Weather takes it toll on All Stars games yet again
Category / Hurling
Enneas Black RIP
Most people will have been aware about the hurling prowess of former Oisins star Enneas Black who died on Christmas Day, but a lot of people will not be aware that he was also an accomplished footballer, representing Garron Tower and Con Magees Glenravel.
Enneas won four Ulster Colleges Hurling medals with Garron Tower, three of them being Ulster Shield medals, while the fourth was a Mageean Cup award in 1963, the first year the famous trophy was played for. That win saw the Tower become the first Ulster team to play in the Croke Cup and in April 1964 they travelled to Dublin to take on St Peter’s Wexford in All Ireland semi-final.
Although well beaten in the end the Tower team gave a good account of themselves, with Enneas Black putting in a top class display as he scored 1-4 of his team’s 2-5 total.
In 1962 Enneas played on the Garron Tower fooball team who competed in the MacCrory Cup, at a time when the school was very competitive in the Ulster Schools competitions. In 1963 he was a member of the Glenravel Con Magees team who were beaten by Sarsfields in the Antrim Minor Football final at Casement Park, while the following year, 1964, he scored two points in the final against St John’s when Glenravel became the first team to win the Antrim Under 21 Football title.
But of course it was with his native Glenariffe that he will be best remembered and in 1966 he was on the Oisins team who lost out to a great Loughgiel team after a replay in the Antrim Senior Championship final. In the drawn game the Glenariffe men came so close to causing a major upset when they drew with Loughgiel in Fr Healy Park, Loughgiel, but the following week the Shamrocks came out on top in the replay back in Waterfoot.
Enneas Black will be fondly remembered throughout the county but especially in his native glen. We would like to offer our sincere condolences to his daughters Sinead (Campbell), Linda (McCaughan) and Patricia (McCollam) and the wider family circle.
Rossa hold 16th annual St Stephens Day Charity Walk
There was a fantastic turnout on St Stephens Day morning as Rossa club members descended on Divis Mountain for their 16th annual Charity Walk / Run.
The Charity fundraiser has previously raised in excess of £36,000 for a variety of charities and causes close to the hearts of members of the Shaws Road club.
This year all proceeds from the event went to the Welcome Centre Belfast
Gaelcholáiste Dhoire beat Aquinas in Casememt Cup final
Danske Bank Casement Cup final
Gaelcholáiste Dhoire 2-11 Aquinas, Belfast 0-11
For most of the first half of this Casement Cup final at the Dub, the boys from Ravenhill appeared to be on line to collect their first Casement Cup title, but they were hit with two goals inside a minute by a very good Gaelcholáiste Dhoire team who turned the game around with major scores from Finbar Ó Muirí and Peadar Pio Ó Duibhn to turn a 0-4 to 0-7 deficit into a 2-4 to 0-7 lead.
Those two goals were to prove the difference between the sides in the end, for though Aquinas were always in contention, those scores gave the Dungiven school the upper hand.
The Belfast school made a good start and were well deserving of their 0-7 to 0-4 lead, but Gaelcholáiste Dhoire always looked dangerous and when they opportunities presented themselves they took them with aplomb. Finbar Ó Muirí broke through on the left to fire home the first one while Peadar Pio Ó Duibhne showed great skill as he weaved his way through to fire home the second.
Aquinas looked strong in the opening minutes and playing down toward the Road end they went three ahead in the early stages. Gaelcholáiste captain Mike Ó Dubhghail-Ó Cinníde kept his team in touch before Tadhg Mac Ainmhire put them in front on 11 minutes.
However Aquinas pushed on with the next four points, two from John Dougan and one each for Ben Christie and James Kelly. They they were knocked back on their heels but they steadied the ship, but still trailed by three at the break. (2-5 to 0-8)
Dougan’s free on the re-start closed the gap to two, but Gaelcholáiste grew stronger as the game progressed and when Cathal Ó Mianáin sent over a suburb point they were in control. Aquinas kept battling against the odds and came close in the dying minutes when a 20 metre free was deflected onto the crossbar, but Derry boys were not to be outdone as the pushed on to take the Casement Cup in their first year in the competition.
Gaelcholáiste: F Ó Muirí and PP Ó Duibhne 1-0each, M Ó Dubhghail-Ó Cinnéide 0-8, 6 frees, C Ó Mianáin, T Mac Ainmhire and J Ó Conaire 0-1 each.
