Casement SC JHC Group 1

St. Mary’s Rasharkin 1-21 Davitt’s 0-10

Rasharkin recovered from two defeats in Group 1 of the Casement JHC to outscore a Michael Davitt’s side, who were in the same position in this winner takes all contest at Dreen on Saturday, and earn themselves a place in the quarter-finals.

Conor McKeever was in imperious form for the home side and would finish the game with 0-11 as St. Mary’s took control of matters from early on despite facing the breeze.

McKeever struck the opening two points, the second from a long range free before Deaglan Mooney replied with Davitt’s opening score with 9 minutes on the clock.

Conor McKeever struck his third of the evening but Marcas Toner replied to leave just one in it after 15 minutes and it was still evenly balanced as James Higgins and Stephen McGivern exchanged further points to leave it 0-4 to 0-3 by the 21^st minute.

There seemed to be no stopping that man McKeever as he moved the home side three in front but his side had Liam Tunney to thank for a good save as Davitts threated.

A pointed free from Marcas Toner brought the city side back into contention but McKeever struck the final two points of the half to bring his personal contribution to 0-7 and leave his side four in front at the break.

It was Davitt’s who made the better start to the second half with Jay Maguire closing the gap to three but Donagh Quigg and Ruairi O’Boyle from a great long range effort moved the Dreen side five in front with only three minutes of the new half gone.

Cormac Maguire replied with a point for the Falls Road side but suddenly Rasharkin found another gear to put the game out of sight by the end of the third quarter.

Tiernan O’Boyle and Donagh Quigg split the posts before Cahir Henderson fired to the net in the 10^th minute and as the opposition reeled under the pressure, Conor McKeever, Conor McFerran and Emmet McFerran added points.

Marcas Toner, who was Davitt’s best forward on the night, briefly halted the onslaught from a free in the 15^th minute but it provided only short respite as the home side came back strongly with two more from McKeever and a great long range effort from Ruairi O’Boyle.

Although well beaten at this stage, Michael Davitt’s fought to the end with Marcas Toner replying with two points but they had keeper, Anton McLaughlin to thank for a great save as St. Mary’s threatened again.

The home side finished strongly with Conor McKeever, Donagh Quigg and Shane Hasson adding points before Stephen McGivern replied with a consolation point for the visitors.

A strong performance from the men from Dreen and last year’s beaten finalists could be hitting a bit of form just at the right time. They now face Gort na Mona in the quarter-finals and face a stiff challenge from a Gort’s side who have put a poor league campaign behind them to provide a championship threat themselves.

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

Davitt’s: 1 Anton McLaughlin, 2 Odhran Gorman, 3 Cormac Maguire, 4 Thomas Carson, 5 Chris Gallagher, 6 Stephen McGivern, 7 James McNally, 8 Deaglan Mooney, 9 Peter Carleton, 10 Thomas Toland, 11 Colm McKee, 12 Jay Maguire, 13 Caoimhin Rainey, 14 Gerard Cosgrove, 15 Marcas Toner, 17 Nathan Maginn

Referee: Shane McDonnell

Casement Social Club Antrim JHC Group 1 

Lámh Dhearg 3-22-1-10 Davitt’s 

Kevin Herron reports from Musgrave Park 

Lámh Dhearg made it two wins from two and set up a winners take all showdown for a direct semi-final spot in the Casement Social Club Antrim JHC with a 3-22-1-10 win over Davitt’s at Musgrave Park on Saturday evening.

The Hannahstown side edged out Rasharkin by a point in their opening encounter and found their scoring touch early on in the Belfast derby. 

Fionn Mervyn swung over their opener and on four minutes they found the opening goal when Odrán Waldron’s clearance from defence was gathered by Gerard Smyth, and he offloaded to Daire Cunningham to fire to the net. 

A long-range Mark Finnegan point extended his sides lead before Marcus Toner got Davitt’s up and running for the evening- converting a free. 

Adam Murray would open his evenings account from the placed ball and followed that with another from play following a nice pass from Padraig Mervyn. 

It looked to be relatively one-way traffic when Mark Finnegan doubled his account from a pinpoint Conor McConville puck-out that picked out the forward to float over and give the Lámhs a 1-05-0-01 lead after 13 minutes. 

Davitt’s responded positively however and three unanswered free’s in succession from Toner had the Beechmount outfit trailing by four with ten minutes until the break. 

Micko Herron dropped over his first point of the half after Padraig Mervyn picked out the experienced forward with a cross field free. 

