Category / Hurling

by thesaffrongael

Oisins hold on for the win

O’Neill’s Antrim Hurling League Division 2

Tir na nOg 2-16 Glenariffe Oisins 0-24

A late fightback by Tir na nOg came up just short in the opening game of the Antrim Hurling League Division 2 at Whitehill as visitors Glenariffe held on for a two point win. When the Oisins opened up an eight point gap with just twelve minutes of normal time remaining it all appeared to be plain sailing for the men from the Glens, but Tir na nOg upped the pace and had the Oisins defence at sixes and sevens down the home straight, grabbing two goals from penalties by substitute Sean Duffin. The gap was down to a single point entering injury time, but a late point by top scorer Alex O’Boyle got them over the line to the great relief of their travelling support.

The game got underway in bright sunny conditions, with the home side playing with the aid of a slight breeze. The early stages were evenly matched with Ciaran Logan and Kevin Sheerin hitting two apiece while Orrin O’Connor, Alex O’Boyle were sending them over for Glenarife. The visitors hit a purple patch Conor Patterson and Brogan O’Connor getting in on the scoring act and O’Boyle sending over two points from sideline ‘cuts’ in quick succession, in reply to points at the other end from Declan Mallon and Kevin Sheering which kept the home side in touch. However the Oisins finished the half strongly and two more Alex O’Boyle points and one from his brother Michael gave them a 0-14 to 0-09 lead by half time.

Despite playing against the breeze in the second half Tir na nOg started strongly with points from Darragh Fagan and Joshua Higgins ( who was to prove very influential in that second half) cut the gap back to three. However Conor Patterson, Michael Haughey and Alex O’Boyle came back with four in a row to leave seven between them.

A magical spell by Higgins, which saw him hit four brilliant points from play, in reply to one from an O’Boyle free closed the gap back to just four as the the Glenariffe defence began to struggle. Two more by O’Boyle and one by Seanie McIntosh appeared to settled matters, but the introduction of substitute Sean Duffin swung things back in the home team’s favour. A goal from a Duffin penalty had the gap back to four again and when he fired in a second one five minutes later there was just a point between the sides. With three minutes of injury time added it looked like it was anyone’s game, but O’Boyle settled it with another point after good work by Brogan O’Connor.

TIR NA nOG

Michael Higgins, Brandon McLarnon, Ciaran O’Neill, Manus Smyth, Ryan O’Neill, Colm Duffin, Caoimhin Duffin, Darragh Fagan, Conor McCamphill, Ciaran Logan, Kevin Sheerin, Joshua Higgins, Niall Davlin, Declan Mallon, Emmet Martin.

Subs – Sean Duffin, Daniel Martin, Dylan McLarnon

OISINS

Paul McMullan, Patrick McIlwaine, Niall Murray, Cailin Devlin, Brogan O’Connor, Michael Haughey, Daniel Kearney, Odhran Gillen, Oliver Kearney, Phelim Ward, Conor Patterson, Alex O’Boyle, Orrin O’Connor, Michael O’Boyle, Seanie McIntosh.

Subs  – James Kearney for Michael O’Boyle. Ronan Leech for Michael Haughey

TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/WJgCiuDrUStSQU/?invite=faf862f9-796c-4841-a6f0-05e18c0e3475

by thesaffrongael

Shane O’Neill’s Glenarm shade opening day clash

ACHL Division 2

St. Brigid’s 1-14 Shane O’Neill’s 1-16

Last year’s Division 2 runners-up, Shane O’Neill’s Glenarm, kicked off their 2025 campaign with a hard-fought two-point victory over newly promoted St. Brigid’s Cloughmills in a keenly contested encounter in Cloughmills on Sunday.

Both teams came out strong, trading early scores in a fast-paced opening. Glenarm’s Niall McGarel led the way with some fine points, showcasing his accuracy from play and placed balls. St. Brigid’s, however, were up for the challenge, with Eoin Dobbin in impressive form, keeping the scoreboard ticking over for the ‘Biddies.’

