Antrim Junior Camogs held their final training session at Kelly Park, Portglenone on Thursday evening, ahead of Sunday’s All Ireland final against Armagh in Croke Park. The girls were given a guard of honour by local junenile teams as the arrived on the pitch and spents some time signing autographs and getting photos taken before getting into the training session.
Casement’s SC JHC Group 1
St. Brigid’s 1-15 Davitt’s 3-10
Only a point separated these well matched sides in this Casement’s Social Club JHC round 1 opener last night with 2 second half goals from Anthony Rowntree for the visitors proving the difference in the end but the Musgrave Park side were perhaps unfortunate not to get something from the game.
It was a somewhat fortuitous opening goal from Caoimhin O’hEanna that sailed from distance all the way to the St. Brigid’s net late in the opening half and points from a Donn Whelan ‘65’ and another from play by the same player that saw the visitors claw back a five point deficit to draw level at 1-8 each at the short whistle.
The lower Falls side enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges and raced into a 3-1 lead with Conor John Sullivan and Marcas Toner 0-2 the men on target and the St. Brigid’s point coming from Oisin McDonnell.
The home side began to settle and hit four unanswered points through Niall Duffy, Gerard Henvey, Joseph McCarney and an Oisin McDonnell free and began to take control and when John McGuckian doubled on a loose ball to send a screamer to the net and put the division 4 side in a strong position.
That long range goal from Davitt’s late in the half brought the visitors right back into it and set the scene for a great second half with the result in the melting pot right up to the final whistle.
It was Davitt’s who built on their late first half flurry to move ahead through Donn Whelan before Anthony Rowntree struck with his first goal to move his side four ahead and when the same player got in for his second and his side’s third after 12 minutes it looked a long way back for the home side.
St. Brigid’s looked in serious trouble but they came back strongly with points from Brian McGurk, Phelim Lennon 0-2, Oisin McDonnell and Niall Duffy to close the gap to the minimum as they produced a storming finish but the equaliser just would not come as Davitt’s held on for an opening day victory
Davitt’s are at home to All Saints on the 19th August while St. Brigid’s travel to Rasharkin on the same night and the Junior B champions need something from that game if they are to stand any chance of qualifying from the group while the Ballymena side are in a similar position having lost to Rasharkin in Ballymena last night.
St. Brigid’s: 1 Chris Lundy, 2 Conor Leonard, 5 Brian mcGurk, 6 Cathal Conway, 7 Gerard Henvey, 8 Joseph McCarney, 9 Niall Murtagh, 10 Fergal Layden, 11 Rory Flanagan, 12 Keevan Grieve, 13 Oisin McDonnell, 14 John McGuckian, 15 Niall Duffy, 16 Mark Sidebottom, 17 Garet7 Gileece, 18 Declan Lawn, 19 Oliver Leggett, 20 Phelim Lennon, 22 Eoghan O’Mainnin, 23 Tod Engman, 24 Chris Quinn
Davitt’s: 1 Thomas Maguire, 2 Odhran Gorman, 3 Michael Rowntree, 4 Ruairi McIlroy, 5 Colm McKee, 6 Caoimhin O’hEanna, 7 Antoin McLaughlin, 8 Peter Og Carlton, 9 Deaglan Mooney, 11 Stephen McGivern, 12 Marcas Toner, 13 Cormac Maguire, 14 Anthony Rowntree, 15 Conor John Sullivan, 20 Donn Whelan
Referee: Aidan Kelly (St. John’s)
Bathshack Senior Hurling Championship – Group 2
ST Enda’s 0-8 Cushendall 2-30
All in a day’s work for Neill McManus. Helped save a man’s life on the way to work in the morning, scored 1-15 for his club Ruairi Og in the evening. The years may be ticking over but the big Cushendall man doesn’t appear to be slowing down as he gave another incredible man of the match performance as the Ruairi’s had too much in the tank for Naomh Eanna at Hightown. He scored 0-8 in the first half and 1-7 in the second to help his team to a runaway 2-30 to 0-8 victory. The Glengormly men were in the game for the first twenty minutes and showed great fight and determination, but Cushendall put their foot to the pedal and were eight clear by the break. 0-13 to 0-5. After the change of ends they upped their level even more as a demoralised St Enda’s side just couldn’t cope. The didn’t score during the first 21 minutes of the second half by which time Cusehndall had added a further 1-14, the goal coming from McManus, and by the end they were 28 in arrears. They have a two week break before facing St John’s in round 2 and they know they have a lot of work to do if they are to keep their season alive.
