JHC Group 1
Glen Rovers 2-28 Kickham’s Ardoyne 0-12
Glen Rovers Armoy laid down a marker in this Antrim Junior Hurling Championship Group 1 game, comprehensively defeating the newly crowned Division 4 champions, Ardoyne Kickhams, at Páirc an Chromach. Armoy’s firepower and lethal goal-scoring proved too proved far too powerful for Ardoyne to handle over the 60 minutes.
Ardoyne opened the game with high energy, earning an early free that Patric McGreevy calmly converted over the bar. However, the home side responded instantly. PJ McBride opened the scoring for Glen Rovers, closely followed by two quick-fire points from John Dillon and Emmett O’Hara.
Refusing to back down early on, Ardoyne stayed in the hunt when Paddy Heaney delivered a beautiful pass into the hands of Cormac Barnes, who split the posts. Armoy quickly reasserted dominance and Turlach McBride slotted over a free before Emmett O’Hara struck a decisive blow, hitting the first of his two goals and swiftly following it up with a point.
McGreevy kept Ardoyne in touch with another free, only to see Armoy respond with four unanswered points from Tommy Burns, Turlach McBride, O’Hara, and Connor Christie. Showing the true spirit of the Kickhams, Ciaran Curran delighted the traveling fans by slotting over a beautiful point from a razor-thin angle right on the sideline. Armoy hit back through Turlach McBride, Christie, and Dillon, but Ardoyne’s ever-reliable Matt McKillen fired over a late half-time point to reward his side’s persistent work rate.
Half-time: Glen Rovers 1-14 Ciceam Ard Eoin 0-07
The second half began like the first, with Ardoyne showing great intent to split the posts first. Yet again, the highly in-form PJ McBride had an immediate answer for Armoy to kill off any momentum. The hard-working McKillen grabbed another point for the Kickhams, but the dynamic duo of McBride and O’Hara kept piling on the pressure with successive, pressure-relieving scores.
The defining moment of the half came when Ardoyne threw everything into a desperate attack on the Armoy goal. Conal Patterson produced a great save in dangerous territory, but moments later, the sliotar agonizingly rattled the crossbar and bounced clear.
That near-miss completely broke the game open. Frustrated at their inability to get a handle on the match, the energy was visibly sucked out of the Ardoyne men. From that stage on, Glen Rovers were in total domination and the points came quick and fast from the men in blue and white as the Ardoyne resistance faded, sealing a comprehensive championship victory for Armoy.
While Ardoyne Kickhams showed brilliant flashes of individual skill and commendable fighting spirit, they ultimately found it difficult to contain Glen Rovers’ depth and relentless attacking execution. Armoy marched on to secure a vital championship victory on home soil.
Full-time: Glen Rovers 2-28 Ciceam Ard Eoin 0-12
Glen Rovers 1.Conor Watterson 2. Joseph McFetridge 3. Liam Dillon 4. Charlie Douhart 5. Kieran McToal 6. Arthur Devlin 7. Shane Devlin 8. Eoin Bradley (0-02) 9. PJ McBride (0-6) 10. Thomas Burns (0-02) 11. Turlach McBride (0-6, 2f) 12. Emmet O’Hara (2-06) 14. John Dillon (0-2) 15. Conor Christie(0-02)17. Tim Burns (0-02)
Ciceam Ard Eoin 1. Connor Oneill 2. Pascal Clarke 3. Paul Baker 4. Cormac Curran 5. Dan Moore 6. Dean Goodall 7. Caolan Wallace 8. Matthew Cromie 9. Paul McGuigan (0-01) 10. Matt McKillen (0-02) 11. Cathal Keown (0-01) 12. Paddy Heaney 13. Cormac Barnes (0-02) 14. Micheál McGreevy (0-01) 15. Padraig McGreevy(0-05) 16. Patrick Killen 17. Sean Searle 18. Donal Quinn 19. Enda Slattery 20. Emmet Corry 23, Kevin Holland 24. Christopher McShane
Referee: Fergus McAllister
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