Category / Division 1

by thesaffrongael

Eleven Antrim players on Danske Bank Ulster Schools All Star team

Danske Bank Ulster schools’ All-star hurling team

Seán óg McLaren, St Mary’s Belfast

Conor McCann, St Killian’s Garron Tower

Conor Lappin, St Patrick’s Keady

Emmett óg Mac Íomaire, Gaelcholáiste Dhoire

Dan Donnelly, St Columba’s, Stranorlar

Odhrán Doherty, St Patrick’s Maghera

Nicholas McLaughlin, St Killian’s Garron Tower

Logan McConville, Cross & Passion Ballycastle

Caolán Wilson, St Mary’s Belfast

Rian Collins, St Patrick’s Maghera

Oisín McCallin, Cross & Passion Ballycastle

Jay McAlonan, St Louis Ballymena

Cadhan Crawford, Cross & Passion Ballycastle

Fiontán Bradley, St Louis Ballymena

Oisín Gillan, St Killian’s Garron Tower

NO fewer than 11 Antrim players are included in the 38th Danske Bank Ulster schools’ All-star hurling team announced yesterday (MONDAY) afternoon at the Dub in conjunction with sponsors Danske Bank.

Only one player however is collecting his second successive award. Fiontán Bradley from St Louis Ballymena plays his club hurling with Ruairí Óg Cushendall with whom he won an Ulster minor club title last year. Fiontán went on to win his second Ulster club under 20 title with Antrim earlier in the spring.

He is joined in attack by his St Louis Ballymena school colleague Jay McAlonan, two Cushendall team-mates, Conor McCann and Nicholas McLaughlin, and several Antrim under 20 players.

For the 4th year in succession a member of the McLaughlin family will collect an award. Nicholas will follow his older siblings Joseph (2023 and 2024) and Thomas (2024 and 2025) into the list of winners, all of them students in St Killian’s Garron Tower. Two years ago, Joseph and Thomas made history as the first siblings to be included in the same All-star team

Rian Collins also adds to a remarkable family achievement. Earlier this year he equalled the exploits of his father Michael by captaining St Patrick’s Maghera to the Mageean Cup and winning Player of the Match in the final. Michael was a three-times All-star winner (1990-2) and Rian now adds a fourth All-star to the family trophy cabinet.

Maghera of course went on to win the All-Ireland Paddy Buggy Cup, the third year in succession it has come to Ulster. Therefore in the past two years Rian Collins and fellow All-star Odhrán Doherty along with six other Maghera dual players have won MacRory, Hogan, Mageean and Paddy Buggy Cup medals while Rian was also a member of the Derry minor team that won the All-Ireland football title in 2024.

Doherty plays his club hurling with Sleacht Néill but won an Antrim minor football championship with Portglenone in 2025 and therefore is numbered among the 11 Saffron All-stars.

As well as Collins, Conor McCann and Oisín McCallin are second generation All-stars. Conor’s father, Kevin, picked up an All-star in the second year of the scheme 1989 after helping St Louis Ballymena win their first ever Mageean Cup. Meanwhile Oisin’s father Paul Close was an All-star recipient in 1997 while a student in La Salle before going on to collect Antrim and Ulster championship titles with Rossa.

McCallin is one of three All-stars from Cross and Passion Ballycastle all of whom won Mageean and Paddy Buggy Cup medals last season. The others are Logan McConville and Cadhan Crawford.

Winning a first ever hurling award for his school is Dan Donnelly who led Sean Mac Cumhaill’s when they became the first Donegal club to feature in an Ulster minor club final last December. He was also a leading player for the St Columba’s Stranorlar team that reached the Danske Bank Casement Shield final in the same month.

St Columba’s only other All-stars came in 2018 when Patrick Dolan and current Donegal star Oisín Gallan won football awards.

Gaelcholáiste Dhoire collect their fifth successive All-star with Emmett óg Mac Íomaire following double awards for the Ó Mianáin brothers (Ruairí and Cathal). Emmett óg’s father (Emmett McKeever) was on the Derry team that won back to back Ulster senior hurling titles at the turn of the Millennium as well as captaining Dungiven to an Ulster club football title a few years earlier.

The players selected will collect their All-star awards at a Gala Dinner in the Crowne Plaza Hotel Belfast this Friday evening (24th April).