St Enda’s opened the scoring on four minutes with a long range point from right half back Cormack Ross, and after McManus came back with two at the other end, Ross hit another brilliant point from inside his own 45 metre line. Three more from McManus plus points apiece from Aidan McNaughton and ‘Fred’ McCurry stretched the Ruairis lead to five, but a pointed free from close range by Joe Maskey and another excellent point from distance by Cormac Ross left just three between the sides on 21 minutes. The home team must have been happy enough the way things were panning out at this stage, but Cushendall began to turn the screw and five more from McManus and one from Paddy Gill stretched the gap out to eight by the time Colum McDonald blew the half time whistle.
Cushendall’s salvo late in the first half appeared to knock the stuffing out of St Enda’s and it was all of 21 minutes before they raised their first flag of the second half, by which time the Ruairis were over the hill and far away, scoring 1-14 without reply, 1-16 of it from McManus, 0-3 from Paddy McGill, two from Eoin Campbell, plus one each from Scott Walsh Fred McCurry and Alex Delargy
Luke O’Connor, Eoin Conlon and Conor Bradley came back with points for St Enda’s but Cushendall substitute Fergus McCambridge finished it all with a well taken goal.
A great start for Cushendall but they will face a tougher task when they meet Loughgiel at Dunsilly in two weeks’ time
ST ENDA’S
Martin Curran, Conor McAlister, Niall O’Connor, Ruairi Diamond, Cormac Jennings, Ryan Bogue, Cormac Ross, Owen Kennedy, Oisin Quinn, Philip Curran, Manus Mullan, Ruairi Donaghy, Ryan Eager, Joe Maskey, Eoin Conlon.
Subs – Conor Bradley, Conor McSteen, Luke O’Connor
CUSHENDALL
Eoin Gillan, Liam Gillan, Paddy Burke, Martin Burke, Mark Donaghy, Eoghan Campbell, Scott Walsh, Alex Delargy, Niall McCormick, Dominic Delargy, Sean McAfee, Aidan McNaughton, Paddy McGill, Neill McManus, Francis McCurry
Subs – Fergus McCambridge, Ryan McCambride, Christy McNaughton
Casement Social Club Junior Hurling Championship
Rasharkin 3-19 All Saints 1-14
Friday August 8
Brendan McTaggart reports from Quinn Park, Ballymena
Rasharkin made a winning start to their Junior Championship campaign at a sun kissed Quinn Park on Friday evening as they saw off the challenge of All Saints in what was a feisty affair. The men from Dreen had 11 points to spare over the home side in a match that had that championship feel right from the first whistle and two red cards in the second half but ultimately it was Rasharkin who had the superior firepower and defensive nous to take the honours.
The visitors dropped Shane Hasson into a sweeping roll and kept Donagh Quigg and Conor McKeever on the inside forward line. The twin attacking threat proved to be more than a handful for the All Saints men, scoring 2-12 between them, 2-7 of that from play. Both men showed touches of brilliance throughout the hour and an ability to take scores from anywhere on the pitch.
The Ballymena men started this contest well and in Ciaran Neeson they have a player who they can rely on in attack. Top scoring for his side with 1-7, Neeson was the outstanding player for All Saints. His natural instincts in attack were matched with his ability to win clean ball in the middle third, a quality asset for the Ballymena men.
In an attempt to come to terms with Rasharkin’s tactics and attacking threat, All Saints rejigged their line up to leave Kevin Brady and latterly, substitute Cathair Cunning in the sweeping role but such was the quality of ball into the Rasharkin forward line along with the intensity of pressing from their forward unit, it was an unenviable task to try and keep the Rasharkin attack quiet.
Both sides finished the match with 14 men, Gary Miskella seeing red for a second yellow card with a quarter of the game remaining while Ruairi O’Boyle was sent off in the last minute of the hour. In a contest where referee Sean Elliott would have needed eyes on the back of his head, it should be said the Lamh Dhearg official allowed the game to flow and both teams got on with it, adding to the championship intensity and making for an entertaining game.
