Ulster Club Intermediate Hurling quarter final
Carrickmore (Tyrone champions) 0-20 Carey Faughs (Antrim champions) 2-14
Carey won 3- 2 on penalties
Two brilliant saves from Carey goalkeeper Steven McGinn during the penalty shoot-out finally decided Sunday’s Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship quarter final and gave the Faughs victory over Tyrone champions Carrickmore. The sides had been level at the end of normal time, and again at the end of extra time, Carey grabbing last gasp points to avoid defeat in both cases. With the light fading fast and both teams out on their feet a penalty shoot-out to see who would advance certainly added to the tension.
Carrickmore sent the first penalty over the crossbar and Carey had their first one saved by the Carrickmore keeper Conor McElhatton which added to the tension. Things began to turn in the Antrim champions favour when Conlith McKinley hit the net, and even though the Tyrone champions came back with a goal from their next penalty Conor McBride kept his nerve to edge the Faughs ahead again. When Steven McGinn saved Carrickmore’s next effort the ball was firmly in Carey’s court and when James Rocket Black drilled his shot home the odds were now in the Faughs favour, probably for the first time in the game. That meant Carrickmore had to score to keep the game alive but McGinn was equal to the task and produced the goods once again, saving low to his right to spark scenes of great celebration which no doubt carried on during the Carey fans long journey home.
You had to feel for the Tyrone men at the end for thy had given so much in a classic game o hurling, which they dominated for long periods of play, but the Faughs simply would not give up the fight, even when the odds were stacked against them, and they were rewarded with McGinn’s great saves, which earned them a semi-final place against Castleblaney in two weeks, time.
Carrickmore started the game with a point from centre forward Dermot Begley on three minutes, but Caolan McCaughan levelled for the Antrim champions one minute later. Conal McGlynn who was to prove one of the heroes of the hour, briefly put the Faughs ahead, but Carrickmore were starting to gain the upper hand and they sent over the next four points through Justin Kelly, Aidan Kelly, Aidan Woods and Bryan McGurk to move three clear by the end of the first quarter. Carey needed to stem the flow and they did with two points from Conall McGlynn frees and the first goal of the game from Conlith McKinley to edge ahead on twenty minutes. Oisin Daly pulled one back for Carrickmore but two lovely scores from Conor McBride stretched the Carey lead to three, though top scorer Kelly hit the last two points of the opening half to cut the Carey lead back to a single point by the time match referee James Callaghan sounded the half time whistle.
The Tyrone champions levelled matters six minutes into the second half and though Conal McGlynn briefly restored the Carey lead, the next fifteen minutes would prove scoreless as Carrickmore got on top. Three in a row by their excellent free taker Kelly, and though the Faughs were creating chances they just could not find the target. The game appeared to be slipping away from the men in green, but James ‘Rocket’Black got them going again with a well taken point in the 50th minute. Conal McGlynn sent over a free off the inside of the upright, another from Kelly and one from Conor Grogan seemed to have sealed the win for the Tyrone champions, but right half forward Conlith McKinley showed great composure to slot over a brilliant equaliser thirty second from the end, to send the game to extra time.
Carrickmore again looked the more assured side when Daly and Kelly put them two clear in first part of extra time and for a while it looked like they could put the game beyond Carey, but the Antrim men grabbed a lifeline when Conal McGlynn grabbed a point just before the half-time whistle. When McGlynn got in for his team’s second goal early in the second part of extra time it started to look like Carey were holding the upper hand, but Carrickmore hit the next three points to move one clear as the game entered added time. The odd were again firmly in the Tyrone team’s favour but a fantastic score by midfielder James McCouaig just twenty second from time, tied thing up again and brought the game to penalties.
Facing a scenario which neither team had come up against before the tension was palpable but the Antrim champions handled it that bit better, and Steven McGinn, who grandfather moved to Ballycastle in the early sixties from Killclogher, just ten miles up the road from where Sunday’s game was played, proved the hero of the hour.
CAREY FAUGHS
Steven McGinn, Zach McCaughan, Sean McBride, Patrick Gillan, Michael McVeigh, James Black, Conall McGlynn, Caolan McCaughan, James McCouaig, Conlith McKinley, Conor McBride, John McBride, Shea Hunter, Patrick Butler, Callum Cane. Subs Eoin Hill
CARRICKMORE
Conor McElhatton, Michael Kelly, Dean Rafferty, Anthony Corssan, Bryan McGurk, Enda grimes, Conor Grogan, Cormac Munroe, Seamus Sweeney, Oisin Daly, Aidan Woods, Aidan Kelly, Tony Hughes, Sean Og Grogan, Justin Kelly
REFEREE – James Callaghan (Donegal)
https://myalbum.com/album/EzFUi6ho8G5MvT/?invite=3fd8f1a5-3aaa-4eaa-8862-e1f254c8ca96