Antrim Senior Hurling League Division 1

Dunloy 3-27 Ballycastle 1-16

Sunday 18 May

Brendan McTaggart reports from Pearse Park, Dunloy

A man of the match performance from Luke McFerran helped Dunloy to a comfortable win against Ballycastle on Sunday afternoon.  Lining out at full forward, McFerran would finish the match with 1-4, have his hand in another major and so much more as the Cuchullains put Ballycastle to the sword.

Nicky McKeague would top score for the home side, finishing the hour with 1-10 while Deaglan Smith and Tom McFerran all chipped in substantially from open play.

Playing into a substantial breeze, Dunloy’s work rate and fluency in the opening half laid the foundations for the Dunloy victory.  Ballycastle struggled to curtail their attacking unit that had a spread of 10 different scorers throughout.

Ballycastle had sporadic moments of joy and but for the brilliance and bravery of Eoghan Richmond between the sticks, could have added to their goal tally.  Tiarnan Smyth top scored for The Town, finishing the match with 1-5 while half time substitute Lorcan Donnelly had a positive impact with his speed and direct running at a well marshalled home defence.  Ronan ‘Rambo’ McCarry was carrying the fight for Ballycastle before having to come off at half time while Ardan Kelly and Seamus McAuley worked tirelessly throughout.

The first goal of the game came in the fourth minute with the home side three points to one ahead.  Anton McGrath spraying the sliotar into the path of Ryan Mort and while the danger looked to have been quelled, Mort found Nicky McKeague running through the middle and despite the bravery of Eamon Elliott between the sticks for Ballycastle, McKeague squeezed the sliotar over the line.

Dunloy continued to dominate the middle third and could have had another major midway through the half, McGrath’s effort well saved by the Ballycastle ‘keeper.

The home side had stretched the lead to eight points going into first half injury time when they found the back of the net again.  Luke McFerran with the assist and Mort with the finish to give Dunloy an 11 point lead.

Nicky McKeague fired over his third free of the half to take his personal tally to 1-5 ended the scoring to leave the half time score 2-12 to 0-6 in the home sides favour.

Despite playing into the elements, Ballycastle started the second half strongly and played with more urgency.  The home side did manage to extend their lead to 13 but the McQuillan’s managed to score their first goal of the game in the 35^th minute.  Collecting a long ball, Tiarnan Smyth got the yard needed before giving Richmond no chance between the sticks.

It could have been better for the visitors but Lorcan Donnelly’s effort from an acute angle was saved superbly by Richmond and deflected over the bar.

A trio of points unanswered by the home side cancelled out Smyth’s major before Ballycastle had another goal chance.  Conor Donnelly this time with his eyes on the Dunloy goal but the Cuchullains full back Sean Óg Blaney produced a blind side block to deny the Ballycastle forward with the goal at his mercy.

The third Dunloy goal came mid way through the second half and was down to the genius of Luke McFerran again.  Getting on the end of a long delivery, he deflected the sliotar into his path.  His initial shot was well saved by Eamon Elliott but McFerran was first to the breaking ball and fired home to the empty net.

With the difference 13 points, the Cuchullains were relentless in the final quarter.  Scoring seven points in the last five minute and the couple of minutes of injury time played while Smyth and Lorcan Donnelly added to their tally for the visitors.

A comprehensive win for the Cuchullains who travel to Loughgiel in their next game on Wednesday 28 May while Ballycastle entertain Cushendall on the same evening.

TEAMS

Dunloy: Eoghan Richmond; Oran Quinn, Sean Og Blaney, Conor Kinsella; Eamon Smyth, Kevin Molloy, Ben O’Kane; Deaglan Smith, Oisin McCamphill; Ronan Molloy, Nicky McKeague, Tom McFerran; Ryan Mort, Luke McFerran, Anton McGrath

Scorers: N McKeague 1-10 (7fs 1’65); L McFerran 1-4; D Smith 0-4; T McFerran 0-3; R Mort 1-00; A McGrath 0-2; E Smyth 0-1; B O’Kane 0-1; Jack Martin 0-1; Ryan McFarline 0-1

Ballycastle: Eamon Elliott; Oran Kearney, Conal McColgan, Ryan McCook; Criostai McAuley, Mark McClean, Ardan Kelly; Seamus McAuley, Cathair Donnelly; Ronan McCarry, Ronan Laverty, Darragh Donnelly; Conor Donnelly, Neal McAuley, Tiarnan Smyth

Scorers: T Smyth 1-5 (2fs); Lorcan Donnelly 0-3; S McAuley 0-3 (3fs); C Donnelly 0-2; R McCarry 0-2; R Laverty 0-1

Referee: Colin Thompson (St John’s)

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ACHL Division 2

Bredagh          4-22

Shane UÍ Neill    2-09

A sun drenched Cherryvale was the venue today for this middle of the table clash between Bredagh and Shane O’Neill’s, both teams fielding without a few regulars, with the Feystown club the worst affected.

