Cross & Passion Ballycastle collected the Gaelfast Year 8 Hurling Cup when they beat St Louis Ballymena in Wednesday’s final at Woodlands, Belfast

St Louis started the brighter of the two sides, with Oscar Bradley leading the way and registering some excellent scores — most notably a superb long-range point from a free near the sideline. St Louis settled quickly, with Conor Delargy, Daniel McAtamney and Conn Óg McErlaine creating some impressive passages of play. CPC were forced to call upon their goalkeeper, Cian O’Mullan, to make a number of important saves to keep the game tight in the opening stages.

Cross and Passion responded well, with wing forward Archie Neil and centre half forward Conall Devlin leading the charge. Neil provided the turning point of the half when he delivered a superb pass into full forward Michael Johnson, who finished clinically to the net and raise the green flag to settle CPC’s nerves.

Both teams continued to battle fiercely for the next five minutes, but CPC’s defence and midfield began to assert control, with Brendan Murtagh and Joe McSparron repeatedly turning defence into attack. The full forward line of Michael Johnson and Eoghan McIntyre began to add to the tally, helping CPC build a three-goal lead by half-time. Thanks to the efforts of St Louis goalkeeper Aaron Johnson, along with half-backs Luca McCollum and Charlie Herald, the deficit could have been even greater.

CPC emerged for the second half determined to press home their advantage and dominated proceedings. Influential performances from Brendan Murtagh, Conall Devlin and Joe McSparron ensured a steady flow of goals and points, confirming Cross and Passion College as worthy Antrim Schools Cup champions.

Overall, CPC ran out comfortable winners, but it was encouraging to see two teams battling for every ball, tackling fiercely and demonstrating impressive levels of skill and work rate throughout. To their credit, St Louis fought until the final whistle, with Oscar Bradley continuing to lead by example.

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