Oonagh Murtagh, Head of South Business Centre at Danske Bank, announced the teams commenting:

“At Danske Bank, we’ve been passionate about helping our society thrive since our beginnings 200 years ago. One way we do that is through our youth sports sponsorships with Ulster Schools GAA, Ulster Schools’ Cup Rugby and the Northern Ireland Football Association.

“The Ulster Schools All Stars is a fantastic, long-standing initiative that recognises outstanding sportsmanship across Gaelic football and hurling each year – and something we’re really proud to be a part of. This year’s GAA competitions have show-cased the very best of our young players. It’s a real testament to how our young footballers and hurlers have been nurtured and developed throughout their school sporting career.

“The commitment and dedication to even be nominated for an All Star is immense, and we’d like to congratulate all of the players selected to participate in the trials as well as the remarkable 30 individuals who made the two All Star teams this year.”

by thesaffrongael

Creggan secure the points in Staffordstown

ACHL Division 2

Kickham’s Creggan 0-17 Ballycastle 2nd’s 0-13

Report: JoeRice

 The Loughshore lads welcomed MacUilin’s on a bright Sunday afternoon.  Many of the home side supporters would have seldom seen black & amber jerseys lined out on their field.  Nevertheless, Ballycastle’s Second Team were here looking for their first win of the League Competition. 

First to score was Conall McGee pointing from play in the 2nd minute and from the initial stages Ballycastle dominated by winning most of the turnovers, but they failed to convert these into scores.

Slowly the home side steadied themselves and their first score came from Morgan Nelson on the 7th minute, adding a further 2 converted frees on the 8th and the 11th minute.  The visitors responded with 3 on target frees, one from James Blackwell and 2 from Feargal McKiernan on the 12th, 14th and 16th minute respectively.  With 16 minutes on the clock, MacUilin’s were in front. 

Creggan drew level with a fine point from play from Sean Duffin, but this was cancelled out as Gavin McToal edged the visitors’ ahead on the 23rd minute.  It was level again on the 26th minute when Rory McCann scored his 1st of 4 points of the contest before  Cormac Dallas put the visitors 2 in front with 2 superb frees from distance.   

The sides were level once again as Morgan Nelson and Teddy McKeown added to the home side’s tally.  The final 2 scores from the 1st half were from Rory McCann, Creggan, and one from Feargal McKiernan, MacUilin’s, to leave it all square at half time on 8 points apiece. Referee, Chris Brown, got proceedings underway in the 2nd half in a good natured encounter where he had little use for his notebook.  Creggan started the 2nd half better while MacUilin’s struggled for scores being guilty of several wides. 

Creggan’s marksman, Morgan Nelson, converted 3 frees and when his teammate, Sean Duffin, added a point from play it gave the home side a 4 point cushion.  It was 11 minutes into the 2nd half before Feargal McKiernan got MacUilin’s 1st point, however, at this stage they were struggling to close the gap. 

The home side’s confidence grew when Morgan Nelson and Rory McCann added 2 further points to lead by 4 with 15 minutes remaining on the clock.  Ballycastle’s Feargal McKiernan got his 4th point of the game to leave just one score between them, but Creggan surged ahead with Mick Maguire, Rory McCann & Keelan McCann securing 3 unanswered points without reply. 

As we headed towards the last 5 minutes plus extra time, Ballycastle threw everything at the Lough shore lads looking for the goals that never came, but they did add 3 further points from Callum Campbell, Luke Connolly and James Bakewell to narrow the gap, however, they had just run out of time. 

The last score of the game was from Morgan Nelson’s ‘65’ to give the home side a 4 point cushion and their 1st win of the campaign.

Creggan: No.1 Conor McCann, No.2 Paedar McGuckian, No.3 Dillan Hamfey, No.4 Sennan O’Boyle, No.5 Aidan McIlwee, No.6 Keelan McCann(0.01), No.7 Aidan McKeown(0.01), No.8 Sam Maguire, No.9 Daniel Dornan, No.10 Lee Johnston, No.11 Mick Maguire, No.12 Sean Duffin (0.02), No.13 Ronan McGuckian, No.14 Morgan Nelson (0.07), No.15 Sean McAuley(0.01), No.21 Thomas McCann, No.30 Rory McCann(0.04).