The sides were tied on five points apiece when the first goal of the game came in the 17th minute. Conor McKeever with a super catch and holding off two challenges, still had the presence of mind to find Conor McFerran in space and he made no mistake.
All Saints response was emphatic, scoring the next five points unanswered with Ciaran Neeson, Cormac Magill and Damian Gillan all finding the posts to take a two point lead with seven minutes of the first half remaining but Rasharkin dominated the closing stages of the first half. Their second major came with six minutes of the half remaining, Ruairi O’Boyle’s effort dropping short and Conor McKeever ghosted behind the All Saints defence, judged the flight of the sliotar and with a deft touch, beat the rushing Ciaran Cassley in the All Saints goal. A wonderful piece of skill that ignited the St Mary’s men as they scored a further four points in quick succession to go in at half time 2-9 to 0-10 ahead at the short whistle.
The visitors to Quinn Park started the second half in the same mood with a further three points registered to make it 1-7 without reply before Cormac Magill got the home side firing again in the 37th minute.
The sides went score for score before the game changed through the dismissal of Miskella. Rasharkin capitalised on the numerical advantage by scoring their third goal. Tiernan O’Boyle sending the sliotar long from the heart of the Rasharkin defence to the waiting Donagh Quigg. The Rasharkin forward deflected the sliotar into space with a delightful touch and raced through on goal. His finish was emphatic and effectively sealed Rasharkin’s win with a little over ten minutes remaining.
All Saints looked for goals that would bring them back into the tie with a number of frees dropping into the Rasharkin square and their efforts were rewards with five minutes remaining. Substitute Daire Hasson holding off Rasharkin tackles before passing to Ciaran Neeson and he showed his attacking instincts once again, doubling on the sliotar in mid-air to give Liam Tunney no chance with an unstoppable shot from close range.
It was a case of too little too late however as Rasharkin showed enough to control the time that remained despite Ruairi O’Boyle seeing red.
Rasharkin now cast their sights to a meeting with Junior ‘B’ winners, St Brigids while All Saints travel to Davitts in the next round of fixtures.
TEAMS
All Saints: Ciaran Cassley; Dwayne McKee, Colum Neeson, Kevin Brady; Terence Diamond, Gary Miskella, Padhraig Magill; Jack Magill, Vincent Esler; Eoin Magee, Damian Gillan, James O’Boyle; Ciaran Neeson, Liam Cassley, Cormac Magill
Scorers: Ciaran Neeson 1-7 (4f’s); Liam Cassley 0-2; Cormac Magill 0-2; Eoin Magee 0-1; Damian Gillan 0-1; James O’Boyle 0-1
Rasharkin: Liam Tunney; Connaire Donaghy, Conor Doherty, James Higgins; Ruairi O’Boyle, Daniel Doherty, Aidan McKeever; Emmett McFerran, Tiernan O’Boyle; Shane Hasson, Conor McFerran, Declan McKay; Conor McKillop, Donagh Quigg, Conor McKeever
Scorers: Conor McKeever 1-8 (4f’s 1 ’65); Donagh Quigg 1-4; Conor McFerran 1-2; Tiernan O’Boyle 0-2 (1 ’65); Declan McKay 0-2
Referee: Sean Elliott (Lamh Dhearg)
Casement Social Club Junior Hurling Championship – Group 2
Friday 5th August
Report by Niall Kelly
Glen Rovers Armoy 1-10 Saint Brigid’s Cloughmills 0-14
Ryan O’Reilly’s final whistle will have prompted significant sighs of relief from the Cloughmills faithful. With ten minutes to go, they seemed to be in cruise control. Six points up, a man to the good and playing some slick hurling, they looked destined to coast home and bolster their lead further. However, as cliché as it may be, Championship is a different animal. An Owen Kinney goal to narrow the gap to three ignited the touch paper for a spirited come-back attempt from Armoy. The ‘Biddies’ though managed to hang on in there and their defence stayed resolute when it mattered most.
This was always going to be a tough one to call. Some may have given the visitors a slight edge on their superior league finish but a ten-point victory for Armoy against the men in orange and black a little over a month ago would suggest that it would be exceptionally tight. That is exactly how it transpired.
