Ballycastle reserves wrapped up the Division 3 Hurling League title when they beat their nearest challengers Dunloy in Wednesday evening’s game at Pairc MacUillin. The win puts them two clear of the Cuchullains with both teams having one game each still to play. If the McQuillan’s men were to lose their final game against Gort na Móna and Dunloy win their the following week then they would be level on points, but Ballycastle would come out on top on the head to head between the two.
Despite falling behind to an early Gabriel McTaggart goal Ballycastle bounced back with three on the trot from James Bakewell, Lorcan Donnelly and Cathal Conor to draw level before Anthony Mullan gave them the lead with a well taken goal. Oisin McCamphill, who was to be the outstanding player on the night, pulled one back with his first point of the game, but Ballycastle were on top and a point from a Croisti McAuley free was followed by a Lorcan Donnelly goal, following a long delivery from inside his own half by Oisin McAuley.
Dunloy’s Oisin McCallin who scored 12 points, despite ending up on the losing team
The rest of the half became a bit of a shoot-out between McAuley and McCallin, McAuley hitting four of his team seven points and McCallin hitting all seven for his side, in a superb display. However the most significant moment of the half came five minutes from time McCallin got in behind the Ballycastle defence and appeared to have a clear run on goal. However just as the left half forward was about to ‘pull the trigger’ Ballycastle full back Cormac Donnelly somehow managed to block the shot to deny what looked a certain goal.
Croisti ‘Bamba’ McAuley who was top scorer for Ballycastle
McCallin ( who was to end the night on 12 points) got the first score of the second half to cut the gap back to four, but that was as close as they would get and three in a row from McAuley, Oisin Donnelly and Niall McClean pushed the lead out to seven. That was the biggest it was to be and each time McCallin reduced the gap McAuley was there to claw back the deficit. The deficit was down to just four with time almost up but late points from Croisti McAuley and substitute Conor Donnelly sealed the win for the Town.
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If ever there was a game of two halves – this was it. Trailing by thirteen points at half time Glenravel came out a different team second half and closed the gap to two points but in the closing minutes the home side recorded a goal and three unanswered points to leave a comfortable enough gap of eight points in the end.
The first half was all one way traffic as Armoy were able to find there men with ease and with Tarlach McBride in hot form from placed balls they cruised to a half time lead of 1-15 to 0-05. Sean McKay being chief marksman for the visitors.
For the second half, Glenravel put Conleth O’Loan and Cormac McKeown in on the edge of the square and they certainly made good use of the space. In the opening minute of the second half Conleth had the sliothar in the net and the same player followed with two well taken points in quick succession before netting another major. That made 2-02 from O’Loan in the opening four minutes of the second half to reduce the gap to five points and the visitors well on top. Further points from Sean McKay, Declan Traynor, Fergus Donaghy, Cormac McKeown and Conleth O’Loan kept Glenravel within striking distance as their opponents could only manage scores from ace free taker McBride who recorded four in total. So with ten minutes remaining Armoy led by two points, 1-19 to 2-14. Then came the defining moment of the game when a long range effort from Armoy ended up in the net along with Glenravel keeper Chris Quinn That score knocked the stuffing out of the visitors and Armoy would go on to score three further points in the closing minutes and end up victorious by eight points
Glenravel will look back on this game and wonder what might have been had they got out of the traps a little quicker in the opening half and Armoy will just be glad to have got over the line when an upset certainly seemed on the cards. The win keeps Glen Rovers joint top on 11 points, though with an inferior points difference than both Dunloy and Ballycastle.
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Lámh Dhearg withheld a strong Davitt’s fightback in the second half to edge to victory in the Belfast derby with a 3-13-2-13 win at Hannahstown on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts opened up brightly on a sunsoaked Hannahstown morning with Adam Murray shooting over back-to-back scores within the first two minutes.
A converted Donn Whelan free halved the deficit, but Lámh Dhearg hit the game’s opening goal.
Niall McGarry won the breaking puck-out and laid a pass off to Donal Martin, he in turn found Adam Murray whose initial shot was blocked before he found the net at the second time of asking.