Ballycastle: No.1 Anthony Mullan, No.2 Conor Mooney, No.3 James Bakewell(0.04),No.4 Oisin McAuley, No.5 Oisin Donnelly, No.6 Cormac Donnelly, No.7 Jack McGowan, No.8 Conal Magee, No.9 Luke Connolly(0.01), No.10 Tadhg Donnelly, No.11 Callum Campbell(0.01), No.12 Feargal McKiernan(0.03), No.13 Cormac Dallas(0.02), No.14 Dermot Donnelly, No.15 Gavin McToal(0.01), No.17 Eoin Boylan, No.18. Niall McGarry, No.19 Rory McShane, No.20 Thomas McIlroy.

Referee: Chris Brown

TO SEE MORE OF CLAIRE FAWLS PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME (PLUS THE HALF TIME GAMES) CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/fmRKmYbbBgxUKY/?invite=b8443064-f5ba-42fe-a83b-7987ae5437bf

by thesaffrongael

Rasharkin victorious at third time of asking

Antrim Hurling League – Division 3

Rasharkin 2-17  Glenravel 0-19

This was the third meeting of these two sides in Dreen this season; the first was a pre-season friendly which ended in a draw, the second was Abbey Shield Final which Glenravel won by a six point margin so the hosts had a point to prove in this game and it was clear that over the hour they were the hungrier for victory. Rasharkin had a greater physical presence and picked off some fine long range points in a perfect day for hurling. One area that might concern them though is a heavy reliance on Tiernan O’Boyle  and Connor McKeever for their scores. Those two contributed 2-12 (1-06 each) of the 2-17 total whilst Glenravel had a more even spread of scores with five of the six starting forwards contributing to their tally.

Glenravel dominated the opening quarter with a good range of scores from Cormac McKeown, Joe McKay, Declan Traynor, Luke Loughlin and Conleth O’Loan helping them to  0-07 to 0-03 lead, Conor McKeever providing the hosts scores all from frees. McKeever’s free taking was instrumental in the Rasharkin victory on the day. The hosts then started to get some rhythm and put over three points in succession to reduce the gap to the minimum. McKeever again from a free followed by Colm Kennedy and Conor Higgins providing those scores. Back came Glenravel with three on the bounce from Declan Traynor (0-02) and Joe McKay. But with seven minutes of the opening half left to play Rasharkin raised a green flag when a long ball in ended up in the net and once again only a single point separated the teams. Buoyed by that score the host side’s half forward line kicked into gear as each of them, Conor McFerran, Donagh Quigg and Conor McKeever put three over for the home side to lead for the first time on the stroke of half time. The teams retired to the changing rooms with Rasharkin ahead 1-09 to 0-10.

Declan Traynor reduced the margin to three points at the start of the second half but inside one minute McFerran pointed hand then goaled to strike a hammer blow for Rasharkin. Suddenly there was a five point gap – how would the visitors respond? Cometh the hour cometh the man as Cormac McKeown took the bull by the horns and put over three great scores in succession to leave two points between the teams. O’Boyle and McFerran stretched that to four and Conleth O’Loan kept Glenravel in it with a fine score to take us into the final quarter with Rasharkin ahead by three points. The game was in the melting pot at this stage and as the final whistle beckoned it would be the home side who finished stronger. They notched up five further points from Tiernan O’Boyle whilst Glenravel replied through Cormac McKeown, Fergus Donaghy, Joe McKay and Conleth O’Loan, but it wasn’t enough and Rasharkin avenged The Abbey Shield defeat of a couple of weeks ago to secure both points.

1 Liam Tunney, 2 Jason McGregor, 3 Connaire Donaghy, 4 Conor Doherty, 5 Connor Higgins, 6 Tiernan O’Boyle, 7 Ruairi O’Boyle, 8 Conan McMullan, 9 Brianog O’Neill, 10 Conor McFerran, 11 Donagh Quigg, 12 Conor McKeever, 13 Oisín Doherty, 14 John Kelly, 15 Terence McGregor.

Michael McDonald, Oisin McKeown (2), James Duffin (3), Brian O’Neill (4) Daragh Donaghy (5), Rian Lennon (6), Eoin McCusker (7), Harry Fyfe (8), Fergus Donaghy (9), Joseph McKay (10), Declan Traynor (11), Cormac McKeown (12), Luke Laughlin (13), Ciaran Laverty (14), Conleth O’Loan (15).

