JP Corry U21 Hurling Championship ‘A’ Final
Ruairi Og Cushendall v McQuillans Ballycastle
Wednesday 5th August
Venue: Armoy
Throw in: 7pm
Referee: Declan McGarry (Loughgiel)
Armoy host the JP Corry U21 hurling championship ‘A’ final tonight with reigning champions Cushendall taking on Ballycastle in the decider.
The Ruairi Og’s come into the contest as hot favourites having accounted for Loughgiel and Dunloy in their run to the final while The Town saw off the challenge of Rossa and Glenariffe but those wins have come at a cost to the black and amber men.
Conor Donnelly (vs Rossa) and Cian Baudant (vs Glenariffe) are two figures who have been key to their challenge and have both been struck by season ending injuries – cruciate ligament damage confirmed since their win in Glenariffe seven days ago. It is also unlikely that Orann Donnelly will feature given he left the field of play late in their dramatic win over Glenariffe with what looked like a hamstring injury.
Ballycastle have a young and talented team with Cadhan Crawford and Cormac Scanlon two to keep an eye out for in their attacking unit. Ardan Kelly has been employed in the full back line and was excellent against the Oisin’s in their semi final win with Luke Connolly and Cathair Donnelly while goal keeper Ruairi McShane showed that he was capable of filling the shoes of Anthony Mullan on the day. Mullan was unable to start the contest between the sticks but made a match winning contribution off the bench by scoring the only goal of the match in Ballycastle’s 1-14 to 0-13 win.
The Ruairi Og’s have been mightily impressive on their way to the final, scoring 1-21 and 4-18 in their two ties and in their semi final win against Dunloy, showed their strength of character to deal with the concession of two early goals.
Fiontan Bradley has been a star man for the Ruairi’s in a senior shirt all season and he shone against Dunloy last day out, despite having to come off with an injury. It looks like the Ruairi’s are managing his game time to deal with the knock but I’d imagine he will be lining out in the full forward line tonight.
Oisin Woodhouse started Cushendall’s semi final on the edge of the square and was a real handful, scoring two goals and in the thick of the contest while the McLaughlin brothers almost play with a certain telepathy. In defence they have the likes of Austin Birt, Sean McKay and Charlie McAuley while Conor McCann and Paddy Morgan have been excellent throughout. The midfield duo of Callagh Mooney and Darach Bradley have been pivotal to their success but it’s been a couple of fine team performances that have got Cushendall this far.
Cushendall will start this game as favourites and given the level of Ballycastle’s injuries, it will be very hard to look past the Ruairi Og’s retaining their crown.
The B final is down for decision at Hannahstown where St John’s take on Sarsfield’s, again with a 7pm throw-in. With teams unable to field on a number of occasions it has been a disjointed competition where the Johnnies have played three rounds and the Paddies just the one. St John’s faced Glenravel in a preliminary round running up a score of 9-20 while conceding just 15 points. They found the going a lot tougher in the quarter final when beating St Paul’s by just six points 5-12 to 1-18 while in the semi-final they hit 7-18 against Lamh Dhearg. Sarsfields were also high scorers in their only game against All Saints Ballymena in the quarter final, hitting an incredible 12 goals and 20 points.
Because of their three wins the Johnnies will probably go into tonight’s game as favourites but Sarsfields will showed they have the scoring power to trouble them in what should be a cracking game