Bathshack Senior Hurling Championship Final

Loughgiel v St John’s

Sunday 19 October

Venue:  Ballycastle

Throw in: 2pm

Referee: Colum Cunning

Brendan McTaggart looks ahead to Sunday’s final as Loughgiel take on St John’s for the right to be called Antrim senior hurling champions for 2025.

16 games later, a total of 65 goals and 636 points and all the usual drama that the Bathshack senior hurling championship brings, we have reached the final two.  A final pairing that I didn’t see coming but a final pairing who are there on merit.  Loughgiel and St John’s will take to the lush surface of Ballycastle, the first time these two have faced each other in a final since 1989.

The Shamrocks are top of the Antrim Championship Roll of Honour and are looking to add to their 20 titles, their last coming nine years ago while St John’s are looking to take the Volunteer Cup back to Corrigan Park for the first time since 1973.  A 52 year wait for the men from the Whiterock Road and a series of near misses can come to an end on Sunday afternoon.

Interestingly, this is the first time since the current format that the finalists have come via the Quarter Final route and not direct to the semi’s.  It goes to show that momentum in sport is a wonderful commodity and when you have the wind at your sails and speed gathered, you can be hard to stop.

Looking at the Championship as a whole, Loughgiel averaged a final score of 3-20 over their five games, the Johnnies 2-22 while the average conceded by both is 2-16 and 2-20 respectively.  For the purpose of making life a little easier, all figures have been rounded to the nearest full digit but that’s enough of the math lesson.  I’ll try to stick to hurling from here.

St John’s have been the story of the championship so far having finally broken their semi final curse last day out against Cushendall.  It did take extra time but Ger Cunningham’s men finally got over the line.  The scenes at the final whistle were an outpouring of sheer joy and relief.  They have come so close in recent times and have probably hurled better in past defeats but that means little to them now.  The memories of six defeats in seven years at the last four with replays and extra time in four of those six occasions, there aren’t many who would have begrudged them those scenes, unless you’re from Cushendall that is.

Loughgiel are a club well used to the occasion at this stage and steeped in history with the Volunteer Cup and beyond.  2016 was the last time they brought the county title back to Fr Healy Park and they’ve tasted defeat three times at this stage since.  Once to Dunloy (2020) and twice to Cushendall, the most recent of those two years ago when they staged a Herculean comeback at Corrigan but couldn’t get past the Ruairi’s.

The Shamrock’s championship run had been plain sailing until stoppage time against Cushendall.  A couple of late Sean McAfee goals stunned Shay McMahon’s men but they have put thoughts of the disappointment of that well and truly behind them.  It was a pivotal moment of this championship and a chance for this group of Shamrocks to build some steel or metal.  A solid performance against Ballycastle followed before overcoming Dunloy in the semi finals in what many have called, the game of this and many a championship so far.  Recovering from four points adrift at half time, the Shamrocks were irresistible after the prolonged half time break.  1-4 without reply with the goal coming from Dan McCloskey while further majors came via James McNaughton and Rian McMullan.  Eight points ahead and into the last ten, Loughgiel held off a mighty Dunloy comeback and a brilliant score from Rian McMullan booked their place in the decider.

Loughgiel will welcome back team captain Tiernan Coyle after a two match suspension and I’d expect TC to take his place in the starting lineup.  That would allow Ruairi ‘Badger’ McCormick to move into midfield again and partner up with Rian McKee, a duo that had been so impressive until the Shamrocks were forced into the switch.  Daragh Patterson may be the unlucky one to miss out with any change in the front six highly unlikely.

Their strength had lay at the pace and power in their forward line but also the puck outs from Cormac McFadden.  A facet of his game that he certainly has done a mountain of work on, McFadden’s restarts have been pivotal to the Shamrocks progress.  Paul Boyle didn’t get much joy out of Eoin McFerran in the semi-final and there’s no doubt the St John’s management team will have watched and rewatched that game as Boyle up to that point, had been one of the players of the championship.  That being said, while he might not have got on the scoresheet in the semi-final, moving Boyle to play around the middle of the park was a massive move that went a long way to the Shamrocks overcoming Dunloy.

