Junior Hurling Championship Final
Rasharkin 2-10 Armoy 0-14
Two goals in the opening four minutes of the second half swung this Junior Hurling Championship decider decisively in the direction of St. Mary’s Rasharkin though they were forced withstand a late rally from Glen Rovers in Loughgiel on Saturday afternoon.
With the gale force wind at their backs St. Mary’s led by 0-8 to 0-5 at the interval but with the elements in their favour in the second half, Glen Rovers were expected to take control.
Instead it was the men from Dreen who dictated the early second half exchanges with Conor McFerran following up on a Conor Devlin save from Donagh Quigg in the opening minute to finish to the net from close range.
Three Minutes later the excellent Quigg got in for a second St. Mary’s goal and suddenly a three point lead had been stretched to nine and the Blue & Amber’s were firmly in the driving seat.
It was Donagh Quigg who opened the scoring in Fr. Healey Park with a point in the first minute with Trevor Linton replying from a 4th minute free to level the contest.
Slowly Rasharkin, with the strong wind at their backs began to get on top as Conor McKeever pointed from play and added another from a ‘65’ and when Conor McFerran added another in the 13th minute things appeared to be going to plan.
Significantly the Dreen side were off target with a number of scoreable efforts at this stage of the game and Armoy started to get a foothold with Trevor Linton bringing a smart save from James O’Mullan.
The Glen Rovers continued to look threatening on the break as Turlach McBride pointed two frees into the breeze to close the gap to one by the 20th minute as Kieran McToal replaced the injured Owen Kinney in the Armoy attack.
McKeever from a pointed free and Conor Christie exchanged further points and further exchanges from Emmet McFerran and McBride kept the gap at three and the Armoy management would have been the happier of the two at this juncture given the strength of the breeze.
Another pointed free from ace marksman, McKeever edged Rasharkin four ahead by the 28th minute but the final score of the half fell to Trevor Linton who’s superb point left it 0-8 to 0-5 in favour of St. Mary’s.
The men in Blue & White were expected to take control as matters got underway again but they were rocked by those early goals from Conor McFerran and team captain Quigg and it was a double blow they never really recovered from.
They did respond with points from Emmet O’Hara and a Turlach McBride free but a pointed free from McKeever at the other end left the gap at eight at the end of the third quarter.
Two pointed frees from Turlach McBride and two more from Trevor Linton (1f) had it back to four with 12 minutes remaining and at this stage Armoy looked to be getting on top and when McBride (f) and PJ McBride from play followed with two more it was looking ominous for Rasharkin.
Another from Linton made it seven on the bounce for the Glen Rovers as the excitement ranked up a notch and closed the gap to the minimum with seven minutes remaining but incredibly this would be Armoy’s final score.
Conor McKeever eased the pressure with another pointed free for St. Mary’s in the 26th minute and it would prove to be the game’s final score as his side withstood a late rally to claim the Junior Championship title.
Wild scenes of celebrations followed with blue and yellow flares going off in every corner of the ground as Rasharkin’s supporters rushed onto the field to greet their heroes with county chairman, Seamus McMullan presenting the cup to Rasharkin captain, Donagh Quigg.
Rasharkin: 1 James O’Mullan, 2 Daniel Doherty, 3 Conor Doherty, 4 Connaire Donaghy, 5 Ruairi O’Boyle, 6 Aidan McKeever, 7 Tiernan O’Boyle, 8 Shane Hasson, 9 Conor McFerran, 10 Cathir Henderson, 11 Emmet McFerran, 12 Conor McKeever, 13 Donagh Quigg, 14 Conor McKillop, 15 Declan McKay.
Subs: Brian Og O’Neill for Conor McKillop, Connor Higgins for Tiernan O’Boyle, Caolan Maria, Daniel Hasson
Armoy: 1 Conor Devlin, 2 Callum Coyles, 3 Shane Devlin, 4 Liam Dillon, 5 Arthur Devlin, 6 Emmett O’Hara, 7 Turlach McBride, 8 Ciaran McKenna, 9 Ronan Lavelle, 10 Thomas Burns, 11 Colin Lordan, 12 PJ McBride, 13, Trevor Linton, 14 Owen Kinney, 15 Conor Christie.
Subs: 19 Kieran McToal for Kinney, Ciaran Coyles, Hugh O’Kane
Referee: Declan McGarry (Loughgiel)
FOR FURTHER PICS FROM FINAL CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW