Davitt’s dominated Wednesday evening’s Division 4 Hurling League game against Belfast rivals St Agnes at Davitt Park, running out winners by 3-22 to 1-3.
On their magnificent new pitch the home side were in control from start to finish and boosted by a goal from Don Whelan they raced to a 1-12 to 1-2 half time lead.
After the break there was not let up for the Aggies as Davitt’s continued to pick off their scores with ease and 1-2 form Cormac Maguire, a goal from Michael Rowntree and five points from Stephen McGivern saw them run out winners by 25 points.
Davitts scorers
Stephen McGivern 0-8, Cormac Maguire 1-3, Peter Carleton 0-1, Don Whelan 2-5 (2fs), Colm McKee 0-3 Michael Rowntree 1-1, Alan Rainey 0-1
Davitt’s
Joseph McCaffrey, Charlie McHenry, Tomas Og Toland, Ruairi McIlroy, Caoimhin Heaney, Thomas Maguire, Christopher Gallagher, Peter Og Carleton, Michael Og Rowntree, Colum McKee, Don Whelan, Martin Tully, Cormac Maguire, Stephen McGivern, Alan Rainey.
St Agnes
Christopher Fay, Ben Carlin, Martin Robb, Daniel McConnell, Brian Keatings, Ronan Carlin, Matt Carlin, Anthony Mulvenna, Conor Pelan, Adam O’Rourke, Mark Caldwell, Cormac Flannery, James Halleron, Conor McLean, Kevin Grieve
Darragh Turley and Michael McDonnell ran riot as Loch Mor Dal gCais swept aside the challenge of All Saints, Ballymena at Quinn Park tonight. Youngster, Turley struck 2-8 while his colleague McDonnell contributed 2-5 against an All Saints defence who had simply no answer to their pace and movement.
The visitors led 3-10 to 0-7 at the short whistle by which time this game looked well and truly over and when Turley outpaced the home defence for his second and his side’s fourth goal, two minutes into the second half it looked like being a long night for Enda Casey’s side.
To their credit they never gave up but were badly off the pace throughout the game and a poor first touch too often saw them loose possession as a hungry Loch Mor hunted in packs and moved the ball at pace when in possession.
Michael McDonnell who scored 2-5 for Loch Mor Dal gCais is challenged by Christopher Ma Affee, All Saints
It was the home side who made the better start with Ciaran Neeson pointing after 30 seconds but they hit three wides on the trot as they briefly dominated the opening exchanges. Darragh Turley brought the sides level in the 8th minute and the flying corner forward was to have a massive influence on the game.
Ruairi Bannon edged the visitors ahead and Michael McDonnell added another as the Loch shore side started to get on top with All Saints greatest threat coming from a clearly unfit Ciaran Neeson who was struggling with a recurring hip injury.
A McDonnell goal in the 16th minute put the visitors five in front and they went on to lead 3-10 to 0-7 at the break with Darragh Turley and McDonnell again finding the net and both players regularly splitting the posts.
Damian Gillan runs at the Loch Mor defence
When Ciaran Neeson pointed in the opening minute of the second half there may have been some hope of a revival from the home side but young Turley raced through the home defence and plant the sliotar in Ciaran Cassley’s net in the second minute to dash those hopes.
Colum Neeson, Vincent Esler Damian Gillan and the clearly struggling Ciaran Neeson battled hard to get their side going but the visitors continued to call the shots.
Ciaran Neeson brought his personal tally to seven before limping off to be replaced by Dwane McKee but not before having a penalty saved by Bailey Graham in the Loch Mor goals after he himself had been brought down as he broke clear on goals.
After that the visitors continued to dominate with Turley and McDonnell adding to their personal totals with some fine points and Ciaran O’Boyle getting a late consolation point for the Ballymena side.
Ruairi Moran drives forward to set up a Lock Mor Dal gCais attack
All Saints: Ciaran Cassley, Francis Casey, Christopher McAffee, Patrick Kane, Terence Diamond, Colum Neeson, Sean O’Rawe, Damian Gillan 0-4, Vinny Esler, Cormac Magill, Gary Miskella, Daire Hasson, Kevin Brady, Ciaran Neeson 0-7, Ciaran O’Boyle 0-1, Subs: Ryan McGarry for Francis Casey, Dwane McKee for Ciaran Neeson, Anthony Mitchell for Daire Hasson
Loch Mor Dal gCais: Bailey Graham, Gerard Jim Pickering, Manus Carson, Aaron Monaghan, Conor Jones, Sean Burke, Ruairi Bannon 0-1, Ruairi Moran 0-1, Matthew Jones 0-1, Conor Mulholland, Lorcan Rooney, Darragh Turley 2-8, Michael Pearse McDonnell 2-5, David McAreavey Subs: Paul Molloy 0-1, Martin Braniff, Reece McDonnell, Robert Graham, Gary Dunlop
All County Hurling League – Division 3 & 4 Play Off
Con Magees 2-7 Na Magha 2-3
Con Magees Glenravel won promotion to Division 3 of the Antrim Hurling Leagues when they overturned a two point deficit from their first leg against Na Magha by winning Wednesday evening’s second leg by four at Pairc MacUilin, Ballycastle. On a wet and windy evening the Glenravel men played with the wind in the opening half and were 2-6 to 0-2 to the good at the break. When they got the first point of the second half it appeared to be one way traffic for the Division 4 runners up, but they failed to raise another flag for the remaining 29 minutes plus injury time, but their defence held out to see them become the first runners up to win a promotion play-off against higher opposition.
Johnny Fyfe punches the air after Niall Donnelly centre) scores Glenravels opening goal.
Early points from Johnny Fyfe and Niall Donnelly got the Con Magees going but when Alan Grant pulled one back for Na Magha in the tenth minute it was getting a little worrying for the Glenravel men. Two more points from Padge O’Neill and 45 year old veteran Vic McCann had them 0-4 to 0-1 clear at the end of the first quarter but when Grant pulled another one back for the men from Derry city things did not look promising for the Glenravel side. However they really got going in the second quarter and after McCann added a second point they won the puc-out and put together a good flowing move which ended with Niall Donnelly crashing in their opening goal.
That score really got the Glenravel men going and
after Donnelly had added a point from a free he dropped a 65 in around the Na
Magha square where Brian ‘Twig’ O’Neill connected with the dropping ball to
send it flying to the back of the net and give his team a 2-6 to 0-2 lead at
the break.
Na Maghas Dairmuid Shiels in action against Glenravels Shane Woulahan and Johnny Fyfe
When Donnelly grabbed another point in the opening minute of the second half the Con Magees were eleven clear, and when they still held that advantage at the end of the third quarter they appeared to have it all wrapped up. However when Alan Grant fired a 20 metre free to the Glenravel net in the 46th minute the game began to change and when he added a point from play on 50 minutes the game was still within the Derry mens’ grasp. It was backs to the wall for the Glenravel men as they battled the Na Magha forwards and the strong wind and, though the Derry men grabbed a late goal to cut the gap back to four it came too late to really make a difference and the Con Magees held out for the win.
CON MAGEES: Ronan Donnelly, Conor Carey, Shanlee
Kerr, Caolan Mullan, Damian O’Hagan, James Duffin, Conleth O’Loan, Stephen
Acheson, Padge O’Neill, Niall Donnelly, Sean Burns, Shane Woulahan, Brian O’Neill,
Neill McCann, Odhran McAleenan.
The first of this year’s championships continues tonight
with the semi-finals of the Junior B Hurling Championship where holder All
Saints face Davitt’s at Tir na nOg at 7-30 while at the same time Latharna Og
take on Loch Mor Dal gCais at Feystown.
Holders All Saints reached this year’s semi-final with a resounding win over Ardoyne
at Hightown in the quarter-final but they are likely to face a much stiffer
test tonight against Michael Davitt’s who defeated St. Agnes in the other
quarter-final.
These sides met in the 2017 decider and on that occasion
Davitt’s emerged victorious but an improving All Saints claimed last year’s
title and tonight’s game has all the makings of a tight contest.
Davitt’s withstood a second half comeback by St Agnes’ in their
quarter final at St Teresa’s to book a
place in tonight’s semi-final. They were five up at half time and had appeared
to be comfortable when they stretched their lead to seven during the second
half but the Aggies were able to stay in touch by grabbing goals and twice got
it back to just two, and even had the chance to snatch it with a Kevin Grieve
injury time free.
However Davitt’s were deserving winners and had they have
shown a bit more accuracy then they would have had the game wrapped up much
earlier and they will need to sharpen up in that department before facing
holders All Saints in tonight’s semi-final.
Stephen McGivern with 0-6, Gearoid Cosgrove, 1-2 and Ciaran Rice, 1-1 were the danger men for Davitt’s and will need
some watching by the Ballymena defence.
All Saints weren’t
really pushed against Ardoyne in their quarter-final and with a strong wind in
their favour they had the contest more or less tied up by half time. Chris McAffee,
Damian Gillan, Cormac Magill, Liam Cassley, Colum Neeson, Luke O’Rawe, Niall McGarry and Ciaran Neeson are the men who will carry the greatest threat
for the Slemish Park side.
IMPROVING LATHARNA OG COULD EDGE OTHER SEMI-FINAL
Junior B Hurling Championship B Semi-Final
(Feystown 7-30)
Latharna Og v Loch Mor Dal gCais
Latharna Og of Larne made their return to ACHL Division 4
action this year and have acquitted themselves well. They meet a Loch Mor Dal gCais
side who have struggled for results despite turning in a number of creditable
performances in tonight’s semi-final at Feystown.
The sides met in the league at Brustin Braes a number of
weeks back and on that occasion Latharna Og came out tops in a high scoring
game but Loch Mor showed in glimpses just what they are capable of.
The game finished 4-19 to 1-13 in favour of the home side
with Matthews, Lismore, McNeill and Lismore again the Lathara Og goal scorers
with the Loch Mor goal coming from McDonnell after good work by Darragh and
Drayne.
The Larne men have recorded five wins in their 12 outings in
a very competitive division 4 with a win over All Saints in Ballymena perhaps
their best result to date and they will start this one as firm favourites
against a Loch Mor Dal gCais side who have recorded only one win in the league
to date.
Championship and league can be entirely different things and
with nothing to lose this one could be closer that you think but the Larne men should go through to
possibly another meeting with All Saints in the final.
St Teresa’s took a giant step towards clinching the Division 4 Hurling title on Sunday when they defeated previously unbeaten Glenravel. Victory in their final game of the season this Wednesday night at home to All Saints would see them level on league points with Glenravel but the Belfast men would be crowned champions on a head to head basis despite a very much inferior points difference.
The incessant rain was kind enough to switch off for the entire duration of the game but it left very slippery underfoot conditions for the players to cope with and the tight Glen Road pitch seemed to work better for the home team. Glenravel opened the scoring through the normally dependable Niall Donnelly from a free which was quickly cancelled out by the Saint’s free taker Phil Maguire who would go on to record seven points, all from frees; a masterclass given the swirling wind conditions. Robbie Gallagher would extend the home team’s lead but Glenravel were starting to find their range and two points from Niall Donnelly from frees and a well taken score from Stevie Acheson nudged them in front by two. Half way through the first half St Teresa’s struck two goals in a minute from Jordan McAllister and Darren McCann to go into a lead of 2-02 to 0-04 and they would never relinquish that lead to the end of the game. Glenravel’s Shane Woulahan was a real handful for the St Teresa’s defence and he scored from a tight angle to reduce the deficit after twenty minutes. An altercation in the midfield battle saw one yellow card for Glenravel and a red for St Teresa’s reducing their numbers to fourteen. The visitors pounced on that numerical advantage to record a couple of fine points from play from Shane Woulahan and James Duffin but St Teresa’s rallied in the closing minutes with points from Phil Maguire and Colm McGoldrick taking them into the half time break leading 2-04 to 0-07.
Glenravel mentors made a couple of positional switches at half time and they appeared to be working well for them when Conleth O’Loan, now berthed in the half forward line, scored from a tight angle to reduce the deficit to two points. Phil Maguire added one for St Teresa’s in the second minute and then a tight battle ensued for six minutes without a single score. Sean McKay broke the deadlock with a point for Glenravel but that was his final contribution as shortly after he made way for Odhran McAleenan. Patrick O’Neill was also called ashore due to injury and veteran Neil McCann entered the fray. Shuffling the Glenravel deck appeared to work into the home team’s hands as Glenravel struggled to contain St Teresa’s forwards. Two more frees from Phil Maguire would stretch the home team lead and a goal in the 49th minute by Robbie Gallagher sealed the deal for the home team, now leading 3-07 to 0-09. Niall Donnelly did pull one back for the visitors but again Phil Maguire capitalised on indiscipline in Glenravel defence to pop over his sixth and seventh points form frees. With one minute left on the clock, Neil McCann put over the final score of the game but it was too little too late for Glenravel, St Teresa’s running out deserved victors on a 3-09 to -0-11 scoreline.
Though St Teresa’s have now one more match to play, this game was looked upon by many as the “title decider”. Those of us of a particular vintage couldn’t help but hark back to a previous title decider between these two great clubs. That was in a big ball game to decide the winners of 1979 Division 1 Football. The game played in Jan 1980 amid snow and ice in Fr Maginn Park also saw St Teresa’s emerge victorious. Surely none of today’s players will remember that game but they will remember this one for a long time and the impact it had on their bid for divisional glory.
