McKeever Hotels IHC
Group Two – Round One
St Paul’s 0-14 Glenarm 3-21
At Pairc Pol
The men from Feystown travelled to Belfast on Friday evening and delivered an attacking master class against St Paul’s to get their Intermediate Hurling Championship campaign off to the best possible start.
The North Antrim side were on top from the very start and produced one of the best displays of Championship hurling for a few years. The sky-blue shirts swarmed the hosts, executing a flawless attacking game plan that the city dwellers simply had no answer for.
Glenarm laid down their marker immediately. Daniel Black and Paddy McAuley found their range right from the offf striking two great points to split the uprights in the opening minutes. Before St Paul’s could even settle, the Antrim coast men delivered the first heavy blow. In the fifth minute, Aiden Scullion gathered the ball in a heavily trafficked forward area, found a pocket of space dead centre, and ruthlessly rifled the sliotar to the back of the net.
While the hosts leaned entirely on Caolan Ó’Duibhfinn to keep them afloat, Glenarm’s attacking threat was dangerously spread. Every time St Paul’s managed a score, Glenarm replied instantly. Daniel Black kept the pressure on with a superb score off the right, and the stylish Niall McGarel showcased his trademark sharp reflexes, pointing beautifully before instantly intercepting the resulting puck-out to drive over another. By half-time, Glenarm had built a commanding eight-point lead. The veteran Darren Hamill was sensational from placed balls and open play, Liam O’Neill was raising white flags with ease, and Sean O’Boyle was terrorizing the St Paul’s defence with driving solo runs.
Facing into a stiff breeze in the second half, the flow of the game was expected to turn in the hosts’ favour. St Paul’s came out swinging, but Glenarm’s resolute defence forced a string of early wides, breaking the hosts’ spirit. Once the Shane O’Neill’s men found their second-half rhythm, the regained control. Kieran O’Boyle stepped up to thump a monstrous, demoralizing score from well inside his own half. Any faint St Paul’s hopes were extinguished when Sean O’Boyle found space in the box and unleashed a low, left-sided rocket that nearly ripped the net. Desperate for a lifeline, St Paul’s hunted for goals, but they couldn’t find a way past the commanding presence of Michael Abram in the Glenarm goal.
The icing on the cake came courtesy of the man who started the rout. Latching onto a loose ball, Aiden Scullion spun his marker beautifully and squeezed his effort into the top corner for his second, and Glenarm’s third, major of the evening. Despite a late consolation point from St Paul’s Stephen Rooney, the damage was already terminal. Referee Kevin Parke blew the whistle on a resounding, thoroughly deserved victory for Feystown men.
GLENARM: M Abram; B Hamill, J Scullion, N Rodgers; K O’Boyle (0-1), C Magill, M Furey; C Ward, A Scullion (2-1); N McGarel (0-2), L O’Neill (0-3), D Black (0-3); P McAuley (0-1), D Hamill (0-8, 6F), S O’Boyle (1-1), with Ryan O’Boyle (0-1) coming on as a substitute.
ST PAUL’S C Murray; L Walsh, D Stevenson, T Auld; T Duff, S Rooney (0-1), C Killyleagh; M Munce, D Quinn; S Munce, S Óg McLaren (0-4, 2F), C Ó’Duibhfinn (0-9, 3F); D Chapman, C Finnegan, and O Donnelly, with B Buns replacing D Chapman at half-time.
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