Bathshack Senior Hurling Championship – Group 2
Cushendall 1-24 Dunloy 0-19
Saturday 7 September
Brendan McTaggart reports from Paírc Naomh Mhuire, Cushendall
Cushendall made the first major statement in the Antrim senior hurling championship on Saturday evening as they swept aside the challenge of Dunloy. It was a ruthlessly efficient display from the Ruairi’s who played with precision, speed and quality to lead this contest from start to finish.
Played in bright sunshine and with the evening showing little signs of cooling, this encounter spiced up in the second half with the officials needing eyes on the back of their head. Don’t let anyone tell you this was a dead rubber. It wasn’t. Both sides wanted to win this one and the Ruairi’s were well worthy or the margin of victory.
Seaan Elliott top the scoring charts for the Cuchullains with eight white flags while Keelan Molloy continued his fine scoring form with five white flags from play. Joseph McLaughlin once again topped the scoring charts in another impressive outing for the Ruairi’s, firing 1-9 with his goal coming early in the second half while four of the other starting six forwards also got their names on the scoresheet. With Neil McManus also getting over 20 minutes of the match into his legs, the Ruairi’s attack shone and with 1-17 coming from play, they were in scintillating form.
Defensively, they restricted the Cuchullains to just one serious goal chance throughout the hour, Aodhán McGarry missing the target when faced with the chance in the first half. Led superbly by the Burke brothers and Scott Walsh, Dunloy never looked like eating into the five point half time lead the Ruairi’s had earned.
The home side upped their intensity in the second half in answer to the Cuchullains playing with more vigour and hunger after the restart. Both sides had a man sent off late in the game, Ed McQuillan and Ronan Molloy seeing red for an off the ball incident but it had little bearing on the outcome of this game.
Both sides made two changes from their previous games with McQuillan and Paddy McGill coming in for the Ruairi’s while Daire McMullan and Aodhán McGarry made the starting 15 for the Cuchullains.
It was an even opening quarter with McLaughlin’s free taking to the fore for the home side while Seaan Elliott and Keelan Molloy were on target for the Cuchullains. With the sides tied at four apiece, it was Fergus McCambridge’s first of two points that got brought the first moment of brilliance in the game. Soloing through the middle of the pitch and unable to put the sliotar into his hand again, McCambridge split the uprights off his hurl to give the Ruairi’s a five points to four lead.
With the next attack, it was a piece of genius from Keelan Molloy that created a half goal chance for the Cuchullains. Eoghan Campbell looked to have the Dunloy man tied up but a flick of his hurl and the vision to spot the run of Aodhán McGarry on the run, he laid the sliotar into his path. McGarry bore towards Conor McAllister’s goal but his unorthodox shot went to the right hand side of the post and wide.
It was a let off for the Ruairi’s and they made the most of their luck. They outscored Dunloy 0-6 to 0-2 in a six minute period with Ryan McCambridge, McLaughlin (two), McQuillan and Fred McCurry finding their range while points from Kevin and Keelan Molloy were the only response for Dunloy.
Five points was the difference and that remained until the end of the half, every time the Cuchullains looked to eat into the Cushendall advantage, the home side always found that little extra to keep Dunloy at arm’s length.
The Cuchullains needed a fast start to the second half, but it was the home side who were quickest out of the blocks. A pointed free from Paddy McGill was followed by McLaughlin’s goal in the 38th minute. The sliotar sent to the left hand side of the Dunloy defence and as the sliotar broke, McLaughlin was there. He stole in behind and once the sliotar was in his hand, there was an inevitability in the outcome. Despite the angle being less than favourable, McLaughlin found the back of Ryan Elliott’s net to open a nine point lead.
Mid-way through the half that lead was stretched to 11 with McManus firing over a brace of points just minutes after his introduction.
The Cuchullains did begin to find their range with Chrissy McMahon, Keelan Molloy and a brace from Seaan Elliott (one free) coming in just under four minutes in response to Ryan McCambridge’s third point of the match.
With eight minutes of the hour remaining and plenty of niggle, referee Colm McDonald issued red cards to Ronan Molloy and Ed McQuillan after consultation with his linesman. It did little to calm affairs though and the officials did well to keep a lid on proceedings.
Dunloy kept pushing and prodding the Cushendall defence, looking for goals to eat into the Cushendall lead and they had the deficit reduced to six thanks to the accuracy of Seaan Elliott from placed ball but a brace of scores from Eoghan Campbell added further gloss to the score line for the Ruairi’s who showed just exactly why they are county champions. They progress to the semi-finals in four week’s time while Dunloy will look to tomorrow’s match in Loughgiel with eager eyes and find out their quarter-final opponents.
TEAMS
Cushendall: Conor McAllister; Liam Gillan, Paddy Burke, Martin Burke; Scott Walsh, Eoghan Campbell, Ruairi McCollam; Fred McCurry, Alex Delargy; Ronan McAteer, Ryan McCambridge, Fergus McCambridge; Ed McQuillan, Paddy McGill, Joseph McLaughlin
Subs: Neil McManus for P McGill (40); Ciaran Neeson for R McAteer (46); Charlie McAuley for A Delargy (54); Andrew Delargy for F McCurry (57)
Scorers: J McLaughlin 1-9 (5fs 1’65); R McCambridge 0-3; P McGill 0-2 (1f); F McCambridge 0-2; M Burke 0-2; E Campbell 0-2; N McManus 0-2 (1f); E McQuillan 0-1; F McCurry 0-1
Dunloy: Ryan Elliott; Phelim Duffin, Ryan McGarry, Daire McMullan; Eamon Smyth, Kevin Molloy, Ronan Molloy; Paul Shiels, Seaan Elliott; Nigel Elliott, Keelan Molloy, Eoin McFerran; Chrissy McMahon, Eoin O’Neill, Aodhán McGarry
Subs: Nicky McKeague for S Elliott (blood – 23/HT); N McKeague for E McFerran (blood – 41/44); Oran Quinn for D McMullan (41); N McKeague for E O’Neill (45); Deaglan Smith for C McMahon (50)
Scorers: S Elliott 0-8 (5fs 1’65); Keelan Molloy 0-5; C McMahon 0-2; N Elliott 0-1; A McGarry 0-1 (1f); N McKeague 0-1; Kevin Molloy 0-1
Referee: Colm McDonald (St Galls)