Talisman Toner landed back-to-back frees in the aftermath to leave Cunningham’s goal the difference going down the home straight. 

Points were traded between Padraig Mervyn and Toner (free) though a long range Fionn Mervyn score and another from Micko Herron saw Lámh Dhearg into a 1-09-0-07 lead at the interval. 

Lámh Dhearg started the second period confidently and extended their lead through points from Mark Finnegan and Adam Murray. 

Half-time substitutes Niall McGarry and Joel Brady added further scores and in-between times Gerard Smyth contested for a dropping ball and won it before offloading to Adam Murray to fizz to the net. 

It took Davitt’s until the 36^th minute to claim their first score from play and it arrived through the familiar source of Marcus Toner. 

Murray replied with his second converted free of the evening and although the Lámhs were pulling into the distance, Davitt’s threw themselves a lifeline with twenty minutes remaining. 

The Beechmount side were frustrated that referee Piarais McCaffrey had blown his whistle and didn’t allow an advantage after Stephen McGivern had fired to the net in the aftermath. McGivern stood over the resulting free and would opt to go low – succeeding in squeezing his shot to the net to make it 2-14-1-08. 

Any prospects of a fightback were short-lived however as Lámh Dhearg racked up another 1-04 unanswered in an eight-minute spell. 

Ciaran Boyd floated over his first score and Adam Murray converted successive frees. Paddy Mervyn linked up with Micko Herron for his third point of the evening and Herron would net within 60-seconds. 

After receiving the ball in a promising position, Herron looked across and spotted Mark Finnegan at the back post and unselfishly handpassed across. Finnegan was unable to steer the ball home and after a further shot was blocked the ball was recycled across to the other post where Herron lined up a shot made no mistake to open up a 3-18-1-08 advantage. 

Stephen McGivern landed a long range free in reply and Adam Murray chalked up his seventh point of the evening. 

Further points were traded between Colm McKee and Mark Finnegan before two late Murray frees completed the games scoring as Lámh Dhearg ran out convincing 3-22-1-10 winners at the conclusion.  

The Lámhs have at the very least secured themselves a quarter final berth but travel to Armoy in a fortnight knowing that victory will see them straight through to the semi-final. 

Davitt’s meanwhile must defeat Rasharkin in their final Group game to have any hope of making it through to the last eight. 

Lámh Dhearg: C McConville, T McKenna, O Waldron, M McGuigan, D Murray, D Lynch, F Mervyn (0-02), C Boyd (0-01), P Mervyn (0-01), A McGuigan, M Herron (1-03), A Murray (1-09, 0-06f), M Finnegan (0-04), G Smyth, D Cunningham (1-00). Subs: J Brady (0-01) for M McGuigan (HT), N McGarry (0-01) for D Cunningham (HT), C Nolan for O Waldon (52), E Stanley for M Finnegan (52), A Ferris for M Herron (60). 

Davitt’s: A McLaughlin, O Gorman, J Park, T Carson, C Gallagher, S McGivern (1-01f), D Mooney, P Carleton, C Heaney, C Maguire, C McKee (0-01), D Whelan, C Rainey, J McNally, M Toner (0-08, 0-07f). Subs: G Cosgrove for C Rainey (48), D Maher for J McNally (48), C Ferran for D Whelan (51). 

Referee: Piarais McCaffrey (St Galls)

Junior B Hurling Championship

Loch Mor Dal gCais 2-14 Kickham’s Ardoyne 2-14

As darkness fell at St. Agnes on Friday night, Bailey Graham fired a rocket to the Ardoyne net in the fading light to give Loch Mor Dal gCais a share of the points that seemed highly unlikely minutes earlier.

The Kickkham’s had finished strongly with three points on the bounce from corner-forward, Patrick McGreevey and looked to have done enough to have edged a thrilling Junior B Hurling Championship encounter.

With time almost up Graham applied the coup de grâce and these two sides could meet again in the decider if the final round of games fall in both their favour.

In a game of changing fortunes that swung in favour of one and then the other throughout these two well matched sides could not be separated during an exciting opening half where both teams played some excellent hurling in far from ideal conditions

The game turned into a shootout between Loch Mor’s Darragh Turley and Patrick McGreevey of Ardoyne who both gave an exhibition of free taking over the hour despite the driving wind and rain.

Turley would account for 0-6 of his sides 0-11 first half total while McGreevey replied with three for the Kickham’s but significantly it was Aaran Stewart with goals in the 2^nd and 27^th minutes that kept them on level par at the change of ends.

