ACHL Division 1

Ballycastle 1-17 St. Enda’s 1-17

Last year St. Enda’s struggled to maintain their division 1 status but they have started the 2023 season very much on the front foot and to date have recorded two wins and two draws from five starts.

On Sunday they travelled to Ballycastle and were involved in a thrilling contest against McQuillan’s and after an hour’s hurling these sides couldn’t be separated.

It was the visitors St. Enda’s who edged the first half exchanges and a goal from Eoin Conlon saw them lead 1-8 to 0-8 at half time with Cormac Ross hitting four points for the visitors and their other first half scores coming from Ruairi Donaghy 0-3 and David Maguire.

Ross was in scintillating form for the Glengormley side and he continued to carry their greatest scoring threat in the second half as he added 0-5 to bring his personal tally to 0-9 for the evening and Ruairi Donaghy getting 0-2 but Ballycastle edged the second half exchanges and came back with a goal of their own to share the points.

St. Enda’s find themselves in third place in the league after five rounds of games and while it is early days, their form to date would suggest that they can more than hold their own in the division and avoid the threat of relegation that haunted them for most of last season

Antrim Hurling League – Division 1

St John’s 0-20 Ballygalget 1-17

A point from a long range free five minutes into added time earned the Johnnies a share of the spoils with Ballygalget in Sunday’s Division 1 League game at Corrigan Park. Ryan McNulty had drawn them level just at the end of normal time but there was still time for Eoin Coulter to put Ballygalget back ahead with a point from play. It appeared that the both points were heading down the Ards, but in the time added on Jonty saved the day by hitting a late equaliser.

Despite the fact both teams were short of their county players this was a good competitive game with little between them at any stage. St John’s had the better of the early minutes but Ballygalget hit back with an Owen McDermott goal. It was score for score for a long spell until the Johnnies hit four in a row through CJ McKenna, Ryan McNulty, Ruairi Galbraith and Darragh McGuinness, which helped them to a 0-13 to 1-7 lead at half time.

With Ciaran Coulter accurate from frees Ballygalget fought their way back and 3 in a row from Eoin Coulter, Cormac Coulter and Michael Og Dorian put them a point clear going down the ‘home straight’.

When Ryan McNulty brought the Johnnies level that appeared to be it decided, but the fans had to endure a bit more excitement as Eoin Coulter got the Down men back in front, but Ciaran Johnston was to prove the saviour of the home side as he split the posts from distance to earn his team a point

Antrim Hurling League Division 1

Loughgiel 1-19 Portaferry 0-10

By North Antrim PRO – Darach Ó Maolin

A drenched and soil-churned field is never a pretty sight, nor is it pleasant to play upon. Loughgiel and Portaferry were to meet on such a field at Fr Healy Park on Sunday afternoon as the inclement weather of recnt weeks has taken its toll of the Fr Healy Park surface.

With more than a third of the Portaferry team on duty with Down in Portlaoise at the same time the Ards men faced a tough task but the battled manfully as always and were still well in touch at the break.

Loughgiel ushered in the beginning of the game with a strong deliverance which was manifested through a great performance by Odhran McFadden and Ryan McKee. Despite this strong start, Loughgiel’s forward line was put to the test by the physicality of Portaferry’s Emmett O’Neill and Conor O’Neill. 

Loughgiel’s Ryan McKee scored a fantastic point by chipping the ball from the sideline, but this was swiftly overturned by an equally impressive point by Paudie Dornan.

Half Time Score

Loughgiel 0-8

Portaferry 5

Loughgiel returned to the field with great intensity and scores by Cathal Hargan and Ruairi McCormick helped widen the score difference. Ciaran Milligan continued to hold the line against Loughgiel’s advances but this was not enough to stop a fantastic goal by Dan McCloskey who had spent a great deal of effort combating Ronan Smyth. 

Antrim Hurling League – Division 1

Dunloy 1-16 Cushendall 0-14

Dunloy scored a five point win over Cushendall in Sunday’s Antrim division 1 League game at Pearse Park, winning in the end by 1-16 to 0-14.