Murray clipped over successive frees, with Deaglan Mooney replying for Davitts prior to an injury to Don Whelan that saw proceedings halted.
Goal number two arrived in the 9th minute after Donal Martin received a pass from talisman Murray and lashed in at the near post to make it 2-4-0-2.
A Stephen McGivern point in reply was followed by a lull in the scoring – especially for Davitts- who went 20 minutes without a score; in between times Murray converted his third free of the half and a stinging snapshot from Ciaran Boyd was turned over the bar to safety.
Adam Murray helped himself to a further 1-1 before the half was out, on both occasions he linked up with Donal Martin to devastating effect as his personal tally stood at 2-6 and the Lámhs led was 3-7-0-3.
In first half injury time, successive frees from Christopher Gallagher narrowed the margin slightly but double figures separated the duo.
Lámh Dhearg extended their lead upon the resumption through an excellent Ryan Diamond point, however Davitt’s hit three unanswered points through Anthony Rowntree and another two Gallagher frees.
Momentum was briefly halted when Daniel Murray intercepted and swung over a point, though Thomas Toland converted a free and midway through the second half a Christopher Gallagher long range shot from the half-line dropped and was adjudged to have crossed the line according to the umpire as Davitt’s were beginning to grow in belief with the score 3-9-1-9.
Daniel Murray doubled his personal tally with an angled score and a long range Adam Murray free appeared to have settled the hosts.
However Davitts were far from finished as Gallagher sent over his fifth free of the afternoon and Anthony Rowntree held off a challenge and shot over on the turn.
Gallagher added another point from the placed ball and on the 59th minute the Beechmount outfit who trailed by 13 before the break were now just two points in arrears thanks to a fantastic Caoimhin Rainey goal that made it 3-11-2-12.
Two Murray free’s in injury time allayed any nerves that the Lámh’s might surrender the spoils, with Deaglan Mooney’s point in reply only consolation in the end as Davitt’s fightback fell short and Lámh Dhearg edged to victory.
Lámh Dhearg: PJ Herron, F Clenaghan, C Rafferty, T McKenna, N McGarry, F Mervyn, SP Gibson, C Boyd (0-1), D Murray (0-2), M Finnegan, O Waldron, A McGuigan, D Martin, R Diamond (0-1), A Murray (2-9, 0-6f). Subs: C McConville for F Mervyn (35), G Smyth for M Finnegan (47), C McGuigan for A McGuigan (52).
Davitt’s: G Cosgrove, O Cosgrove, T Toland (0-1f), E Gallagher, C Gallagher (2-6, 0-6f), C Heaney, J Winters, C McKee, D Mooney (0-2), C Rainey (1-0), S McGivern (0-1), C Maguire, L O’Grady, A Rowntree (0-2), D Whelan (0-1). Subs: O Persson for D Whelan (10), M Glennon for C Rainey (60+1). Referee: Paul McSparron (Cushendun)
St Mary’s Rasharkin kept themselves in the league title race when they travelled to Glenravel and beat the Con Magees by ten points. With both team field short a good few regulars the visitor always had the upper hand, and thought Glenravel stayed in touch until the last ten minutes, two quick goals from substitute James Higgins ten minutes from time killed the game as a contest.
Donagh Quigg goal in the third minute got Rasharkin off to a good start and with three points from full forward Conal McKeever and one from Quigg they moved 1-03 to 0-02 ahead by the tenth minute, the Glenravel points coming from Conlith O’Loan. The home team got a boost when a long delivery from midfield ended up the Rasharkin net but McKeever kept picking off the points for Rasharkin and by half time they had moved three points clear again, 1-09 to 1-06.
Another pointed free by Conlith O’Loan at the start of the second half cut the gap to two Rasharkin hit back with a bank when centre forward Quigg soloed through the middle of the Glenravel defence and planted the ball in the net. O’Loan pulled one back for the home team but a point by midfielder Conor McFerran and two by Conor McKillop stretched theier lead. A goal by Glenravel corner forward Luke Loughlin kept his team in touch but five minutes later Terry McGregor finished the game as a contest with two goals in as many minutes.
