Ballycastle sealed top spot is Group 1 of the Creagh Concrete Minor Hurling Championship with a facile win over Corpus Christie Gaels in Belfast and in doing so claimed a semi-final spot.
Glenariffe also had a big win over Dunloy in Waterfoot, 4-20 to 06 the final score, and they now meet their local rivals Cushendall in the quarter final which is scheduled for August 27th. These two met a few weeks ago in the semi-final of the Darragh Cup in a game that Cushendall appeared to have wrapped up until the Oisin staged a late comeback to deny them.
The other quarter-final will see Rossa, who were pipped at the post by Loughgiel on Thursday evening, take on Dunloy
Creagh Concrete Minor Hurling Championship – Group 2
Rossa 0-15 Loughgiel 1-14
By John McIlwaine
Two late points from Rian ‘Bubbles’ McMullan frees gave Loughgiel victory over Rossa in Thursday evening’s thrilling Minor Hurling Championship game at Rossa Park, Belfast. The teams were level going into injury time and it looked like the honours would be shared, but two surging runs from Enda Og McGarry both saw the centre half back being fouled and McMullan sent the resultant frees between the Rossa posts to see his team top the group and subsequently book a semi-final place.
In a game full of skill and high endeavour Rossa appeared to be in a commanding position when they led by double scores (0-8 to 0-4) just before the first half water break but Loughgiel clawed their way back and were just two in arrears at half time. The third quarter saw the Shamrocks get on top and boosted by a Conor O’Mullan goal they went four clear at one stage but Rossa hit back, thanks to some great free taking from Dairi Murphy, to draw level at the end of normal time, only to have the rug pulled from under their feet as Loughgiel snatched victory. Murphy did have the chance of winnning it for Rossa with a 20 metre free deep in injurty time but his shot was well saved and the danger cleared as refere Mark McDonald blew the final whistle.
Loughgiel opened the scoing through Rian McMullan who slotted over from play from 25 metres, but Rossa came back strongly and they hit the next four points through Caolan Duffin, Ruairi Murray, Dairi Murphy and Owen May after just five minute. Christy McGarry pulled on back for the Shamrocks with a free from midfield but Charley Cooley responded with one from Rossa to restore their three point cushion. Two more points from Bubbles McMullan left just two between the side but two points from Dairi Murphy 65s and one from play by Owen May pushed the Shaw’s Road boys 8-5 clear by the first half water break.
As is so often the case the water break proved a momentum switcher and Rossa only added one further point between then and the half time whistle while Loughgel notched two to close the gap to just two
Conor O’Mullan clebrates after scoring Loughgiel’s goal early in the second half
With the breeze behind them in the second half Loughgiel began to get on top and three well taken points in as many minutes from Rian McMullan, Ronan McCloskey and Damian Quinn saw them hit the front. Rossa levelled through a Dairi Murphy free but on 36 minutes Loughgiel struck a telling blow when a massive free from full back Rory McCloskey broke in behind the Rossa defence and Conor O’Mullan drilled a ground shot to the net.
Rossa hit back with three points, one from play by Pearse Shortt and two from Dairi Murphy frees to draw level by the second half water break, which once again proved a momentum changer and it was Loughgiel who restarted the brighter and tacked on two excellent points through Conor O’Mullan and Ronan McCollum.
Points from Dairi Murphy frees in the 55th and 60th minutes tied the scores at 0-15 to 1-12 and we were wondering just what the permutations would be regarding the group positions. However all that proved irrelevant when Bubbles sent over the two injury time points which secured his team top spot.
ROSSA
Aaron Carey, Dairmuid Rogan, Ben McAuley, Barry McBurney, Conor Boyle, Daniel Murray, Jay Burns, Eoin Trainor, Ruairi Murray, Owen May, Pearce Shortt, Dairi Murphy, Ruairc Murray, Caolan Duffifn, Charlie Cooley.
LOUGHGIEL
Kevin McAuley
Finn Henry
Rory McCloskey
Ruairi McCormick
Conal McCloskey
Enda Og McGarry
Conor Dickson
Christy McGarry
Conor MCormick
Conor O’Mullan
Eunan Laverty
Damian Quinn
Ronan McCollum
Tiarnan McCaughan
Rian McMullan
Darragh Patterson on for Tiarnan McCaughan Jack Mccloskey on for Conor McCormick
Mc Caughan Cup. – North Antrim Intermediate Hurling
Laharna 2.12 Carey Faughs 2.17
This North Antrim Intermediate hurling game was a “nip and tuck” encounter in the Brustin Braes just outside Larne. The first quarter was evenly contested with the home side getting off the mark with points from Darren Martin, Caolean McAuley and two from Chris Roulston, while Carey kept in touch with points from Rory McBride, Paddy McBride and a couple from Martin Hunter, to leave both sides on 0.4 each after 15minutes. Only for some fine goalkeeping from Chris Keenan in the Larne goal the visitors would have been well ahead, but despite this and a litany of wides they held sway at half time 0.10 to 0.9.
