McKeever Hotels Antrim Intermediate Hurling Championship Final

Carey Faughs v Robert Emmet’s Cushendun

Pairc MacUílín , Ballycastle – Throw-in 1- 30pm

Saturday’s McKeever Hotels Intermediate Hurling final has been moved to Pairc MacUílín, Ballycastle with a 1-30 pm throw-in

The original fixture, was set for Cushendall two week’s ago but was cancelled the day before the game because of storm Boelo. We all expected that game to be refixed for the following Saturday, but because of Cushendun’s involvement in the Ulster Intermediate Club Championship, the whole thing was turned on its head and the Emmet’s had to face Derry champions Lavey in Armoy, a game they won fairly convincingly, despite having two players sent off.

The sendings-off will not effect the team for this week and the two players who received the red cards are good to go, the Antrim final being a different competition. They will however come into play again next weekend when they Emmet’s player their Ulster semi-final, a game that goes ahead regardless of Saturday’s outcome.

Well, that extra game and the confidence-building win over Lavey, be a boost to the Emmets on Saturday, or will it simply tire them out a bit more?

Saturday’s final will be only Carey’s second game game in six weeks which is not ideal preparation, but they will have Sean McBride and Michael Eggy McVeigh, who missed the quarter final win over Glenarm, available for selection again which will be a boost

This is only their second meeting in the Intermediate final, the last one coming back in 1990, when it took a replay to decide who left with the silverware. Both games were played at Father Barrett Park, Loughgiel. The first ended level at 1-14 to 1-14, but the Faughs were victorious in the replay, winning emphatically by 6-7 to 2-4.  

Cushendun are the only unbeaten team in the competition and will probably go in as slight favourites, but we all know that this competition is the tightest of all the championships played in Antrim.

Carey came through a tight battle with Glenarm in their semi-final under the lights at Dunnsilly on the Friday night. That said, it may not have been just as close as that would indicate, because Glenarm scored a goal with the last puck of the game. In the other semi-final the following day at Father McGinn Park, Glenravel, the Emmets were pushed all the way by Creggan. They had their free-taking maestro, Conaloth ‘Loaf’ McNeill, to thank for getting them over the line. That unbeaten record by Cushendun appeared to be in danger of disappearing when Creggan dominated the first half and were nine points up at one stage. However, after the change of ends, Loaf took control and fired over points from all distances and angles, the pick of them was a real beauty from a sideline cut from 50 metres.

Cushendun started their campaign back in July when they beat Cloney Gaels in the first of the league section by 2-22, 0-16, but anyone who was there on the night will tell you that it wasn’t as one-sided as that scoreline would suggest as one of the goals, and a flurry of points came in the last few minutes.

They had home advantage again in their second outing on August 2, when they had 10 points to spare over St Paul’s, notching up an impressive 1-27 into the bargain. They hit 28 scores again in their first away game of the campaign when they travelled to Father McGinn Park, Glenravel, and beat the Con Magees by 0-28 to 1-13 and their high scoring feats continued  when they travelled to Randalstown two weeks’ later and beat Tir na nOg by 4-14 to 1-12.

That win guaranteed their place in the knockout stages of the competition. The only thing to be decided when they met Glenarm in their last league game was whether they went straight into the semi-finals or had to play a quarter-final. That clash with Glenarm at Pairc Mhuire, Cushendall, was probably one of the best games of the competition so far. The Emmets were pushed to the pin of their collars to earn a draw against a fired-up Glenarm team. Shane O’Neill’s dominated for most of that game and were still eight points to the good entering the last ten minutes. However Pearse McKeegan struck a vital goal with only minutes remaining and ‘Loaf’ stepped up to the mark again to fire over the equaliser deep into added time.

Gaining a point out of that game  saw them top the group on score difference which meant they had a month without  any competition, and for long  spells in the semi-final over Creggan they looked very ‘ring rusty’ until Loaf steeped up to deliver the winning punch.

The Faughs started their campaign with a convincing win away to Clougmills where they run out winners by 1-24 to 1-16. They were totally dominant in a very one-sided opening half and the only thing that appeared to be in question was the size of the winning margin. However, they appeared to switch off in the second period as Cloughmills outscored them, and though they were never really in any danger there were a few worry signs.

Their second game in Group 1saw them travel to Dreen to take on Rasharkin and they had too much power on the day, hitting 27 points while conceding just 11.

With an odd number in their group, they had to sit out for 4 weeks before meeting St Gall’s in their game at St Patrick’s Park, Balalyvoy where they held the upper hand and ended up winning by nine points, 2-21 to 0-18 to all but guarantee qualification.  

However they lost the next game of the league section to Creggan on a day when they lost their captain Conal McGlynn for the rest of the sesason with a bad knee injury. Despite that defeat the score difference between their nearest rivals in the group saw them advance to a semi-final meeting with Glenarm, and as mentioned earlier they got through by a single point but in thruth they looked fairly comfortable for good parts of the game.

McGlynn’s injury was a bad blow coming on top of the loss one of their real stars, Conor McBride, who immigrated to Australia early in the season.  On top of that their veteran centre back James McCouaig took a step back this season. Losing one the three would have been a hard blow for a team to take but losing all three will be hard to overcome.

However we saw just two years ago the fighting spirit of this Carey side as they took the Antrim and Ulster titles, quite often when the odds were stacked against them so do not write them off.

Cushendun go into the game as favourites, and the injury doubt over corner-back Paddy Morgan through injury seems to have abated. They are Antrim’s representatives in the Ulster Championship now, regardless of Saturday’s result as Carey  are ruled out  because they won the Ulster title just two years ago.

That will be the last thing on Cushendun’s mind when they take to the field tomorrow in Ballycaste. Their aim is to bridge a nineteen year gap and bring the  Intermediate crown back to Mary McBride’s on Saturday evening with a win that would bring them level with  Carey on four titles each.

The men on the other side of the Vanishing Lake will view it much differently and they will hope Hunters Bar in Ballyvoy will be the resting place for the silverware come Saturday night.

To the best of our knowledge neither club have lodged an application with the Parades Commission so they are keeping their powder dry in the mean time.