ACHL Division 3

Rasharkin 2-20 All Saints 1-18

St. Mary’s Rasharkin and All Saints Ballymena served up a real thriller at Dreen on Wednesday night with some of the hurling and scores right out of the top drawer. The home side hit four unanswered points in the opening four minutes and three more at the start of the second half and in the end those scores proved the difference between the sides.

In between division 3 new boys All Saints gave as good as they got with their number 12, Ciaran Neeson hitting 1-15 on the night in an exhibition of free taking as good as anything I’ve seen with at least seven of his scores coming from beyond the ‘65’ yard line.

Neeson’s goal with time almost up came too late to influence the result and in the end Rasharkin deserved their five point win but they were given a run for their money by an All Saints team who have improved immeasurably under the management of Chris Dornan and certainly don’t look  out of place in this division.

Conor McKeever, Donagh Quigg, Conor McFerran and McKeever again shot Rasharkin into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead by the fifth minute before Ciaran Neeson opened All Saints account with his first point of the night from a ‘65’ with seven minutes gone.

Caolan Maria restored the home side’s four point advantage but the visitors were beginning to gain a foothold and Padraig Magill from play and Ciaran Neeson from a 30 meter free in the 12^th minute and another in the 15^th closed the gap to the minimum.

Rasharkin responded and Conor McFerran and Ruairi O’Boyle with a massive long range effort moved their side three clear again but the Ballymena men looked like drawing level but Eoin McGuigan was fouled as he bore down on goal with Neeson pointing the resulting free.

Mid-fielder James O’Boyle hit a good point and another couple of pointed frees from the mercurial Neeson had the Slemish Park side two in front with four minutes remaining to half time as the visitors continued to edge the exchanges and a further exchange between Neeson for the visitors and McKeever for Rasharkin had Chris Dornan’s side two in front at the break.

As in the first half, it was St. Mary’s who started on the front foot and within four minutes they had taken the lead as Conor McFerran, Aidan McKeever and Conor McKeever from a free had them ahead by the fourth minute.

Two more from Aidan McKeever and Cathair Henderson moved the Dreen side three in front before Neeson finally got All Saints off the mark again when he sent over a free from more than 70 meters out and another from a similar distance had the visitors back in touch with 9 minutes of the new half gone.

McKeever and Donagh Quigg edged the Dreen side three in front once more but once again that man Neeson hit the target from distance to keep his side’s hopes alive and so it continued with the respective teams sharp shooters keeping the score board ticking.

With ten minutes of normal time remaining it still looked anybody’s game but when Donagh Quigg raced through the All Saints defence to plant the sliothar in the net matters swung decisively towards the home side.

James Higgins hit an excellent point and when Conor McFerran got a touch to a dropping ball in a challenge with Ciaran Cassley in the All Saints nets to guide the sliotar over the line Rasharkin had suddenly opened up an eight point lead.

Cathair Henderson added a point with James O’Boyle replying at the other end and Conor McKeever converted a free before Ciaran Neeson put the icing on a fine individual performance as he fired to the Rasharkin net but there would be no way back for the Ballymena side.

A great game of hurling with some excellent scores with the free taking of Ciaran Neeson the highlight of the night but in the end it was the greater all round power of Rasharkin that saw them finish strongly to edge home comfortably in the end.

Rasharkin: 1 Liam Tunney, 2 Conor Doherty, 3 Daniel Doherty, 4 Connor Higgins, 5 Ruairi O’Boyle, 6 Shane Hasson, 7 Daniel Hasson, 8 Emmet McFerran, 9 James Higgins, 10 Cathair Henderson, 11 Conor McFerran, 12 Aidan McKeever, 13 Donagh Quigg, 14 Conor McKeever, 15 Caolan Maria. Subs 17, Conan McMullan, 18 Terry McGregor

All Saints: 1 Ciaran Cassley, 2 Daniel Gray, 3 Colum Neeson, 4 Kewvin Brady, 5 Cathaoir Cunning, 6 Luke O’Rawe, 7 Conor O’Rawe, 8 Padraig Magill, 9 James O’Boyle, 10 Cormac Magill, 11 Damian Gillan, 12 Ciaran Neeson, 13 Eoin McGuigan, 14 Gary Miskella, 15 Joseph O’Rawe. Subs: 17 Jack Magill, 19 Vincent Esler,

Referee: Darren McKeown (St. Gall’s)

ACHL Division 3

All Saints 1-12 Lamh Dhearg 0-15

Last year’s division 4 winners, All Saints picked up their third point of this year’s division 3 campaign when they drew with Lamh Dhearg in Ballymena on Sunday.

