ACHL Division 1

St. Enda’s 0-14 St. John’s 3-15

St. John’s join neighbours Rossa at the top of the ACHL Division 1 after 2 rounds of games and after a good win over Cushendall on day one, they travelled to Hightown to face St. Enda’s on Sunday.

Donal Carson’s first half goal proved the difference between the sides at half time with Shea Shannon’s accuracy from the placed ball contributing to the majority of the St. John’s points.

The game was still in the balance at the halfway stage with the visitors leading 1-8 to 0-8 at the turnover with Ruairi Donaghy  in fine form for the home side and contributing 0-5 of his side’s first half total.

In the end goals would prove the difference as a slick ‘Johnnies’ added two more with Daragh McGuinness on target and Carson getting his second of the afternoon.

Donaghy would continue to lead the St. Enda’s charge with four second half points to bring his total for the afternoon to nine points but the Johnnies always had enough to keep their noses in front.

Its early days yet but St. John’s will be pleased with their start to the season and will hope to keep it going as the league progresses. They take on a Ballycastle side that had a good win over Loughgiel at Corrigan on Saturday and can extended their winning run to three though the McQuillan’s may have other ideas.

St. Enda’s have lost their two opening games but competed well for long periods in this one and face a difficult away trip to Poertaferry at the weekend.

St. Enda’s: 1 Niall McGivern, 2 Conor McAlister, 3 Diarmuid Maguire, 4 Ruairi Diamond, 5 Eoin Maguire, 6 Cormac Jennings, 7 Killian Jennings, 8 Oisin O’Cuinn, 9 Brendan Cormican, 10 Ruairi Donaghy, 11 Eoin Conlon, 12 Luke O’Connor, 13 Conor Bradley, 14 Ronan Eager, 15 Frank Kane

Scorers:

Ruairi Donaghy 0-9

Eoin Conlon 0-1

Frank Kane 0-1

Conor Bradley 0-1

St. John’s: 1 Simon Doherty, 2 Jack Bohill, 3 Conall Morgan, 4 Michael Napier, 5 Ryan McNulty, 6 Ciaran Johnston, 7 Enda McGurk, 8 Sean Wilson, 9 Michael Dudley, 10 Aaron Bradley, 11 Shea Shannon, 12 Daragh McGuinness, 13 Donall Carson, 14 Oisin McManus, 15 Ruairi Galbraith

Subs used: 

Michael Bradley 

Rónán Donnelly

Lorcan Heenan 

Caoimhin Hanna

James Wilson 

Scorers: 

Dónal Carson (2-0)

Daragh McGuinness (1-1)

Shea Shannon (0-4)

Oisin MacManus (0-3)

Aaron Bradley (0-3)

Michial Dudley (0-2)

Enda McGurk (0-1)

Michael Bradley (0-1)

Referee: Ray Matthews

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Antrim Hurling League – Division 2

Cushendun 2-10 Creggan 2-10

Creggan made it two wins out of two when they travelled to Cushendun on Sunday and beat the Emmet’s by a single point in Division 2 of the Antrim Hurling League. Two goals by Morgan Nelson in the 11^th and 14^th minutes of the first half were the key scores that decided the game and though they were always in contention they were always playing catch-up.

The home side started with a Dominic McQuillan point but two points from former county star Conor McCann had Creggan ahead by the seventh minute and when Nelson got the first of his two goals four minutes later, the visitors were in the driving seat. Matthew McCartin came back with a point for Cushendun but when Nelson grabbed his second goal on 14 minutes the Emmet’s had a mountain to climb.

Five points without reply from Conrad McDonnell, Dominic McQuillan, Eoin Magee, Matthew McCartin and Donal O’Hara cut their deficit to just one, but Creggan outscored the home side by 4 point to 3 in the run in to half time to lead by 2-06 to 0-10.

In a low scoring second half Creggan got off to a good start when Conor McCann and Jake McAteer stretched their team’s lead to 4 inside 3 minutes, but despite scoring just two more points in the following 27 minutes they were able to hold off a shot-shy Cushendun forward line. The Emmet’s did manage to close the gap to just 2 by the midway stage of the second half as Dominic McQuillan pointed a free and Calum Kilgore added one from play. However that was to be their only score from play in that second period, their final 3 points all coming from McQuillan frees, while two more by Morgan Nelson gave the Kickhams victory.