The second half started off a bit of a “slow burner” but Carey edged further ahead with points from Garron McBride, Daniel McBride and 3 from Martin Hunter, for a hard working Larne side points from Conor Mulvenna, Conor Boyle, Roulston and McAuley keep them in touch .further Carey points from Daniel , rory and Gerald McBride were cancelled out with similar scores from Tom Lismore, Conor Boyle and the impressive Caolan McAuley at centre half. We had to wait 45 minutes for the first goal of the game and it came from Carey’s Daniel McBride, further Carey points from Cahir Crogan, Martin Hunter and Gerry McBride left a 9 point margin on the second water break. Things were to get worse for the home side when Rory McBride scored a second major after finding himself with only the keeper to beat. Larne were rewarded for their endeavour with late goals from Conor Matthews and Chris Roulston. Best for larne who are looking forward to an east Antrim derby next Sunday with Shane O’Neills were Caolan McAuley, Ciaran Mulvenna and Chris Keenan, with Carey’s Kevin Murphy, Paddy Butler, Conor Boyle and Martin Hunter their big performers.
It’s been anything but straight forward for St Galls hurling manager Chris Dornan. Appointed at the start of the year he has had to wait until early August for his first competitive game, and a championship game to boot. It’s far from ideal championship preparation and to make matters worse, he loses the experienced Karl Stewart with barely 45 seconds elapsed on the clock. This makes his Sunday’s eleven-point win at Naomh Eánna more remarkable. The Glengormley outfit came into this clash buoyed by a recent shock win over St John’s as they looked to make a lasting first-time impression in Antrim hurling’s premier club competition.
This meeting also pitted together the previous two winners of the Antrim Intermediate championship and with fixtures against heavy weights Loughgiel and Cushendall to follow, both sides would’ve viewed this fixture as a great opportunity to claim a win that would see them finish at least third place in the group and claim a quarter-final spot. Speaking after the full time whistle a delighted Dornan told The Saffron Gael “I’m really happy that we got over this and now we can look forward to the next two games, not take them for granted, but we can learn from them because I think now that will get us to a quarter final, I think we are looking at a quarter final.”
Asked if he had viewed the game as essentially a quarter-final play-off Dornan said “Since we came back after lockdown this is what we have been looking forward to, is this game.” “This was a knockout game in our group, and it was good that it came in the first fixture because we put all our focus into it.” “I had the footballers for the first time for a whole week and they put in some savage work and you seen that today.” “Our dual players really stood up” continued Dornan who was in understandably buoyant mood.
One player who came in for a special mention was Marcus Donnelly. “Brilliant” was the instant reply from Dornan when asked to sum up his contribution. Thrown into the white-hot heat of championship hurling with barely a minute on the clock, the young half forward had big shoes to fill replacing Karl Stewart who was helped from the field with an ankle injury. “To lose him (Stewart), he’s vice-captain and he’s a leader, but Marcus came in and he must’ve had a hand in three or four points in the first half and that’s the first I’ve seen him play hurling this year”.
Looking ahead Dornan has another five or six faces to welcome back while he hasn’t ruled out Karl Stewart returning to action before the end of the group stages. Despite Sunday’s win Dornan says that St Gall’s don’t intend to take their foot off the pedal as they look to take a big scalp over the next two weeks.
The Cushendall native spoke defiantly when asked how he would view the remaining two group two fixtures. “I don’t manage any team to go out and get beat, no matter who it is, whether I’m the strongest or the weakest in the fight I still think there’s a chance to win the game, and if we have a chance to win it, we’ll go and try.” With a great blend of youth and experience mixed with Dornan’s passion and drive, maybe this could be the year that St Galls make an impression on the senior championship.
Thre were big wins on Monday night for Dunloy and Ballycastle in their respective Senior Reserve Hurling Cup games.
In Group 1 Ballycastle were winners by 2-27 to 1-13 at Pairc MacUílin while Dunloy ran up an even biggers score on their visit to Milltown where they beat St Gall’s by 8-24 to 1-9.
With Tommy McIlroy, Eoin Magee, Lorcan Donnelly and Fergal McKiernan all caching the eye Ballycastle were 1-12 to 0-5 ahead at half time, Matthew Devlin, Aidan Carabine, Michael Close and Padraig McGreevy the scorers for the Shaw’s Road men.
The same pattern continued in the second half with Cathal Connor joining in the scoring, and Tommy McIlroy picking off a great scores, as did Owen Kinney who hit some nice points before finishing it off with cracking second goal near the end.