Four points without reply from Joe McKay, Rian Lennon, Conlith O’Loan and Adam Neeson showed a bit of resistance from the home team but Rasharkin were home and hosed and they finished with points from McMullan and Quigg to win by ten in the end.
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Last year’s Junior Championship finalists, St. Mary’s Rasharkin and Glen Rovers Armoy met in the division 3 league at Dreen on Saturday with the men from the Glen gaining a bit of revenge for that loss to today’s opponents, St. Mary’s in last year’s final.
Glen Rovers started with a stiff breeze at their backs and had the sliothar in the Rasharkin net within two minutes. Brian Og O’Neill in the Rasharkin goals made a good catch and raced from his goals but his clearance only found Thomas Burns and his long delivery was diverted to the net by Joseph McFetridge.
Jack Quinn replied immediately with a point at the other end but the visitors were looking the sharper and PJ McBride fired over at the other end.
Conr McKeever closed the gap to a goal once more but Glen Rovers were starting to take control and Tarlach McBride, PJ McBride and Ciaran McCormick hit three on the bounce to move them 6 ahead before Jack Quinn replied with a point for St. Mary’s.
Both sides were fiercely contesting every ball but the Armoy press was more sustained and their short passing game was working a treat while too many attempted passes for the home side were going astray or being intercepted.
Conor McKeever raised his second white flag of the afternoon from a free in the 15th minute but Tarlach McBride replied with a monster score for the visitors before Brian Og O’Neill in the Rasharkin goals pulled of an excellent save to deny Timothy Burns.
The Glen Rovers high press and team work was starting to tell as they added a point from a ‘65’ from Tarlach McBride and the same player added another from a free before Emmet O’Hara struck a fine point from play to move the visitors nine ahead.
Conor Christie then hit a sweet over the shoulder point with Tarlach McBride adding another fine score and O’Hara’s late point for the visitors in response tothe Conor McKeever’s third of the half from a 45 meter free, left it 1-12 to 0-4 for Armoy at the break.
Just what influence the strong breeze would have in the second half was what most people would have been asking and given its strength, that 11 point half time lead certainly didn’t look insurmountable.
Timmy Burns put a spanner in the Rasharkin works in the opening minute however as he pulled first time on the ground to beat Brian Og O’Neill from close range to increase that lead to 14 and it looked a long way back for the reigning Junior Champions.
They refused to concede however and Conor McKeever got them going again from a free in the 3d minute but Emmet O’Hara replied with a point at the other end.
Back came the home side and Conor McFerran gave them a glimmer of hope when he deflected a long delivery past Conor Devlin and points from McKeever and Thomas McMullan had it back to nine after 13 minutes.
Substitute, Trevor Linton briefly relieved the pressure and Conor McKeever and Tarlach McBride exchanged further points to keep significant distance between the sides.
Another point from Ciaran McKenna stretched the Armoy lead to 12 with 10 minutes remaining to affectively kill of the game as a contest but St. Mary’s battled all the way to the final whistle.
Conor McKeever who top scored for Rasharkin
Conor McKeever, who was their top scorer, sent two sublimely struck side-line cuts between the uprights and added another from a ‘65’ and Tiernan O’Boyle hit a fine point in reply to one from the excellent Tarlach McBride to conclude the scoring.
This win moves Glen Rovers to the top of the league on 6 points after 3 rounds but Rasharkin are handily placed in joint second on five points with Gort na Mona and Dunloy’s second string.
The home side were missing a number of key players due to injury and will be confident of getting back to winning ways when they become available while Armoy look capable of being challengers for the title on Saturday’s performance.
Rasharkin: 1 Brian Og O’Neill, 2 Connor Higgins, 3 Daniel Doherty, 4 Daniel Hasson, 5 Connaire Doherty, 6 Aidan McKeever, 7 Tiernan O’Boyle, 8 Cathair Henderson, 9 Conor McFerran, 10 Declan McKay, 11 Thomas McMullan, 12 Jason McGregor, 13 Conor McKeever, 14 Terry McGregor, 15 Jack Quinn.
Subs: Oisin Doherty for Jason McGregor, Brendan Kelly for Jack Quinn