The visitors took the lead through an early free in the first minute by  Ciaran Magill but Bredagh hit back with Blaney slotting over a free, closely followed by another from Kennedy pointing from play.

Ciaran Magill pointed a second free for Glenarm before another brace of points from Hanrahan and Blaney edged the Cherryvale side further ahead but

Dylan McLaughlin cut in from the wing before striking over from a narrow angle.

In the 9th minute Bredagh hit a purple patch with points from Hughes, Hanrahan and O’Neill giving them a 4 point lead and their slick movement and inter-play was starting to cause problems for the visitors.

The home side went further ahead when a clearance from defence was intercepted by Kennedy who rode a tackle and sent the ball to the corner of Glenarm’s net.

It was the 16^th minute before Glenarm hit their first point from play as Ciaran Magill fired over from 40 yards but it brought an instant response from the hosts with McCollum sending the sliotar beyond Michael Abram for a second Bredagh goal.

The South Belfast side were showing no mercy and Lavery found some open space and split the uprights before Magill for Glenarm got his fourth point from a converted free.

The men in maroon were calling the shots as they pressed again and Christie drove over a “65”, before a midfield strike from Hanrahan concluded the first half scoring to leave them 10 clear at the break.

HALF TIME Bredagh 2-10  Shane Uí Neill 0-06

Glenarm threatened a comeback at the start of the second half and Declan McDermott got an early point but back came Bredagh with Christie slotting over.

The visitors were pressing hard in the early stages and their best player, Dylan McLaughlin found space and fired the sliotar to the net and the same player added a point from distance. 

A few moments later McLaughlin added another after receiving the ball from a short free and at this stage the visitors were showing glimpses of what they are capable off.

Bredagh soon recovered from the early scoring spree however to again assume control with points from Hanrahan, substitute Sean Hughes, Christie and a nice effort from C Hughes.

Glenarm made a couple of changes at this stage but the scoring continued by the hosts as Sean Hughes and Hanrahan added to their tallies.

Sean Hughes was finding loads of space and picked another passage through the Glenarm defence and sent the sliotar to the net for Bredaghs 3^rd goal and even at this stage it was as good as over.

The visitors kept battling against the odds and their persistence paid off in the 53rd minute when Blaine McDermott pulled with one hand, sending the ball beyond Bredagh keeper, Galway.

Bredagh’s response was immediate as they replied with four unanswered points and Sean Hughes struck a nice point from distance before a high ball into the Glenarm box was stroked to their net by Kennedy for the final action of the afternoon.      

Bredagh: 1. I Galway 2. E. Curran 3. M. Woods 4. E. Brown 5 O. McFlynn, 

6. P. McGarry 7. O Morgan Little 8. M. Lavery 9. C.Hughes 10. B .Christie 

11. J. Hanrahan 12. C. O’Neill 13. F. Blaney 14. E. Kennedy 

15. S.McCollum 

Subs 

Sean Hughes for Conor ONeill 

Tom Dougan for Finbarr Blaney 

Tiarnan Sheehan for Sean McCollum 

Evin Maguire for Odhran Morgan Lyttle 

Cormac Blaney for Cormac Hughes 

Glenarm: 1 M Abram, 2 J Quinn, 3 B Hamill, 4 C McLoughlin, 5 J Scullion, 6 D Hamill, 7 B O’Boyle, 8 K O’Boyle, 9 C Magill, 10 S O’Boyle, 11 D McLaughlin, 12 M Furey, 13 B McDermott, 14 D McDermott, 15 R Mulvenna

Subs:  Gerard Burns for Rory Mulvenna, Sean O Hare for Declan Mc Dermott, Conal Ward for Dylan McLaughlin.

Referee: Ray Matthews

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Antrim Hurling League – Division 3

Conn Magees 2-13 Rasharkin 4-17

St Mary’s Rasharkin kept themselves in the league title race when they travelled to Glenravel and beat the Con Magees by ten points. With both team field short a good few regulars the visitor always had the upper hand, and thought Glenravel stayed in touch until the last ten minutes, two quick goals from substitute James Higgins ten minutes from time killed the game as a contest.

Donagh Quigg goal in the third minute got Rasharkin off to a good start and with three points from full forward Conal McKeever and one from Quigg they moved 1-03 to 0-02 ahead by the tenth minute, the Glenravel points coming from Conlith O’Loan. The home team got a boost when a long delivery from midfield ended up the Rasharkin net but McKeever kept picking off the points for Rasharkin and by half time they had moved three points clear again, 1-09 to 1-06.