In the other games in Division 2 Glenariffe beat St Gall’s by 1-22 to 0-14 in Waterfoot, Carryduff had a home win over Cloughmills, Bredagh impressed in their 3-18 to 0-17 win over Sarsfields, Cloney Gaels beat St Paul’s by 2-17 to 2-16 in the game of the day at Ahoghill while Tir na nÓg had seven point to spare over Glenarm at Feystown, that game ending 0-10 to 0-17.

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Antrim Hurling League – Division 1

Cushendall 1-17 Portaferry 1-23

Portaferry made the long journey to Cushendall for a 12 noon throw in and their efforts were rewarded as they came away with both league points after a six point win over the Ruairis at Pairc Mhuir

Five early points from Ryan O’Neill Shane Conlan, Cahal Coleman, Niall Milligan and Niall Fitzsimons, in reply to one from Cushendall’s Paddy McGill put them on the front foot from the start. There was a bit of a lull in the middle third of the first half when the scoring dried up, but a scoring burst between the 20^th and 25^th minutes by the visitors, through Niall Fitzsimons, Cahal Coleman, Ryan O’Neill and Padraig Doran tightened their grip on the game, but a goal by Cushendall’s Andrew Delargy brought his back into contention and trailed by just four at half time.

Scoring four of the first five points in the early stages of the second half put the Ards men back in charge, but points from Oisin Woodhouse, Paddy McGill, (2) and Padraig McKillop kept Cushendall in touch. It was score for score down the home straight with the accurate free taking pf Cathal Coleman keeping Portaferry clear of the danger and they had six to spare at the end as they made the return journey down the Ards Peninsula.

Portaferry’s Shane Conlan had a little helper as he left the field at the end of the game

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ACHL Division 4

Ciceam Ard Eoin 5-16 Rossa 1-14

After a poor opening day display against Belfast Saints, Ardoyne got their season back on track with a determined and skilful display against O’Donovan Rossa at Fennell Park. Both sides entertained the gathered crowd with a very competitive game played in a good spirit in which both sides had their periods of domination. 

The afternoon began with the teams holding a Minute’s Silence in memory of the tragic loss of Fionnuala Walsh from the Rossa community.

Rossa were first to get the scoreboard ticking over with a point from Jim Close in opening minute. Ardoyne were quick to respond with a Cormac Barnes making his presence known for Ardoyne with a nice pass to Paddy Heaney who duly dispatched the sliothar over the bar. The in-form Padraig McGreevy eased Ardoyne ahead only to see Niall May bulge the net for the men from the West.

With 10 minutes gone and opening exchanges over, Ardoyne began to dominate with McGreevy and Barnes causing havoc in the Rossa defence. The Falls Road men stuck with Ardoyne and finished the half with two consecutive points to leave 7 points between the sides at half-time.

Half-Time: Ciceam Ard Eoin 2-10 Rossa 1-06

It was the men from the West who came out the blocks strongly as the second half got underway. They dominated the first 15 minutes of the half with Conor O’Neill knocking over points from both play and frees that saw Rossa put 8 points on the scoreboard to only one point in reply from Ardoyne.

Rossa had by now reduced the deficit to 2 points. Paddy Heaney stepped up for the Ardoyne men, and along with the growing influence of Aran Stewart and the accuracy of McGreevy, Ardoyne regained the imitative and scored 3-03 without reply in the final 15 minutes. Cormac Barnes had one of his best displays in the Ardoyne jersey, finishing with 2-02 to his credit, including an inspirational overhead strike that somehow ended up in the Rossa net.

A great display of hurling from both teams with each one learning much that will benefit them as the season unfolds.

Ciceam Ard Eoin: Connor O’Neill, Sean Searle, Paul Baker, Cormac Curran, Dan Moore, Caolan Wallace (1-0), Paul Mcguigan, Piarais Hull, Dean Goodall, Paddy Heaney (0-01), Matt McKillen, Aran Stewart (0-04), Cormac Barnes (2-02), Padraig McGreevy (2-09, 6f), Diarmuid Martin, Enda Slattery, Eamonn MacLochlainn, Cahal Clarke, Stephen Hill, Martin McLaughlin, Fiachra McVicker, David Saunders, Paul O’Halloran

O’Donovan Rossa: Niall Crossan, Setanta McDonald, Andrew McLean, Conall Shortt, Fiachra McDonald, Niall Devlin, Adam Devlin, Conor O’Neill (0-08, 6f), Matthew McKernan (0-01), Conor Rocks, Michael Murray, Jim Reynolds, Niall May (1-02), Michael Close, James Close (0-03, 1f)

 Referee: Niall Clifford

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