All County U-16 C Hurling Championship Final
Gaeil Bhéal Feirste 7-18-0-14 Shane O’Neills, Glenarm
Kevin Herron reports from Dunsilly
Six second half goals saw GAEIL BHÉAL FEIRSTE clinch the All County U-16 C Championship with a convincing 7-18-0-14 win over Shane O’Neills, Glenarm in the decider at Dunsilly on Tuesday evening.
The sides cancelled each other out in the early exchanges under the Dunsilly lights. Se Wall gave Gaeil Bhéal Feirste the lead, only for Eoghan Reid to reply from a free.
Dylan Quinn then intercepted a puck-out from Daire McStravick, took a few steps before swinging over to temporarily restore his side’s lead, but Reid was on hand to take a slipped pass from Patrick J Kelly and split the posts.
The Belfast outfit forged ahead, Eoghan Herron played a high ball into the path of Dan McAuley whose shot was blocked and Dylan Quinn was on hand to ensure the score.
Their advantage was doubled following a long range Eoghan Herron free that dropped over, and shortly afterwards Conor Taylor played a fine ball up the channel to Orin Agnew to clip over and make it 0-5-0-2.
Respective free-takers Eoghan Reid and Dylan Quinn traded placed balls, Quinn would add a second and fourth overall of the half ahead of Ciaran Lee adding a further point to stretch the gap.
Glenarm were staying in touch largely thanks to scores from Eoghan Reid who added another from the placed ball.
Orin Agnew doubled his account, swinging over his second following a link-up with Oliver Kelly.
Reid produced a tremendous long range score and Hugh McKay bustled his way through and flashed over to reduce arrears (0-9-0-6).
The next four scores were equally shared, Dylan Quinn pointing from a free and Orin Agnew from a 65’, in between times Eoghan Reid produced an angled point from play and converted a free.
Successive Quinn frees on the stroke of half time gave his side further breathing space and on the 30th minute things got better when Gaeil Bhéal Feirste claimed the opening goal of the game.
A foul on Oran Laverty deep in his half afforded his side a free, Orin Agnew was picked out and he dropped in a high ball that Ronan Downey flicked to the net to ensure his side held a 1-13-0-8 lead at the interval.
Glenarm started the second half brightly with three scores on the spin. Hugh McKay doubled his personal tally for the evening, Patrick Kelly popped over from play and added a free shortly afterwards.
A Dylan Quinn point got Gaeil Bhéal Feirte off the mark for the half and in the 36th minute they had extended their half time advantage in fortuitous circumstances when Dan McAuley’s shot dropped to the net to give his side a 2-14-0-11 lead.
Eoghan Reid converted a free in response, but the Glens men fell further behind to a second McAuley goal in the space of two minutes, collecting a long puck out from Daire McStravick, McAuley showed a turn of pace and flashed a bullet of a shot into the net.
A further long-range free from Patrick Kelly was brief restbite before McAuley sealed a 12-minute second half hat-trick with another fizzing strike beyond the reach of Archie Lee to make it 4-14-0-13.
McAuley continued to pose a huge threat and in an attempt to prevent him inflicting further damage, Oisin Daly was shown a second yellow card with little under a quarter of an hour remaining.
A converted free and successive points from play followed from Dylan Quinn ahead of three further goals in the closing stages.
Ronan Downey added his second of the night with five minutes remaining, and in those closing minutes Dylan Quinn twice struck the net, in between times substitute Rory Mulholland made an impact from the bench with a point and would add another to complete the evenings scoring as Gaeil Bhéal Feirste ran out comfortable winners at the conclusion and lifted All County C Championship, presented by Kieran Megraw on behalf of the Antrim County Board.
GAEIL BHÉAL FEIRSTE: D McStravick, O Laverty, E Herron (0-1f), R Maxwell, C Taylor, C Lee (0-1), O Kelly, L Gallagher, R Downey (2-0), O Agnew (0-3, 0-1 65’), G Finnegan, D Quinn (2-10, 0-5f), D McAuley (3-0), P Lawn, S Wall (0-1). SUBS: R Mulholland (0-2) for D McAuley (51), R Gallagher for G Finnegan (51), C McKenna for P Lawn (55), C Carson for R Maxwell (58), C Agnew for O Laverty (58).
SHANE O’NEILLS, GLENARM: A Lee, A McKay, J Taggert, G McAllister, G Kelly, O Daly, J Montgomery, N Montgomery, P J Kelly (0-3, 0-2f), C McMullan, L J Reid, E Reid (0-9, 0-5f), R O’Loan, H McKay (0-2), N McKay. SUBS: Z Drummond for A McKay (49), T Matthews for R O’Loan (51).
REFEREE: Paul O’Neill (CREGGAN)
To see more of Kevins photos of the game, click into the link below