Little separated the sides throughout with the returning Ciaran Neeson making an impact for the Ballymena side with the game’s only goal and he added two points for good measure.

Damian Gillan once again contributed handsomely for All Saints scoring 0-7 with three of them coming from play while Luke O’Rawe struck a sublime point from a sideline cut.

Liam Cassley and Cormac Magill were also on target for the home side while Declan Lynch was the go to man and top scored for the Hannastown side who move onto five points and a mid-table position.

All Saints: Ciaran Cassley 2. Dwayne McKee 3. Colum Neeson 4. Kevin Brady 5. Cathaoir Cunning 6. Luke O’Rawe 7. Daniel Grey 8. Padhriag Magill 9. James O’Boyle 10. Damien Gillan 11. Jack Magill 12. Liam Cassley 13. Eoin McGuigan 14. Joseph O’ Rawe 15. Ciaran Neeson

Subs: Cormac Magill for Jack Magill Gary Miskella for Eoin McGuigan

Scorers Damien Gillan 0-7 (4f) Ciaran Neeson 1-2 (1f) Luke O’ Rawe 0-1 (sideline) Liam Cassley 0-1 Cormac Magill 0-1

Lamh Dhearg: 1 Rhys Camlin, 2 Christopher Nolan, 3 Darren O’Brien, 4 Tiernan McKenna, 5 Sean Paul Gibson, 6 Odhran Waldron, 7 Aidan McGuigan, 8 Fionn Mervyn, 9 Niall McGarry, 10 Michael McGuigan, 21 Gerard Smyth, 12 Declan Lynch, 13 Padraig Mervyn, 14 Adam Murray, 15 Donal Martin

Referee: Paul McDonnell

ACHL Div 3 

Rasharkin 0-17 Cuchulainn 0-21

Cuchullain’s Armagh remain top of the ACHL Division 3 after travelling to Rasharkin on Sunday and recording a four point win over a battling St. Mary’s side. The game turned into a battle of the free takers with Connor McKeever in fine form for the men from Dreen who battled hard but just never could get in front.

The Armagh side raced into an early three point lead and it was score for score the rest of the game with the 2 full forwards trading frees.

The Cuchulainn keeper made a couple of really good saves and Rasharkin just could never get in front in what turned into a really good game of hurling.

Jordan Murtagh led the way for the men from Armagh City and finished with 0-13 in a shootout with Rasharkin’s Connor McKeever who top scored for the Dreen side

Rasharkin: 1 Liam Tunney, 2 James Higgins, 3 Connor Doherty, 4 Connor Higgins, 5 Ruairi O’Boyle, 6 Shane Hasson, 7 Tiernan O’Boyle, 8 Emmet McFerran, 9 Daniel Hasson, 10 Caolan Maria, 11 Aidan McKeever, 12 Donagh Quigg, 13 Connor McKillop, 14 Connor McKeever, 15 Connor McFerran

Subs: Conan McMullan for Tiernan O’Boyle 27mins

Jack Quinn for Caolan Maria 45 mins

Cuchullains team

Stefan McParland for Ronan O’Hagan

Matthew Rafferty for Joe Burke

Caolan Rice for John Donnelly

Cuchullains Scorers: 0-13 Jordan Murtagh 0-4 Connor Devlin 0-2 Tom Marley 0-1 Lee Murtagh 0-1 John Donnelly

By Brian McKee

Loch Mór got this top of the table clash off to a great start by putting the early pressure on Ardoyne Kickhams and were four points to one up within the first ten minutes. It was a sign of things to come though as Ardoyne’s Aran Stewart was in great form and began to peg the lead back with his free taking. The Kickhams managed to keep the tabs on Loch Mór even when it looked as though the lough shore men were going to turn the tables on last season’s results.

Oisin Mac An Bhiocaire was a constant threat in the Ardoyne attack and Loch Mór were never able to get to grips with his strong runs and incisive passing. It was such a strong run from Mac An Bhiocaire that punched a hole in the Loch Mór defence leading to a great strike from McKillen to bulge the Loch Mór net.

