavelle, PJ McBride, Ciaran McKenna, Connor Christine, Owen O’Boyle, Trevor Linton, Owen Kinney, Thomas Burns.
Subs – Kieran McToal
GORTNAMONA
Cailin McCrory, James Connolly, Gavin McKenna, James Aaron Hicks, Brendan Cousins, Padraig McHugh Mark Rea, Tiernan Morton, Neil Henry, Niall Healy, Darron Boyd, Thomas McCaffrey, Dessie McClean, Patrick McCaffrey.
REFREE – Paul McSparran, Cushendun.
For more pics from the Armoy v Gort na Móna game by Dylan McIlwaine click on the link below
https://myalbum.com/album/fDXzd3uhoxLPUX/?invite=59a420d8-6030-45c1-bddd-b6d69634f69c