JHC Group 2
Gort na Mona 1-10 Glen Rovers 1-17
Glen Rovers Armoy earned their place at the top of Group 2 of the Casements Social Club JFC and a place in the semi-finals after a 7 point win over their nearest rivals, Gort na Mona at Enright Park on Sunday.
Despite playing into the breeze the visitors got off to a flying start and Turlach McBride pointed them ahead from a free after 30 seconds before Kieran McToal and PJ McBride followed from play to leave the three ahead after 4 minutes.
Patrick McCaffrey got the hosts off the mark with a point in the 5th minute but Conor Christie replied immediately for the visitors before Neil Henry hit a great long range point for the ‘Gorts’ to close the gap to 2 with 7 minutes gone.
The play was end to end at this stage and further points from PJ McBride and Turlach McBride for Glen Rovers brought a reply from Neil Henry and a Patrick McCaffrey free and the gap remained at two after 11 minutes.
Gort na Mona pressed again and Conor Christie in the Armoy goals made a great catch from under his bar and cleared the danger before Conor McCaffrey struck a fine point from out on the left to leave just one between the sides.
Gort na Mona were giving as good as they got at this stage of the game but they suffered a severe blow when Colin Lordan finished to their net following a mix-up in defence.
The home side recovered well however and Niall O’Neill hammered home an excellent goal, 3 minutes later and a Patrick McCaffrey pointed free had the sides level with 9 minutes remaining to the break.
It would be the men from the Armoy glen who would finish the better however as Emmet O’Hara and Turlach McBride fired over unanswered point to leave them two ahead at the short whistle.
With the breeze now in their favour it was Armoy who took control at the start of the second half and Trevor Linton, Owen Kinney, Conor Christie from distance and Kinney again from a great over the shoulder effort had them six ahead with 8 minutes gone.
Turlach McBride with another massive effort from distance increased that lead to seven by the end of the third quarter and Gort na Mona were still to open their second half account.
Neil Henry got them off the mark with a point in the16th minute and Padraig McHugh added another but they had keeper, Caolan McCrory to thank for a great save as Armoy tried to counter at the other end.
Gort na Mona were battling hard to get their game going again and Patrick McCaffrey had it back to four with 8 minutes remaining but Glen Rovers were not about to throw away that lead.
The sweet striking Turlach McBride replied with another of his long range specials and followed with another from a ‘65’ before making the points secure with yet another from distance.
Neil Henry pulled one back from an injury time free but the final score of the half fell to Armoy’s Owen Kinney who fired over in the 33d minute to conclude the scoring.
This win sees Armoy top Group 2 and secures a place in the semi-final where they will be joined by Gort na Mona who finished second in the group after suffering their first defeat in this one.
Glen Rovers now advance to a home semi-final while Gort na Mona have a quarter-final to face against Davitt’s who were third in Group 1.
Con Magee’s topped Group 1 and like Armoy, automatically qualify for a home semi-final spot while surprise packets, Naomh Brid who were runners in Group 1 face third placed Lamh Dhearg from Group 2 in the other quarter-final.
Gort na Mona: 1 Caolan McCrory, 2 Conor Healy, 3 Padraig McHugh, 4 Mark Rea, 5 Conor Connolly, 6 Colm Scullion, 7 Tiarnan Morton, 8 Patrick McCaffrey, 9 Neil Henry, 10 Thomas McCaffrey, 11 Darron Boyd, 12 Niall O’Neill, 13 Manus McMullan, 14 Conor McCann, 15 James Aaron Hicks, 17 Christopher Kane, 18 Declan Hughes
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 Joseph McFetridge, 15 Conor Christie, 19 Kieran McToal, 25 Owen Kinney
Referee: Declan McGarry (Loughgiel)
to view more of bert’s pics click on the link below