In a tight first half, Loch Mór enjoyed periods of dominance and Falloon in partnership with Turley in the full forward line kept the scoreboard ticking over. Enda Slattery was impressive for Ardoyne but Loch Mór were stamping their authority as the first half edged to a close. A long range free was turned on by Carson and despatched it to the back of the Ardoyne net. This was followed by a beautiful sideline cut by Turley and serious concerns were rising for the Ardoyne management team to address at half-time. A great save by O’hEireamhoin in the Loch More net denied the dangerous McKillen of a second goal to leave Loch Mór ahead by 3 points at the half-time interval.

Half-Time: Loch Mór 1-9  Ardoyne 1-6

The half-time break marked a total change in direction for this game. The Kickhams put over three points in quick succession to put Loch Mór under the cosh. Agnew pulled off a magnificent saved in the Ardoyne net, and quick thinking and interplay saw the sliothar move on to McGreevy and then to Stewart who was pulled down while racing through the Loch Mór defence, only to put the resulting free over the bar.

The second half saw Loch Mór score only two points and the dominance of Kickhams was impressive. While Loch Mór insisted on going for goal without success, Ardoyne kept the points coming and ran out comfortable winners to move to top spot in Division 4.

Full -time: Loch Mór 1-11 Ardoyne 1-16

Ardoyne: 1 JP Agnew, 2 Pascal Clarke, 3 Paul Baker, 4 Cormac Curran(0-1), 5 Sean Searle(0-1), 6 Caolan Wallace, 7 Christopher McShane, 8 Paul McGuigan, 9 Dean Goodall, 10 Enda Slattery, 11 Oisin Mac An Bhiocaire(0-3), 12 Pearse Hull(0-1), 13 Matt McKillen(1-1), 14 Aran Stewart(0-10), 15 Kealan McCallan, Diarmuid Martin, Cormac Barnes, Paul O’Halloran, Joe McDowell, Piarais O’Neill, Conor Flannery, Stephen Hill, Eoghain Mac An tSearraig, Cahal Keown, Eamon Mac Lochlainn, Matthew Crommie, Patrick McGreevy, Padraig O Deorain

Loch Mór: 1 Cathan O hEireamhoin 2 Jack McKenna, 3 Martin Robb, 4 James Magorrian, 5 Aaron Monaghan, 6 Conor Jones, 7 Oisin O’Boyle, 8 Martin Branniff, 9 Bailey Graham, 10 Sean Burke, 11 Cormac Dwyer, 12 Adam Falloon(0-2), 13 Darragh Turley(1-7), 14 Ferdia Carson(0-2), 15 Declan Phillips, 16 Aodhan Morgan, 17  David McAreavey

Referee: Eamon Hamill

Antrim Hurling League Division 3

Cuchulainns 0-18  Glenravel 0-16

Pics courtesy of Ritchiepics Armagh

Both teams went into this game unbeaten so far in the league but is was the men from Armagh, playing in Antrim saffron, that came out tops on a narrow margin in a game played in beautiful sunshine at Pearse Óg GAA pitch in Armagh. Very little ever separated the sides throughout the sixty minutes and though Glenravel drew level on several occasions in the second half they could not push on to secure a lead at any stage in the game and in the end came up two short. 

It was a day when free taking was essential and in Jordan Murtagh (Cuchulainns) and Conleth O’Loan (Glenravel) both sides took good advantage of placed balls with Murtagh converting seven frees and O’Loan scoring six. There was plenty of other talent on show as well with some fine point scoring in open play but both teams will be keen to reduce the wide count next time out. Playing with the aid of a slight breeze the Armagh men dominated the first half but really struggled to make that count on the scoreboard; indeed six of their total of seven wides came in that first half. Glenravel would have been pleased enough to go in at half time only two points adrift 0-09 to 0-07.

Glenravel drew level with the opening two points in the second half, substitute Cormac McKeown and Declan Traynor the providers but back came Cuchulainns with three scores on the trot in what would become a see-saw game. Conleth O’Loan levelled the match for a second time at twelve points each after Shane Woulahan and Declan Traynor had clawed the Glensmen back in to the game. Murtagh and O’Loan would trade points to leave the sides level a third time. Two more points from Murtagh who was a real handful from both frees and play opened up a gap which Declan Traynor and Conleth O’Loan reduced once more to have the teams level for the fourth time. It wasn’t for the lack of effort from the men in green and white but they just could not get edged in front at any stage and the vital closing minutes Jordan and Lee Murtagh would record three scores but Glenravel could only muster a single point from Conleth O’Loan. With two points between the teams and time running out Glenravel went the aerial route in search of a major that would tip the game in their favour but resolute defending from Cuchulainns thwarted their efforts and so they went on to retain their unbeaten status in Division 3.