Antrim Hurling League – Division 1
Ballycastle 0-22 Cushendall 1-21
Ballycastle’s bid to salvage something from Wednesday evening’s league game against County Champions Cushendall came up just short after an entertaining contest at Pairc MacUilin. The Ruairis held the upper hand for most of the game and were eight to the good early in the second half, but Ballycastle fought their way back into contention, thanks mainly to the accurate free taking of full forward Neal McAuley, but two was as close as they got in the end.
Cushendall dominated the opening part of the game and were 0-07 to 0-02 ahead after ten minutes, their points coming from Joe McLaughlin (3), Fred McCurry, Ryan McCambridge and Thomas McLaughlin, while McAuley got the home sides two points, both from frees. The middle section of the first half was more evenly contested with McAuley (2), Cathair Donnelly and Darragh Kelly cancelling out scores by Padraig McKillop, Scott Walsh and Joseph McLaughlin, but Cushendall stretched their lead again with three points in two minutes, two of them from Joseph McLaughlin and one from Fred McCurry to pull eight clear once again. However Ballycastle produced a strong finish to the half and four in a row from, two from McAuley frees and one each from Cathair Donnelly and Darragh Kelly to cut the gap to four, before Thomas McLauglin grabbed the last score of the half to give the Ruairis a 0-15 to 0-10 lead at the interval.
Points by Austin Birt and Ciaran Neeson just after the restart strengthened Cushendall’s grip on the game, and though debutant Niall McKenna pulled a point back a goal from a Joseph McLaughlin penalty and a point by Joseph McNaughton put the visitors nine clear and firmly in control. Two more from Neal McAuley frees kept the Town’s faint hopes alive but they finished the half with a scoring burst, five of the last six points to get within two at the end.
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