Abbey Shield – Junior Hurling
Rasharkin 0-13 Glenravel 1-16
Aodh O’Loan reports from Dreen
Glenravel hurlers have the honour of being the first winners of The Abbey Shield when they outgunned rivals Rasharkin on a 1-16 to 0-13 scoreline. Played on a dry sod in Dreen with no rain or wind this was a strange combination for both teams given that inclement weather we all have had to contend with recently. A freak injury to Glenravel’s keeper Ronan Donnelly after twenty minutes led to a long delay as he was patched up and sped off to hospital. We wish Ronan a speedy recovery and commend the Rasharkin player who contacted him post game to wish him well. The spirit of hurling is alive and well in South West Antrim. In truth Glenravel played the better hurling over the hour and were deserved winners in the end.
From the start Glenravel’s forwards looked sharp and Joe McKay pounced on a couple of loose balls to put them two up in as many minutes from the throw in. Connor McKeever got one back for the home side from a free but then the visitors went into overdrive with five unanswered points from Conleth OLoan, Joe McKay and Declan McAuley to open up a six point gap. Oisin Doherty and Donald Quigg kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Dreen men but Fergus Donaghy put Glenravel back in front by five points before Connor McKeever again reduced the deficit to four. A high ball into the Glenravel defence saw keeper and attacker come together – both totally focussed on the ball but unfortunately Ronan Donnelly, Glenravel’s keeper, came off worse in the tackle which was accidental and ended up spending several hours in A&E. The men in Green and White needed to shuffle the deck and solid defender Michael McDonnell took up net minding duties and performed admirably in his new role with several high fetches and clever puck outs making it look like he was “to the manor born”. After the restart Rian Lennon treated us to the score of the game when he shook off several challenges and pointed from distance under pressure. Donagh Quigg reduced the deficit to four points form a free but it was the visitors who ended the half stronger with three unanswered points from Joe McKay and Luke Loughlin to put Glenravel ahead at the interval 0-12 to 0-05.
Rasharkin would have hoped for a good start to the second half but it was their opponents who registered the first score from Niall McKeown to stretch the lead to eight points. But at this stage the locals enjoyed their best spell with four consecutive points from Connor McKeever and Connor Higgins who was starting to wield some influence around the middle of the park. Joe McKay steadied the Glenravel ship to restore a five point lead and with fourteen minutes gone in the second half Luke Loughlin put the final nail in the Rasharkin coffin when he goaled to put the visitors eight points ahead with only a quarter of the game remaining. To their credit, Rasharkin were certainly not considering reaching for the white towel and went on to score a further four points in that final quarter with Glenravel replying with two scores to leave it 1-16 to 0-13 in favour of the men in green and white.
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