Antrim GAA Reserve Cup Loughgiel v O’Donovan Rossa 14th Aug 2024
Loughgiel 2-24 O’Donovan Rossa 0-08
Match report and photos from Michael Corcoran at Fr. Healy Park, Loughgiel
On a dry breezy evening, Loughgiel put on a show of strength across the full sixty minutes of their first Reserve Cup game that left Rossa struggling to get out of the blocks. Despite playing with the wind in the first half, Rossa failed to find the uprights, running up a bunch of wides that would have made all the difference to their score going into the break. In contrast, Loughgiel made their scoring attempts count, despite playing into the jaws of a strong wind and a second half witnessed the Shamrocks build on their score, throwing in two goals to please supporters braving the chill sweeping across the steps.
Vincent Boyle refereed tonight’s game, which was played in good spirit for the most part and maybe attributed to Boyle’s candor as he recalled a puck out saying “Give an old man a chance to jot down the score”, enjoyed along the sidelines by many.
But Boyle would be busy with his note book. In less than a minute, Ryan McKee called for the sliotar to be dropped into the pocket as he ran wide and under the Fridge Raiders scoreboard, slotting the ball over the bar to register the first point in the game.
Loughgiel’s Nicholas McNaughton made that two from a free, awarded from a foul on Odhran McFadden. Rossa’s Jim Reynolds would peg the difference back to just one from a point secured from an acute angle, which given the conditions, ranked as one of the best points of the evening.
McFadden would quickly get back into the game and set up McKee for his second point before Rossa’s Oisin McVicker lobbed in a high sliotar from upwards of 75 metres to see it drift, only just, wide of the right post.
When Cahir McGrath rolled up a diagonal ball fed onto his stick near the scoreboard, detecting Rossa’s Andrew McLean was bearing down, McGrath offloaded to McKinley for Loughgiel’s fourth point of the evening.
With eleven minutes gone on the clock, Loughgiel’s Finn Henry floated the sliotar from mid field over the bar and on the puck out, Boyle spotted Loughgiel’s Connor Dickson holding Rossa’s James Connolly. Connolly would find retribution from slotting the free over the bar.
With only three points between the sides, Finn Henry would find the uprights again as he made good of the pass from Donal McKinley. At this point, Rossa would enter a period of drifting five sliotars wide of the mark, in contrast to Loughgiel drumming up four more points, three from McNaughton and a long-haul point from Odhran McFadden as he made sure his timely pass from Tiago McGarry wasn’t going to be wasted.
With close to twenty-five minutes gone in the first half, Rossa got back to scoring with points from Conor Savage, Michael Murray and Owen May, only to have Loughgiel neutralise the effort with an equal number of replies from Danny McAuley, Ryan McKee and Odhran McFadden.
Boyle blew for the break on exactly thirty minutes with a scoreline Loughgiel 0-10 Rossa 0-05. Rossa would find themselves with a challenge on their hands after the break, to turn the score around, given the now favourable conditions for Loughgiel.
With two minutes elapsed in the game, McKinley would start Loughgiel’s scoring streak for the next twelve minutes, with no reply from Rossa. The first point came from a free awarded to Tiago McGarry as he reached high to clasp the sliotar from out of the air and then found himself held, much to the annoyance of referee Boyle. McKinley would feature again in the scoring by dropping the sliotar into the full forward line and Odhran McGrath made good of the opportunity by slotting it past keeper Donal Armstrong, for Loughgiel’s first goal of the evening, with only three minutes gone on the clock.
Keeping a sharp eye out for opportunities, McKinley snatched a loose sliotar from Rossa and made good for the point before Loughgiel notched up their second goal.
McNaughton and Ryan McKee would find another two points before Rossa’s Diarmaid Rogan pointed on the twelfth minute from play and again from a free shortly after.
Loughgiel would roll up a further four points with no immediate reply, three of those from frees and one from play when McNaughton picked up the sliotar coming out from Rossa’s full back line and recycled the sliotar over the bar.
Rossa would have one last point to make that 0-08 and a brave save from keeper Donal Armstrong in the twenty-eighth minute would deny the Shamrocks a third goal before Loughgiel’s McNaughton and McAuley pointed and brought the shutters down to the sound of Boyles long whistle with a score on the board Loughgiel 2-24 Rossa 0-08.
Loughgiel Scorers:
Ben McGarry 0-01, Finn Henry 0-02, Ryan McKee 0-04, Odhran McFadden 0-02, Nicholas McNaughton 0-10 (7f), Donal McKinley 0-03, Danny McAuley 0-02, Cahir McGrath 1-00, Odhran McGrath 1-00
Rossa Scorers:
Diarmaid Rogan 0-02 (1f), Conor Savage 0-01, Michael Murray 0-01, Jim Reynolds 0-01, Owen May 0-01, James Connolly 0-01f, Sub 21 0-01f
Photos from tonight’s game can be found in the photo album by clicking on the link here:
https://myalbum.com/album/nN4Zh5rWzRcsY7/?invite=9e394315-c8ca-4621-ae28-47358f2fe549
Follow Michael G Corcoran @keep_clickin on X (formerly Twitter) for match Gifs when available.
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