With teams short their county players due to Antrim’s participation in the Leinster Hurling Championship, the standard was understandably a bit below the usual fare served up, it was nonetheless competitive, with the players on show determined to make their mark and catch the eye of the respective management.

Cushendall opened with points from Alex Delargy and Christy McNaughton, but Dunloy came back strongly with points from Barry Scott, Anton McGrath and Kevin Molloy before centre forward Gabriel McTaggart got the first goal of the game on ten minutes.

The goal gave the Cuchullains control of the game and scoring bursts from Paul Shiels, Gabriel McTaggart and Barry Scott between the 15^th and 20^th minutes, and again from Shiels (2) and Eamon Smyth nearing half time saw the home side go in at the break with a 1-10 to 0-6 lead.

Nicky McKeague increased the Dunloy lead to eight just after the restart, but two points from Dominic Delargy and one from Christy McNaughton cut the gap back to five by the 36^th minute. The visiting fans must have felt their team were still in with a great chance of closing the gap, but Dunloy were able to control game with their possession style of play. On a couple of occasion Cushendall closed the gap to within four points, but Dunloy always had a response and the dictated the play to win by five in the end.

DUNLOY

Eoin Richmond, Cahir McCloskey, Kevin McKeague, Oran Quinn, Eamon Smyth, Conor Kinsela, Ciaran McQuillan, Kevin Molloy, Paul Shields, Barry Scott, Gabriel McTaggart, Ronan Molloy, Ciaran Elliott, Anton McGrath, Nicky McKeague

Subs – Chrissy McMahon; Aodhan McGarry; Tom McFerran; Conal Kelly

CUSHENDALL

Conor McAlister, Cillain McNaughton, Stephen Walsh, Liam Gillan, Aidan McNaughton, Fred McCurry, Padraig McKillop, Alex Delargy, Alex Delargy, Ryan McCambridge, Ronan McAteer, Paddy McGill, Sean McAfee, Ed McQuillan, Dominic Delargy, Christy McNaughton

Subs – Joseph McLaughlin, Emmet Laverty, Joseph McNaughton

ACHL Division 1

St. Enda’s 2-12 Rossa 0-18

Photographs: JJ Lawell

Rossa staged a strong second half comeback to collect their first point in this year’s ACHL Division 1 when they travelled to Hightown on Sunday and drew with St. Enda’s. The home side looked to be heading for their third win of the season when they led 2-6 to 0-8 at the halfway stage but Rossa came strongly in the second half to earn a point.

It was St. Enda’s who enjoyed the better of the opening half and goals from Ruairi Donaghy and Phillip Curran saw they them in a commanding position at the half way stage when they led by four with Curran 0-1, Ruairi Donaghy 0-2, Cormac Ross 0-2 and Eoin Conlon their first half point scorers.

Seaghan Shannon, Eoghan McMenamin and Aodhan O’Brien kept the visitors in touch during the opening half and during the second half they outscored the home side 0-10 to 0-6 to gain their first point of the present campaign.

St. Enda’s second half scores came from Eddie O’Connor, Chris McAllister, Ruair Donaghy and Cormac Ross while Seaghan Shannon top scored for the Shaw’s Road side with 0-6 over the hour while Aodhan O’Brien, Stephen Beatty and Eoghan McMenamin contributed handsomely to the Rossa comeback.

St. Endas scorers: Cormac Ross 0-4, Ruair Donaghy 1-3, Philip Curran 1-1, Eddie O’Connor 0-2, Eoin Conlon 0-1, Chris McAllister 0-1

Rossa: Donal Armstrong Conor Boyle Ciaran orchin Niall Devlin Conal Shannon Stephen Shannon 0-1 Pierce Short Seaghan Shannon 0-6 Eoin Trainor Eoghan McMenamin (0-2 Aodhan O’Brien (0-4) Diarmuid Rogan Stephen Beattie 0-3 Thomas Morgan 0-1 Eoin May Subs Dominic McEnhill Dara Rocks 0-1