Niall McGarel who was in fine for for Glenarm in their win over Cloughmills

It was Gerald Burns who opened the scoring with a point for the visitors in the 2nd minute with Liam Kearns replying immediately for the host club.

Two more from McGarel and Daniel Black moved Shane O’Neill’s two in front and Dobbin and McGarel exchanged further points before Niall McNaughton and Dobbin with a great long range effort tied the contest for a second time.

Gerald Burns and John Scullion moved Glenarm two in front and Dobbin and McGarel exchanged further scores before Cloughmills finished strongly with Kevin O’Boyle, Eoin Dobbin, Seamus Duffin and O’Boyle again adding points.

Ben O’Boyle and McGarel replied for the Feystown side and at the half way mark it was nine each and all still to play for in the second half.

The intensity carried into the second period, with Daniel Black edging the visitors ahead once more and Eoin Dobbin bring it all square for the 5th time but Glenarm responded with renewed energy.

They hit a purple patch as McGarel continued to shine, knocking over three of the next four scores which sandwiched a  Daniel Black goal and suddenly Shane O’Neill’s had moved six in front.

Dobbin replied with his sixth point of the afternoon and the Cloughmill’s number 11 had the opportunity to bring his side right back into the contest when they were awarded a penalty but his effort sailed wide of the upright.

Eoin Dobbin who top scored for St. Brigid’s

Cloughmills rang the changes as they introduced three substitutes and it was of them, James O’Boyle who scrambled the sliotar over the line from close range to put his side right back into contention with 10 minutes remaining.

A couple from Dan Black at the other end had Glenarm four clear and they appeared to have rode the storm but the ‘Biddies’ were battling hard to keep in touch and it took a couple of smart saves from Michael Abram to keep the visitors in front.

As the game entered the final stages, Glenarm’s experience proved vital and despite two more points from the impressive Dobbin they held on for a two point victory as they got their first points for 2025 on board.

Glenarm will look to build on this hard-fought win in their next fixture against Tir na nOg while Cloughmills will aim to bounce back when they travel to Carryduff on the 13th April.

TO VIEW MORE PHOTOGRAPHS CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

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by thesaffrongael

McCloskey and Bradley Shine as Saffrons See off Westmeath Challenge

O’Neills Leinster U20 Hurling Championship – Tier 2

Antrim 2-23 Westmeath 1-15

Saturday 29 March

By Brendan McTaggart

Antrim put in a strong performance in Mullingar to get their Leinster u20 championship off to a winning start on Saturday afternoon.  11 points was the difference between the sides at the end of an hour that saw the Saffrons start slowly in both halves but such was their recovery from that, it will merely be seen as a footnote to the game.

Fiontan Bradley top scored with 1-9 in Antrim’s win over Westmeath in Mullingar

Fiontan Bradley maintained his excellent form at this level by top scoring for the Saffrons with 1-9 beside his name and just five of those coming from placed ball but he was edged out of the Man of The Match accolade by the returning Jack McCloskey.  In his first start of the campaign, McCloskey was at his electric best.  He finished with seven points beside his name and tortured the Westmeath defence with his pace and trickery and was part of an inside forward line that shone.

The two Antrim goals came in either half from Bradley and Aodhan McGarry, the latter coming seven minutes into the second half that gave Antrim an eight point lead but the concession of a soft goal for the home side gave Westmeath a glimmer of hope.  The Saffrons went through the gears in the final quarter however and finished superbly, adding 10 points with six unanswered before the long whistle.

The home side got off to a fast start and had four points on the board inside the opening five minutes – one each for Cormac McKeogh and Calum McKeogh either side of a brace of frees from Dylan Corrigan.  Corrigan would finish top scorer for his side with six of his eight points coming from placed ball.

Antrim began to find their feet in the game and restricted Westmeath to just another five points in the time that remained in the half and a period of dominance for 20 minutes that saw them turn the screw.