The most impressive line in Loughgiel’s team this championship campaign has been their half back line.  Rory McCloskey at 6 with Declan McCloskey on one side and Ben McGarry on the other, they built the foundations for the win in the semi-final and I’m thinking on even further back to the group game against Rossa where they helped turn the screw at the start of the second half in that game.

Not many gave St John’s a hope coming up against Cushendall in the semi-final and I’ll include myself on that list.  Maybe not just as strong as that but they were certainly up against it given their performance against Rossa and form at that stage in recent years.

But, they enjoyed that win and enjoyed proving the ‘experts’ wrong.  As Domhnall Nugent said to me after the game with a smile and a glint in his eye: “Keep writing us off, Brendan.  We love it.”  It took extra time and a last gasp score from Conor Johnston in normal time to get them there, but there’s no doubting the Johnnies deserved to be in the final.

An unsteady group performance where they only managed a draw against Naomh Eanna before blitzing Ballycastle in the first half and cruising to the win.  Against Dunloy, it took a strong final 10 or 15 minutes to put a degree of respectability on the scoreboard but ultimately, it’s about getting through the group and that they did.

Donal Carson, Shea Shannon and Conor Johnston

Donal Carson and Conor Johnston had been their stand-out performers in the opening three games with Shea Shannon, Oisin Donnelly, Ryan McNulty and Sean Wilson also impressing.  Wilson in particular going through a mountain of ‘dirty’ work in the middle third that largely goes unseen.

The reintroduction of Ciaran Johnston since injury has been massive for the Johnnies, particularly in the quarter and semi final wins.  He might play with three on his back, but he was pivotal in their win against Rossa and superb against Cushendall.  His influence has certainly been telling.

A mark of the progress of the Johnnies was that Quarter Final win against Rossa.  They looked dead and buried, out of ideas and out of the championship.  They just seemed to hit some momentum at the right time when Rossa floundered, Mick Bradley came off the bench and the rest, as they say, is history.  Rossa left the Hightown Road wondering what just happened and St John’s grew six inches taller.

If Loughgiel’s engine room has been their half back line, it looks like we’re set for a superb contest up against the St John’s half forward line.  OD has switched with Aaron Bradley in midfield on occasions but with Conor Johnston and Conall Bohill there, the Shamrocks will have to be wary of their ball winning ability in both primary and secondary phases.  Bohill was outstanding against Cushendall, winning innumerable ball as the likes of Conor Johnston and Shea Shannon exploited if he didn’t take a score himself.

The key for St John’s will be the intensity they bring.  They have to start all guns blazing like they did against Ballycastle in the group phase and in their semi final win against Cushendall.  If they let Loughgiel settle quickly, this Shamrock outfit will punish them to the fullest.  Deprive Loughgiel of time and space in the middle third to deliver telling ball into the inside forward line where Boyle, Roan McGarry and Dan McCloskey will be ready to pounce.

In the last quarter against Dunloy, they played a possession game and hurling off the shoulder that is a nightmare to defend against.  It will take that and more for them to become the first city winners of the senior hurling championship in 21 years.

Loughgiel start as favourites and rightly so.  They defeated a much fancied Dunloy team at their own game and look like a team that are coming of age.  The big conundrum at Healy Park was how they could translate their minor success into senior glory, they are 60 minutes away from realizing that potential.

Prediction time….

Ok so zero from two from the semi final predictions but let’s be honest, who saw this as the final pairing maybe outside of the St John’s and Loughgiel camps?  The Shamrock’s may not like it given my track record this championship campaign but I’m giving them a tentative nod their way to take the Volunteer Cup back to Healy Park.  For those who like a flutter, three points is the handicap betting with the Shamrocks 4/9 and St John’s 2/1.  This might be printed out and pinned on the changing room door in Ballycastle but it has all the qualities to be a cracker.