On the restart it was Loch Mor Dal gCais who looked the more likely winners as they dominated the opening exchanges with Turley carrying on where he had left off with three points in the opening four minute, one a superb long range effort.

It certainly look to be swinging very much in favour of the Lough Shore side when Bailey Graham fired home their opening goal of the contest in the 5^th minute and Ardoyne looked in trouble as they trailed by six points.

McGreevey began the comeback for the Kickham’s with points in the 10^th and 11^th minutes with Daniel Moore and Paul McGuigan splitting the posts as they slowly reeled in the Loch Mor lead.

The momentum was now very much with Ardoyne as McGreevey and Goodall brought matters level by the 22^nd minute and three late strikes from the Ardoyne corner-forward looked to have secured victory.

Loch Mor were not yet finished however and Bailey Graham became their hero when he fired home with time almost up to secure his side a point that on the balance of play was probably the right result.

Both side deserve credit for their performances on the night and both are still in there battling for Junior B Championship success.

Loch Mor Dal gCais travel to Loughbeg Harps on the 5^th September while Ardoyne face Belfast Saints at Fennell Park on the same day.

Kickham’s Ardoyne: 1 JP Agnew, 2 Pascal Clarke, 3 Paul Baker, 4 Cahal Clarke, 5 Sean Searle, 6 Micheal McGreevey, 7 Christopher McShane, 8 Dean Goodall, 9 Oisin McVicker, 10 Daniel Moore, 11 Cahal Keown, 12 Pearse Hull, 13 Patrick McGreevey, 14 Aran Stewart, 15 Jim Og McAuley, 19 Paul McGuigan

Loch Mor Dal gCais:  1 Michael Morgan, 2 Aaron Monaghan, 3 Sean Burke, 4 James Magorrian, 5 David McAreavey, 6 Conor Jones, 7 Declan Phillips, 8 Martin Braniff, 9 Cormac Dwyer, 10 Ruairi Bannon, 11 Bailey Graham, 12 Cal Burke, 14 Ferdia Carson, 15 Darragh Turley, 22 Gerard Pickering

Casement SC Antrim Junior Hurling Championship, Group Two

Gort na Móna 1-20 St Brigid’s 1-4

Gort na Móna had too much scoring power for St Brigid’s when the sides met in round 2 of the Casement Park Social Club Junior Hurling Championship at Davitt Park on Friday evening, the Turf Lodge men having sixteen points to spare at the end.

On a dreadful evening for hurling the Gorts handled the conditions much better as they powered ahead from the start with an Aaron Hicks point. Further scores followed from Darren Boyd, Neill Henry Niall Healey and the mercurial Desi McClean as the opened a commanding 0-8 to 0-0 lead. Oisin McDonnell ( who was to end with 1-3 to his name) got St Brigid’s on the scoreboard early in the second quarter when he fired over a free, and though the right half forward was to add another from a placed ball the dominant Gorts went on to lead by 0-11 to 0-2 at the break.

A McDonnell goal early in the second half gave St Brigid’s renewed hope, but Gort na Móna continued to dominate the game with Desi McClean continuing to pull the strings. McClean was now adding point himself and when he was dragged down in the St Brigid’s penalty area top scorer Neill Henry fired home the resultant penalty to put the game beyond doubt.

The win seals a place in the knock-our stages for the Gorts and their meeting with All Saints in the final group game will decide the quarter final pairings.   

GORT NA MÓNA: M Ward; J Monaghan, G McKenna, C Healy; D Hughes, P McHugh, N Gibson; Neill Henry (1-7, 1-0 penalty, 0-4 frees, 0-1 65), A Hicks (0-1); D Dixon, D Boyd (0-2, 1 free), N Healy (0-4); M McMullan (0-1), M Carlin, D McClean (0-5, 2 frees).

Subs: E Loughran for A Hicks (48), T O Cadlaigh for M Carlin (51)

ST BRIGID’S: B McGurk; M Burke, P Heaney, C Quinn; J McCarney,  B Hallihan, R McDonnell; R McErlean,  N Murtagh; O McDonnell (1-3, 0-3 frees), J Pardy, N Duffy; D Prenter (0-1), J McGuckian, C Lundy.

Subs: N Finnegan for M Burke (27), F Cleary for C Lundy (37), T Engman for J McGuckian (51), G Gilleece for N Duffy (56)

REFEREE: Brendan Toland (Lámh Dhearg)