Antrim GAA Reserve Hurling Shield Loughgiel v St. Gall’s 18th September 2024

Loughgiel 3-14 St. Gall’s 0-16

Match report and photo album from Michael Corcoran at Dunsilly, Antrim

An immaculate Pitch 2 in Dunsilly with a crystal-clear sky provided 63 minutes of cliff hanging hurling and as many red cards as goals. Sporadic eruptions of short tempers were well diffused by mentors and officials so that the game could continue to provide supporters with the thrills and spills of tonight’s game.

Loughgiel would post a half time score five points ahead of St. Gall’s but it was by no means a comfortable margin as the Shamrocks covered an active St. Gall’s squad with the Shamrocks having only fourteen players after the first of three red cards in the game.

Both sides would go level half way through the second half and then as St. Gall’s took on water from two red cards, Loughgiel’s Odhran McGrath and Charley O’Hagan fired in two cannonballs to sink St. Gall’s hopes of closing the gap, despite an intense period from the Belfast squad in the last minute, making Loughgiel’s Mark Christie work hard to protect the Shamrocks’ bounty.

Match referee, Paul O’Neill, assisted by Mark O’Neill and Brendan Toland, got the Reserve Hurling Shield off promptly after St. Gall’s won the toss and opted to play towards the Antrim town end. Straight off the throw-in, St. Gall’s went on the attack and after floating a sliotar wide of the mark, returned again within the minute to post their first point of the evening and would make that two within two as Loughgiel’s Tony McCloskey foulded Cormac Sheehan. Owen Farrelly cruised the sliotar comfortably over Mark Christie’s bar before Loughgiel would reply from a free taken by Shay Casey.

Loughgiel’s Mark McFadden would build on Casey’s effort, air mailing in a free from the centre of the pitch, awarded by O’Neill as he spotted a St. Gall’s infringement on  McFadden as he attempted to make a run.

Casey made his second point from a free as Loughgiel’s Cahir McGrath was fouled, but St. Gall’s would come straight back to point from play as Gregory McGreevy levelled sides on 0-03 apiece.

For the next four minutes, four points would be traded, leveling out at five points apiece before Cahir McGrath offloaded to Shay Casey on the edge of the box, firing on the fifteenth minute for the first of Loughgiel’s goals.

Four more points would tally up on the scoreboard, as Loughgiel took three to St. Gall’s one, with only one of those coming from play in the eighteenth minute from Cahir McGrath, as Loughgiel opened up a small gap of five points. But as St. Gall’s Kieran McGourty took an illegal referee O’Neill had no hesitation in showing a straight red.

With six minutes left and one for injury, Loughgiel pulled a forward back to maintain formation in the back line and weathered a St. Gall’s torrent of activity for those seven minutes until O’Neill blew the short whistle for half time and a scoreline of Loughgiel 1-08 St. Gall’s 0-06.

The second half started well for St. Gall’s as they moved to take advantage of a weakened Shamrock squad for the most of twenty five minutes, levelling at 1-11 to 0-14 sixteen minutes in, but St. Gall’s would suffer a blow when they also lost a player to a red card for a foul on Loughgiel’s centre full back, Tony McCloskey.

Loughgiel were quick to seize the opportunity of equalisation and on the twenty sixth minute, Odhran McGrath would fire in a cannonball of a shot and as scores stood at Loughgiel 2-13 St. Gall’s 0-16, the Belfast men would suffer yet another blow another player was sent for an early shower after picking up a second yellow.

With the advantage sitting now with the Shamrocks, Charley O’Hagan would fire the sliotar deep into the top of Niall Burke’s net and despite St. Gall’s hopes of closing the gap standing at seven points, diminishing by the second, Loughgiel would have to weather a St. Gall’s storm as they went on the rampage around Mark Christie’s turf, with five goal chances and five rebukes until Paul O’Neill drew the match to a conclusion, ending Loughgiel 3-14 St. Gall’s 0-16, with the Shield going to Loughgiel.

Loughgiel starting panel and scorers

Mark Christie, Cahir Connolly, Tony McCloskey, Cormac Watt, Conor Dallas, Aodhan McFadden, Patrick Bradley, Mark McFadden 0-06 (4f), Damien Quinn 0-01, Conor Gillan, Cahir McGrath, Patrick Laverty 0-03, Tomás McIntyre, Shay Casey 1-03, Danny McAuley, Odhran McGrath 1-01, Charley O’Hagan 1-0

St. Gall’s starting panel and scorers

Niall Burke, Michael McMullan, Sean Burke, Stephen McIlhatton, Oran McIlhatton, Ciaran McCaffery, Aodh Mullan 0-01, Conor Burke 0-02, Gregory McGreevy 0-02, Cormac Sheehan 0-01, Kieran McGourty, Owen Farrelly 0-08 (7f), 13 0-01, Christopher McCartney, 15, 21 0-01

Photos from this evening’s game can be found by clicking on the album link here…

https://myalbum.com/album/bTgSWof5pZbSEu/?invite=9943d620-6080-426e-ae86-1838e0c1d0f9

Don’t forget to enjoy all of our photos in the Saffron albums on a large screen such as a laptop or tablet. Click on a photo to see it larger, look at the album as either a photo book or web pages and you can order a copy online as a keep’s sake.

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