Ballycastle 1-09 Loughgiel 6-18

Antrim Camogie Senior Division 1a league report and photos from Michael Corcoran

Two red cards coupled with a strong performance from Loughgiel left Ballycastle with an uphill battle for the duration of tonight’s game. And tonight’s game interestingly enough, would be the last in the Antrim senior division 1 league, but the first opportunity for returning County players to gather up some competitive club time ahead of the Championship starting on the 19th August.

In less than a minute of referee Jerome McAllister’s starting whistle, Loughgiel’s dynamic duo of Roísín McCormick and Caitrín Dobbin started to make their mark with the lifting of the game’s first green flag from Dobbin coming from a nifty ball dropped into Dobbin’s running path, after the striker had already pointed in less than twenty seconds. The Town made amends with points from sisters Janey and Elen McIntosh but four minutes later McCormick would return to the clubhouse end and strike into the heart of Ballycastle’s goals after a perceptive pass from full back, Charlene Campbell.

Playing in a half back position, Loughgiel’s Lucia McNaughton started a move using McCormick to find Dobbin, who subsequently slotted the sliotar at pace past Ballycastle’s goalkeeper, Becky Ellis for Loughgiel’s third in the first half. Although Dobbin would feed Loughgiel’s Annie Lynn for a fourth Shamrock goal in fifteen minutes, Ellis would foil many Loughgiel attempts up to the short whistle, with one batch of saves coming from a torrent of shots from Dobbin within the 13 metre line.

Ballycastle replied with a goal from Eimear McCaughan after Sionainn Graham dropped in a free short of the goal mouth. An alert McCaughan reacted instinctively and found the back of the the net, for the Town’s only goal in the game. At the break, scores stood at Ballycastle 1-05 Loughgiel 4-09.

On the restart, the Shamrock’s would hold a dominant position for upwards of fifteen minutes; a goal coming from an Amy Boyle, Ceala Dobbin to McCormick move after only three minutes and a clutch of five points before Elen McIntosh brought the Town back to scoring from a well taken free.

Although Ballycastle would build another three points onto their 1-06 score, the Shamrock’s kept pressing to the end, and as McCormick cleverly fed a sweeping Emma McFadden well forward from her half back line, McFadden carried the sliotar all the way to the back of Ballycastle’s net for the sixth and final goal of tonight’s game. A further point from Caitrín Dobbin and two from a hard working Katie McKillop finished the game at Ballycastle 1-09 Loughgiel 6-18.

Ballycastle starting panel and scorers

Becky Ellis, Emma Laverty, Enya McShane, Fiadh Sands, Maebh O’Neill, Shannagh Heggarty 0-01 (1f), Catherine McShane, Aoife Toner, Fay McIntosh, Louise McBride, Sionainn Graham, Janey McIntosh 0-01, Eimear McCaughan 1-00, Elen McIntosh 0-07 (3f), Maria Bakewell

Loughgiel staring panel and scorers

Shauna McKillop, Charlene Campbell, Finvola McVeigh, Maria Lynn, Lucia McNaughton, Emma McFadden 1-00, Ciara Laverty, Amy Boyle, Anna Connolly, Katie McKillop 0-10 (5f), Mary McKillen, Annie Lynn 1-03, Ceala Dobbin, Roísín McCormick 2-02, Caitrín Dobbin 2-03

To see more photos from tonight’s game, follow the link here…

https://myalbum.com/album/gzpNZJWWNKoYXj/?invite=852d4acd-8f70-4ab9-8b08-1c9813f23157