Aquinas: J Kelly and J Dougan (2 frees) 0-3 each, S Doyle 0-2, C Doyle, D Leggett and B Christie 0-1 each
“You can’t say it’s like a death in the family but it’s very hard to find anything else in life that would compare to it.”
Ruairi Og fanatic and hurling Aficionado Colum Thompson put pen to paper after seing his beloved Cushendall suffer another narrow defeat in an All Ireland Club semi-final
The quote in the headline came from former Clare legend Anthony Daly after Limerick’s epic last gasp victory against the Banner, way back in 1996
That is the feeling being suffered by Cushendall people this evening. Within touching distance of an All Ireland Final against St. Thomas’s to yet again having our dreams shattered at the semi-final stage. Sport can be cruel. When Joe McLaughlin blasted to the Gaels net in the fourth minute to put Cushendall six points ahead an upset looked very definitely on the cards. In the early exchanges Cushendall were sensational. The ferocious tackling, the hard running and the accuracy had the Kilkenny and Leinster champions on the ropes. Eoghan Campbell rifled over two unbelievable points from distance and Paddy Burke got another. The bookies prediction and the pre match script was being systematically torn to shreds. But purple patches don’t last for ever and as is the Kilkenny way O Loughlin Gaels came roaring back. A Luke Hogan piledriver was brilliantly saved by Dall keeper Conor McAlister but the ball broke to Sean Bolger who scrambled home to leave just one point between the sides in the 26th minute. Five minutes earlier Ed McQuillan cursed his luck when following a great solo run his shot at goal agonisingly hit the post and was cleared. Fine margins. Cushendall responded well to the concession of the goal and forced their way into a three point lead by half time 1-10 to 1-7.
O Loughlin Gaels started the second half with real intent and in the twinkling of an eye they had levelled the game thanks to two points from Mark Bergin and one from Eoin O’ Shea. It was end to end stuff but by the 55th minute the Kilkenny men had worked themselves into a two point lead.
Joe McLaughlin got inside Mikey Butler to fire over a super point to again put the minimum between the teams. Cushendall had chances but several snatched efforts drifted wide when scores looked on. As the seconds ticked away it was frantic stuff but in the second minute of injury time Dall captain Neil McManus found space and from fully 80 yards into the breeze he dissected the uprights to bring his team level. Navan was rocking, The Dall supporters were in full voice at the end of a scintillating hour of hurling. Stephen Murphy pocked the ball out, it was hell for leather around the middle of the park but the ball fell to wing back David Fogarty who sent a sublime strike like an arrow through the Dall uprights and through the Dall hearts as well. We prayed for another minute and another chance and it came but Neil McManus’s effort fell inches wide of the left hand post. Final score O Loughlin Gaels 1-17 Cushendall 1-16.
It was utterly heartbreaking. Another gut-wrenching loss at the semi final stage. Cushendall folks won’t need reminding that since 1996 we have now lost to Wolfe Tones by a point, St. Joseph’s after a replay, De La Salle after extra time, St. Thomas’s by a point and now to O Loughlin Gaels by a point as well. That is our crown of thorns and we have to wear it. People will tell you that you get out of life what you put into it. Don’t listen to them, if that were the case then Neil McManus’s last gasp effort would have sailed over the bar. The next time in the white hot heat of championship hurling we are a point down and need a score I want Neil McManus on the ball. It was cruel too on Paddy Burke who played out of his skin adding to his reputation as one of the top defenders in the game. And what a debut season for Joe McLaughlin. Still a teenager but a player who has registered plenty of championship goals and critical scores, what a future he has if he wants it. Today he took a current All Star Mikey Butler for a goal and a point.
I hope our players realise how proud we are of them and how much winning The Antrim and Ulster Championship means to all of us and it is a fitting tribute to our greatest ever member, The legendary Wee John McKillop who we lost earlier in the year. The 2023 season is over for Cushendall, this one will sting for a while but just like purple patches the darkness doesn’t last long. No more can be asked of a team than to give it everything. Cushendall did that today and there is no shame in defeat as long as you dust yourself down and go again. Before we know it we’ll be standing in Ballycastle or Dunloy or Loughgiel watching matches in the May sunshine, running our eye over our own team and the opposition in anticipation of the championship starting again.
The final line of The Great Gatsby reads “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
Simply for me….. we go again.