Another pointed free by Conlith O’Loan at the start of the second half cut the gap to two Rasharkin hit back with a bank when centre forward Quigg soloed through the middle of the Glenravel defence and planted the ball in the net. O’Loan pulled one back for the home team but a point by midfielder Conor McFerran and two by Conor McKillop stretched theier lead. A goal by Glenravel corner forward Luke Loughlin kept his team in touch but five minutes later Terry McGregor finished the game as a contest with two goals in as many minutes.

Four points without reply from Joe McKay, Rian Lennon, Conlith O’Loan and Adam Neeson showed a bit of resistance from the home team but Rasharkin were home and hosed and they finished with points from McMullan and Quigg to win by ten in the end.

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ACHL Division 1

Rossa 3-20 Portaferry 4-16

O’Donovan Rossa produced a storming finish to edge this excellent contest at Rossa Park on Sunday against a Portaferry side who will feel that they should have got something from this game.

The men from the Ards peninsula led 4-14 to 3-11 early in the final quarter after making a strong comeback which saw them hit goals through Cahal Coleman, Deaglan Mallon and Shane Conlan and Rossa looked in bother.

They found a response through the free taking of Deaglan Murphy and a number of fine long range points from James Connolly and Aodhan O’Brien to edge two in front with time almost up with Portaferry’s late response from Cahal Coleman coming up just short.

Murphy would be a major contributor over the hour for the Shaw’s Road side and he fired over a long range free to get them on their way and added another from a ‘65’ to sandwich a goal from James Connolly and a point from Eoin  Trainor.

Portaferry took a time to settle but came back with points from Deaglan Mallon, keeper Pearse Smith from deep in his own half and a long range free from Cahal Coleman to announce their arrival.

A second goal from Connolly when he got the final touch to a long delivery put Rossa 2-3 to 0-3 ahead but Portaferry replied again through the excellent Cahal Coleman 0-2 and Deaglan Mallon to leave just three between the sides.

Connolly for Rossa and Barry Trainor and Deaglan Mallon for the visitors, exchanged points as play swung from end to end and Deaglan Murphy and James Connolly for Rossa and Trainor for Portaferry exchanged further minors as the pace of the game intensified.

The visitors then looked in for a goal but Donal Armstrong in the Rossa goal pulled off a smart save with Deaglan Murphy and Eoghan McMenamin concluding Rossa’s first half scoring and Eoin Magee replying with a monster score for the Ards men.

HT 2-7 TO 0-10

Free taker Murphy edged Rossa four in front on the restart and Pearce Short increased that lead to five before Cahal Coleman finished off a well worked move for Portaferry’s opening goal.

Normal service seemed to have been restored when the impressive Deaglan Murphy finished to the net for the home side’s third goal but the visitors were coming more and more into the game.

Deaglan Mallon closed the gap to two once more with an excellent finish to Donal Armstrong’s net and Niall Fitzsimmons struck a fine long range point before Shane Connlon moved the ‘Ports’ four ahead with his side’s third goal of the contest.

It was compelling viewing as James Connolly and Deaglan Murphy for Rossa exchanged further point with Conor Fay for the visitors and another Murphy free found response from Niall Fitzsimmons following a mix-up in the Rossa defence.

A fourth Portaferry goal from Noah Rogers following a smart turn looked to have put the men from the Ards in a strong position but indiscipline would cost them dearly going down the home straight.

Rossa would out score their opponents 0-8 to 0-3 in the run in to full time with Murphy adding three frees to his impressive total and James Connolly 0-3 and Aodhan O’Brien 0-2 seeing them home by the minimum.

Niall Fitzsimmons, Noah Rogers and Cahal Coleman were the Portaferry marksmen during those final exchanges and they will be scratching their heads on just how they let this one get away from them.

Rossa: 1 Donal Armstrong, 2 Oisin McVicker, 3 Ciaran Orchin, 4 Niall Crossan, 5 Christopher McGuinness, 6 Stephen Beatty, 7 Aodhan O’Brien, 8 Joseph Mulholland 9 Diarmuid Rogan, 10 Eoghan McMenamin, 11 Pearce Short, 12 Daire Murphy, 13 Deaglan Murphy, 14 James Connolly, 15 Eoin Trainor

Subs:

Portaferry: 1 Pearse Smith, 2 Donal Magee, 3 Darragh Mallon, 4 Emmet O’Neill, 5 Barry Trainor, 6 Callum Smith, 7 Ciaran Milligan, 8 Eoin Magee, 9 Shane Conlan, 10 Conor Fay, 11 Deaglan Mallon, 12 Niall Fitzsimmons, 13 Noah Rogers, 14 Brendan Coleman, 15 Cahal Coleman.

Referee: Darren McKeown

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