The opening quarter of the game would pit Trever Linton and Liam Kearns dead ball abilities against one another. Kearns shot Cloughmills into an early two-point lead before the Glen Rover’s full-forward responded with two of his own. The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges of the half and the ever-dangerous Stevie Smyth was causing havoc in the Armoy defence with his movement and trickery a constant thorn in their side. As he looked to surge through once more, Smyth was brought down and Kearns duly despatched with ease again from the dead ball before Ciaran McKenna responded for Amoy finding the target from a sixty-five.
The hosts soon began to click in attack themselves. Centre forward Thomas Burns bulldozed his way through a number of challenges on the left flank before blasting over from an acute angle on the 20th minute. Trevor Linton then increased the gap to two with another well-taken free.
Momentum continued to sway to and fro with before Cloughmills talisman Michael Devlin made his presence known. ‘Micky D’ certainly had his scope fixed perfectly as he unleashed two monstrous scores from range to level things up again. Two pinpoint frees from Liam Kearns and yet another long range effort this time from the hurl of Eoin Dobbin saw Cloughmills establish a three-point advantage. With the imminent sounding of the short whistle though, Armoy cut the deficit back to a point with white flags being raised from the hurls of PJ McBride and that man Trever Linton yet again.
Having taken stock and analysed proceedings over the half-time team-talks, it was Cloughmills who emerged with a fire in their bellies. They dominated the first fifteen minutes and it took until the 48th minute for Armoy to register their first score of the half. James Doherty’s blistering pace was a menace to the hosts and he fired home a superb point from range three minutes into the half.
The industry and tenacity of Stevie Smyth continued to be the detriment of Glen Rovers. They couldn’t seem to nullify his threat and his hard work was central to the next few scores for his team. Conor Laverty split the posts from range before the ever-reliant Kearns fired over yet again from a free.
Cloughmills were purring now and a well-deserved score from Smyth himself increased the gap further. Passions spilled over though not long after. There were some rather unsavoury scenes as an altercation off the ball between Liam Dillon and James Doherty escalated into somewhat a melee. Referee Ryan O’Riley had no other option but to brandish the red card to Dillon and it appeared this spelt the end for Armoy’s hopes of an opening win with ten minutes remaining on the clock.
Armoy however were not to follow the script and mounted a serious come back. Trever Linton replied to a Liam Kearns free before substitute Owen Kinney announced his arrival to proceedings in the most emphatic fashion as he latched on to a handpass and steered the ball into the despairing Chrissy McKernan’s net. The hosts now seemed to have wrestled the initiative back and began attacking in waves. Trever Linton despatched one from close range to cut the gap to two.
Cloughmills were struggling to maintain possession or make any penetrative passes and Armoy continued on their offensive. Thomas Burns was pivotal in their attacks and his catching ability was unrivalled throughout and after plucking yet another ball out of the sky, he found the target from range to reduce the deficit to a single point with three minutes still to go.
The onslaught continued but to no avail as the Cloughmills defence, marshalled well by Aaron Smiley and Séan McKendry, refused to breach further and the ‘Biddies’ held on to stagger over the line.
Make no mistake about it, Championship hurling is all about ‘getting over the line’ and Cloughmills will be delighted to have clung on. It could well be an important two points considering the company of Group Two with league champions Glenarm and Lámh Dhearg also vying for the two semi-final spots. Armoy will no doubt be gutted at the marginal deficit of their defeat. They showed patches of promise and with more consistency in their next games will still fancy their chances of progressing out of the group stages.
Teams:
Glen Rovers Armoy:
C Devlin; C Coyles, S Devlin, E O’Hara; L Dillon, A Devlin, T McBride; J McFetridge, PJ McBride (0-01;) C McKenna (0-01,) T Burns (0-02,) E O’Boyle; C Lordan, T Linton (0-06,) C Watterson
Subs: O Kinney (1-00)
Naomh Bríd Cloughmills
C McKernan; M Dobbin, S McKendry, R Watt; J Duffin, C Laverty (0-01,) J Smyth; R Laverty, G Óg Laverty; J Doherty (0-01,) M Devlin (0-02,) E Dobbin (0-01;) A Smiley, L Kearns (0-07,) S Smyth (0-01)
Referee – Ryan O’Reilly
