Antrim Intermediate Hurling Championship – Group 1
St Paul’s 1-13 Creggan 2-20
A fantastic display of score taking by Creggan full-forward Morgan Nelson saw the men from the Loughshore overcome St Paul’s in the opening round of the Antrim Intermediate Hurling Championship at Pairc Pól on Saturday evening. The number 14 scored 2-12 of his team’s total of 2-20, 2-05 of that coming in a second half which saw the Kickhams overturn a four point deficit to win by ten in the end.
The opening exchanges saw the visitors lay down a marker, as they went 0-04 to 0-01 ahead, Sean McAuley getting the opener and Morgan Nelson getting the other one. Caolan O Duibhfinn, who was to prove St Paul’s top scorer, got the home side’s opener on five minutes and he reduced the arrears to 0-04 to 0-02 with a well taken point in the tenth minute. Nelson and O Duibhfinn shared the next six points evenly to keep Creggan two ahead by the 25th minute when St Paul’s left half forward Lorcan Phillips swung the game in his team’s favour by firing home the first goal of the game. Stephen Rooney added another while O Duibhfinn added two more to put his team 1-09 to 0-08 in front at the interval.
You wondered during the break just effect losing the lead would have on Creggan but they were back in the flow right from the restart and three points in the first five minutes, two from Nelson frees and one from play by Sean Duffin. O Duibhfinn got St Paul’s first point of the second half on 37 minutes to put his team two clear again but it was to be their only score in the third quarter as Creggan wrestled the imitative from them with a point from Conor Small and two goals and a point from Nelson, the goal coming after an attempted short poc-out went badly wrong for the home side.
It looked like St Paul’s were back in the game when they got in on goal on 45 minutes but Creggan’s teenage goalkeeper made a great save to keep his team ahead. O Duibhfinn stepped up for the Shaw’s Road men and fired over three points in the next five minutes to leave just one between the sides, but Creggan regained control and scored 1-05 without reply in the last eight minutes, 1-01 of it from Nelson while Diarmuid Mulholland, Senan O’Boyle, Ruairi McCann and Keelan McCann grabbed a point apiece to seal and impressive ten point win.
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