Ruairi’s Impress to Defeat The Town

IN2 Engineering Senior Championship

Cushendall 2-20 Ballycastle 1-5

Wednesday 9 September

Brendan McTaggart reports from Cushendall

Cushendall maintained their 100% record in this years senior championship on Wednesday evening as they defeated Ballycastle. 18 points was the difference between the sides at the end of the hour, in truth the game changed dramatically when the Town were reduced to 14 in the 28^th minute.

When Fay McIntosh saw red for what referee Paul McNeill saw as a dangerous tackle on Kady McNeill, the home side were ahead by five points. It was an even contest that the Ruairi’s were just about edging up to this point and with a slight wind favouring Ballycastle for the second half, the visitors were well placed.

Cushendall were immense in the second half however and to say they dominated would be an understatement. 2-20 scored overall, 2-18 from open play and eight different scorers. The Ruairi girls put in a mighty impressive performance.

Ballycastle played with intensity and their defensive efforts in that second half have to be applauded. They did concede 1-13 but they were under so much pressure, Cushendall were relentless and the performances of Enya McShane, Aoife Toner and Shannagh Heggarty was superb.

Eva McNeill top scored for the Ruairi’s with just one free coming in her tally of eight white flags while their majors came from Orlaith and Amy McAlister in either half. Amy McAlister’s cameo performance a highlight of a second half that was all one way traffic.

The home side made a good start with three unanswered points coming in the opening six minutes. Siobhan McKillop, Eva McNeill and Orlaith McCurry with the scores. Ballycastle’s opening score came through an Elen McIntosh major in the ninth minute. The goal owed much to the persistence, work rate, hunger and aggression of the Ballycastle forward who put the Cushendall defence under pressure to force a turnover and beat Orlagh Burke to the loose sliotar before finding the back of the net.

Maeve Kelly followed up with a fine score from wide on the right to give the Town a one point lead in the 11^th minute but they would only register one more score in the remainder of the half.

The home side retook the lead when Orlaith McAlister pounced on an error in the Town defence before finding the back of the net before a brace of white flags from Eva McNeill gave Cushendall a four point lead just over half way through the half.

Elen McIntosh fired over a ’45 in the 20^th minute to get the Town firing again but a pair of points from Eva and Kady McNeill gave Cushendall a 1-7 to 1-2 lead late in the half.

Fay McIntosh’s red card was obviously frustrating for the Ballycastle management who had their own views on the tackle.

Ballycastle started the second half strongly and showed they could deal with playing with a player less. Kady McNeill and Elen McIntosh swapped points by the third minute of the second half but Ballycastle would record just two further points as Cushendall went through the gears.

A run of seven points unanswered with Orlaith McAlister, Kady McNeil, Siobhan McKillop and Eva McNeill all splitting the posts.

Janey McIntosh split the posts in a rare Ballycastle attack but Cushendall continued to turn the screw. Amy McAlister finding the back of the net and following up with a point before Dervla Cosgrove (free), Eva McNeill, Orlaith McAlister and substitute Rhianna Black added further points. Louise McBride added another score for Ballycastle in the same period of time.

A resounding win for Cushendall as they look to build momentum at the right time of the season. They will travel to Loughgiel on Saturday looking to continue their winning ways while Ballycastle will host Bridini Oga on Sunday looking to get back to winning ways.

TEAMS

Cushendall Starting XV: Orlagh Burke; Tamara Black, Anna McNeill, Caoimhe McNaughton; Colleen Patterson, Abi McNeill, Laura Black; Dervla Cosgrove, Siobhan McKillop; Brogan Abram, Orlaith McCurry, Cara O’Boyle; Orlaith McAlister, Eva McNeill, Kady McNeill

Subs: Aoife McClafferty for L Black (36); Rhianna Black for O McCurry, Amy McAlister for C O’Boyle (44); Ellen Leech for T Black, Cliodhna Thompson for B Abram (52)
Scorers: E McNeill 0-7 (1f); O McAlister 1-3; K McNeill 0-4; A McAlister 1-1; S McKillop 0-2; O McCurry 0-1; R Black 0-1; D Cosgrove 0-1 (1f)

Ballycastle Starting XV: Becky Ellis; Aoife Toner, Enya McShane, Cara Delaney; Niamh Donnelly, Fay McIntosh, Fiadh Sands; Shannagh Heggarty, Janey McIntosh; Maeve Kelly, Louise McBrife, Aoife McCaughan; Faye Roddy, Elen McIntosh, Eimear McCaughan

Subs: Catherine McShane for F Roddy (HT); Christina Hamilton for E McCaughan (45); Maria Bakewell for A McCaughan (49)
Scorers: E McIntosh 1-2 (1’45); J McIntosh 0-1; M Kelly 0-1; L McBride 0-1

Referee: Paul McNeill (Creggan)