Referee – Lee O’Reilly (Dunloy)

by thesaffrongael

Cushendall take the points in Portaferry

Antrim Hurling League – Division 1

Portaferry: 2-11 (17) Ruairí Óg, Cushendall: 3-16 (25)

PICS BY SEAN TROWLEN

Ruairí Óg, Cushendall traveled down to the Ards Peninsula on Sunday and emerged with a hard-fought eight-point victory over Portaferry in Division 1 of the Antrim Hurling League. Despite a commanding first-half performance from the visitors, a blistering start to the second half by Portaferry made for a tense encounter before Cushendall eventually regained control and pulled away.

The opening thirty minutes were heavily dominated by Cushendall, who built a substantial lead thanks to early accuracy and two crucial goals. Neil McManus and Joseph McLaughlin kept the Ruairí Óg scoreboard ticking over efficiently from placed balls, while Portaferry relied primarily on frees from Cahal Coleman to keep their tally moving.

Cushendall’s Scott Walsh solos out of defence during Saturday’s Antrim Senior Hurling semi-final against St John’s at Dunsilly. Pic by John McIlwaine

The decisive moments of the first period came when the Ruairí Óg forwards broke through the Portaferry defense to find the back of the net. Both Thomas McLaughlin and Sean McAfee raised green flags from play, putting Cushendall in a strong position, and by the time the half-time whistle blew, the visitors held a commanding 11-point advantage, leading 2-11 to 0-06.

Portaferry’s Resurgence

Whatever was said in the Portaferry dressing room at the break had an immediate and explosive impact. The home side burst out of the blocks upon the restart, completely shifting the momentum of the game within the opening two minutes.

Cahal Coleman, their standout threat from the first half, struck for two rapid-fire goals from play—the first just 51 seconds into the half, and the second less than a minute later. With their tails up, Portaferry continued to press hard. Points from play by Matthew Conlan and Shane Conlan quickly followed. In the blink of an eye, the 11-point half-time deficit had been slashed to just three points.

Just as the pressure reached its peak, Cushendall found the crucial response they needed to halt Portaferry’s momentum. In the 9th minute of the second half, Joseph McLaughlin found space to fire home Ruairí Óg’s third goal of the afternoon.

That strike proved to be the turning point, effectively bursting the Portaferry bubble and steadying the ship for the visitors. From there on out, Cushendall managed the remainder of the game with composure. While Cahal Coleman and Shane Conlan added a few more points for the home side, the gap proved too large to close again.

Cushendall’s bench also made a strong impact, with substitute Christy McNaughton slotting over two points (one from play and one from a free). Joseph McLaughlin continued his reliable free-taking, and Thomas McLaughlin capped off the afternoon with a late point from play in the 31st minute to seal the win.

Overall, Cushendall will be pleased to leave Portaferry with the points, having shown the resilience required to absorb a fierce second-half rally and finish the job.

Portaferry

1. Darragh Mallon, and 4. Ronan Smyth. 5. Cathal Moreland 6. Callum Smyth, 7. Ciaran Milligan, 8. Matthew Conlan, 9. Shane Conlan, 10. Conor Fay, 11. Deaglan Mallon, 12. Cahal Coleman, 13. Calum O’Neill, 14. Niall Milligan, and 15. Noah Rogers.

Cushendall

1. Conor McAlister, 2. Aodhán Campbell, 3. Martin Burke, 4. Conor McCann, 5. Scott Walsh, 6. Stephen Walsh, 7. Charlie McAuley, 8. Callagh Mooney, 9. Edward McQuillan, 10. Sean McAfee, 11. Joseph McNaughton, 12. Neil McManus, 13. Oisín Woodhouse, 14. Thomas McLaughlin, 15. Joseph McLaughlin.

Subs – Christy McNaughton

TO SEE MORE OF SEAN TROWLEN’S PICS FROM THIS GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/f3E2u3jX2UqqzC/?invite=62dbee52-f6f3-4a90-88da-dbe5fe3e2fc3

by thesaffrongael

Strong First Half Seals Dunloy Victory

Senior Hurling League Division One

Dunloy 3-16 Ballygalget 1-14

Sunday 19 April

Brendan McTaggart reports from Ballygalget

Dunloy maintained their winning start to their league campaign as they defeated Ballygalget with eight to spare.  The foundations for the win were laid in the first half that saw the Cuchullains bag their three goals, two in the space of 60 seconds before the half time whistle.  Although they did manage to reach double figures with their wide count in the opening 30 minutes.

