Senior Hurling League Division One
Dunloy 3-16 Ballygalget 1-14
Sunday 19 April
Brendan McTaggart reports from Ballygalget
Dunloy maintained their winning start to their league campaign as they defeated Ballygalget with eight to spare. The foundations for the win were laid in the first half that saw the Cuchullains bag their three goals, two in the space of 60 seconds before the half time whistle. Although they did manage to reach double figures with their wide count in the opening 30 minutes.
Ciaran Elliott (two) and Oisin McCallin were the Cuchullains who scored the goals while defensively, the Cuchullains were well organised and gave Ballygalget very little openings. Daire McMullan and Ryan McGarry excelled while Ryan Elliott’s puckouts were excellent throughout.
The home side fared much better in the second half and like Dunloy, struggled with their accuracy in front of the target. They managed to restrict Dunloy to just one point in a ten minute spell that saw them score 1-4, Shea Pucci hit the post with a major chance while also recording three wides.
Dunloy finished the game strongly however to extinguish any hopes of a Ballygalget win.
It was a first half the visitors dominated and they should have been further ahead before the short whistle. Yet, it was Ballygalget who started the game on the front foot. Michael Dorrian opening the scoring and while Oisin McCallin fired the opening point over for Dunloy in the third minute, points from Marc Fisher and Owen McDermott (two) had the home side three clear after the opening 10 minutes. They would only register another two points in the remaining 20 minutes however as Dunloy took over.
Two points separated the sides when Ciaran Elliott scored his first goal of the game. Nigel Elliott with the ball into corner as Ciaran collected, rounding his man with a burst of pace and finished expertly.
Fisher dissected the posts for his first of the contest but four unanswered points from McCallin (two frees), Chrissy McMahon and Tom McFerran stretched Dunloy into a four point lead.
A brilliant point from McDermott in the 23rd minute, wide on the left and over his shoulder was the ‘galget’s last score of the half as Dunloy finished strongly. Points from McCallin (free) and Nicky McKeague preceded a brace of majors at the end of the half. The first coming from McCallin as he finished superbly from a Paudie McGillihan pass while Ciaran Elliott finished well having received the sliotar from Ryan McGarry to leave the half time score 3-8 to 0-6 in Dunloy’s favour.
The home side opened the scoring in the second half but a trio of points from Tom McFerran, Nigel Elliott and McCallin stretched Dunloy’s lead further. Points from Michael Dorrian and Fisher (free) were answered to by points from McFerran brothers Eoin and Tom but the home side began to find momentum.
Points came from Dorrian and John McManus before Oisin McCamphill split the uprights with an excellent score from wide on the left but the home side were well on top. Their defence were dealing with the ball coming their way and Dunloy couldn’t get any change. Points followed from Fisher and substitute Dara Pucci (both frees) before Owen McDermott took his tally to 1-3 for the afternoon with a super goal after collecting a long pass from Fisher.
Dunloy looked to have weathered the home side’s momentum however with a brace of scores from McMahon although they managed to reach the 20 mark with wides overall before McDermott had the final say of the game in the first minute of injury time.
Ballygalget will hope to get back to winning ways when they host Loughgiel next Sunday while Dunloy will hope their momentum continues when Naomh Éanna visit Pearse Park on the same day.
TEAMS
DUNLOY: Ryan Elliott; Oran Quinn, Daire McMullan, Sean Og Blaney; Aodhan McGarry, Eamon Smyth, Ryan McGarry; Aaron Crawford, Paudie McGilligan; Nigel Elliott, Nicky McKeague, Tom McFerran; Ciaran Elliott, Oisin McCallin, Chrissy McMahon
Subs: Eoin McFerran for A Crawford (36), Conor Kinsella for S Og Blaney (42), Oisin McCamphill for O McCallin (45); A Crawford for P McGilligan (59)
Scorers: O McCallin 1-5 (4fs); C Elliott 2-00; C McMahon 0-4 (1f); T McFerran 0-3; N McKeague 0-1; N Elliott 0-1; E McFerran 0-1; O McCamphill 0-1
BALLYGALGET: Eoin Clarke; Michael Toner, Ciaran Watson, Connaire Monan; Marc Fisher, John McManus, Brook Byers; Jordan Doran, Caolan Coulter; Oisin Coulter, Michael Dorrian, Cathal Coulter; Eoin Pucci, Daniel Toner, Owen McDermott
Subs: Shea Pucci for E Pucci (30); Dara Pucci for S Pucci (45); Cian Clarke for Caolan Coulter (51); Artie Og Birt for Cathal Coulter (51)
Scorers: O McDermott 1-4; M Fisher 0-5 (3fs); M Dorrian 0-3; J McManus 0-1; D Pucci 0-1 (1f)
Referee: Ray Matthews (Rossa)