Ciaran Elliott (two) and Oisin McCallin were the Cuchullains who scored the goals while defensively, the Cuchullains were well organised and gave Ballygalget very little openings.  Daire McMullan and Ryan McGarry excelled while Ryan Elliott’s puckouts were excellent throughout.

The home side fared much better in the second half and like Dunloy, struggled with their accuracy in front of the target.  They managed to restrict Dunloy to just one point in a ten minute spell that saw them score 1-4, Shea Pucci hit the post with a major chance while also recording three wides.

Dunloy finished the game strongly however to extinguish any hopes of a Ballygalget win.

It was a first half the visitors dominated and they should have been further ahead before the short whistle.  Yet, it was Ballygalget who started the game on the front foot.  Michael Dorrian opening the scoring and while Oisin McCallin fired the opening point over for Dunloy in the third minute, points from Marc Fisher and Owen McDermott (two) had the home side three clear after the opening 10 minutes.  They would only register another two points in the remaining 20 minutes however as Dunloy took over.

Two points separated the sides when Ciaran Elliott scored his first goal of the game.  Nigel Elliott with the ball into corner as Ciaran collected, rounding his man with a burst of pace and finished expertly.

Fisher dissected the posts for his first of the contest but four unanswered points from McCallin (two frees), Chrissy McMahon and Tom McFerran stretched Dunloy into a four point lead.

A brilliant point from McDermott in the 23rd minute, wide on the left and over his shoulder was the ‘galget’s last score of the half as Dunloy finished strongly.  Points from McCallin (free) and Nicky McKeague preceded a brace of majors at the end of the half.  The first coming from McCallin as he finished superbly from a Paudie McGillihan pass while Ciaran Elliott finished well having received the sliotar from Ryan McGarry to leave the half time score 3-8 to 0-6 in Dunloy’s favour.

The home side opened the scoring in the second half but a trio of points from Tom McFerran, Nigel Elliott and McCallin stretched Dunloy’s lead further.  Points from Michael Dorrian and Fisher (free) were answered to by points from McFerran brothers Eoin and Tom but the home side began to find momentum. 

Points came from Dorrian and John McManus before Oisin McCamphill split the uprights with an excellent score from wide on the left but the home side were well on top.  Their defence were dealing with the ball coming their way and Dunloy couldn’t get any change.  Points followed from Fisher and substitute Dara Pucci (both frees) before Owen McDermott took his tally to 1-3 for the afternoon with a super goal after collecting a long pass from Fisher.

Dunloy looked to have weathered the home side’s momentum however with a brace of scores from McMahon although they managed to reach the 20 mark with wides overall before McDermott had the final say of the game in the first minute of injury time.

Ballygalget will hope to get back to winning ways when they host Loughgiel next Sunday while Dunloy will hope their momentum continues when Naomh Éanna visit Pearse Park on the same day.

TEAMS

DUNLOY: Ryan Elliott; Oran Quinn, Daire McMullan, Sean Og Blaney; Aodhan McGarry, Eamon Smyth, Ryan McGarry; Aaron Crawford, Paudie McGilligan; Nigel Elliott, Nicky McKeague, Tom McFerran; Ciaran Elliott, Oisin McCallin, Chrissy McMahon

Subs: Eoin McFerran for A Crawford (36), Conor Kinsella for S Og Blaney (42), Oisin McCamphill for O McCallin (45); A Crawford for P McGilligan (59)

Scorers: O McCallin 1-5 (4fs); C Elliott 2-00; C McMahon 0-4 (1f); T McFerran 0-3; N McKeague 0-1; N Elliott 0-1; E McFerran 0-1; O McCamphill 0-1

BALLYGALGET: Eoin Clarke; Michael Toner, Ciaran Watson, Connaire Monan; Marc Fisher, John McManus, Brook Byers; Jordan Doran, Caolan Coulter; Oisin Coulter, Michael Dorrian, Cathal Coulter; Eoin Pucci, Daniel Toner, Owen McDermott

Subs: Shea Pucci for E Pucci (30); Dara Pucci for S Pucci (45); Cian Clarke for Caolan Coulter (51); Artie Og Birt for Cathal Coulter (51)

Scorers: O McDermott 1-4; M Fisher 0-5 (3fs); M Dorrian 0-3; J McManus 0-1; D Pucci 0-1 (1f)

Referee: Ray Matthews (Rossa)