Aodhan McGarry got in for Antrim’s second goal seven minutes into the second half

Four points in as many minutes from Oran Donnelly, Niall Magee, Bradley and McCloskey were answered by a Cody Ward point in the 12th minute before the first goal of the game.  Donnelly and Bradley combining before the Cushendall man fired to the back of the net and give the Saffrons the lead.  It could have been even better with the next attack when Donnelly deflected the sliotar into the back of the net from a long delivery but he was penalised for a square-ball infringement but scores from McCloskey (two) and Thomas McLaughlin stretched the Antrim lead to five.

Antrim were creating chances and space in the Westmeath defence and could have had another couple of majors but Bradley and Joseph McLaughlin were both denied by some last-gasp defending.

Westmeath seemed to have weathered the Saffron storm and outscored Antrim four points to three in the time that remained of the first half to leave the half time score 1-10 to 0-9 in Antrim’s favour.

It was largely an excellent from Antrim who played with huge intensity.  Their slick passing and movement nullified the elements, the four point margin at half time was the minimum they deserved and gave Antrim an excellent platform for the second half.

Thomas McLaughlin at full stretch to win the ball.

The lead was stretched to five before McGarry found the back of the Westmeath net in the 37th minute.  Collecting a sideline from Joseph McLaughlin, McGarry’s touch took him beyond the Westmeath challenges before he produced an expert finish.

The home side responded superbly however.  Another point from Calum McKeogh was followed by a fortuitous goal in the 41st minute.  Ivan Smyth making the most of a spill from Eoghan Richmond in the Antrim goals and punished the error to leave four between the sides going into the final quarter.

While it may have been easy to put their head down following the sucker-punch, Antrim found another gear and were relentless to the final whistle.  They outscored Westmeath 10 points to three with just three of those white flags coming from placed ball to give Antrim a comfortable win in the end.

The pleasing aspect of the finish has to be the intensity levels the whole team showed right to the end.  They were relentless and never gave Westmeath an inch with their tackling and press all over the pitch.  McCloskey and Bradley will take the plaudits but there should be a nod in the direction of the work this side have done off the park with the strength and conditioning preparation work.  Outside of the first five, maybe 10 minutes of this game, this was a top performance from a talented group of players.

They turn their attention now to a game with Meath in two week’s time knowing that a win will see them into the top tier.

Antrim centre back Sean McKay in action in Mullingar

TEAMS

Antrim: Eoghan Richmond; Malachi McGibbon, Cian Baudant, Niall Magee; Charlie McAuley, Sean McKay, Ben O’Kane; Calum McIlwaine, Ronan Fitzgerald; Aodhan McGarry, Joseph McLaughlin, Thomas McLaughlin; Jack McCloskey, Oran O’Connor, Fiontan Bradley

Subs: Cormac McKeown for R Fitzgerald (46); Callagh Mooney for J McLaughlin (52); Cian O’Connor for C Baudant (53)

Scorers: F Bradley 1-9 (5fs); J McCloskey 0-7; A McGarry 1-00; O Donnelly 0-2; C McKeown 0-2; N Magee 0-1; J McLaughlin 0-1; T McLaughlin 0-1

Westmeath: Padraig Casey; Conor Daly, Jack Murtagh, Darragh Smyth; Sean Hayes, Brian McCabe, Peter Murphy; Calum McKeogh, Cody Ward; Dylan Corrigan, Conor Leech, Conor Heffernan; Cormac McKeogh, Ivan Smyth, Nathan Cornally

Subs: Connaire Martin for B McCabe (44); Caolan Ready for C Leech (46); Adam Cassidy for C Heffernan (50); Sean Jackson for I Smyth (55)

Scorers: D Corrigan 0-8 (6fs); I Smyth 1-00; Cormac McKeogh 0-2; Calum McKeogh 0-2; C Ward 0-2; C Heffernan 0-1

TO SEE MORE PICS FROM THIS GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/95z7RTjf5BEofJ/?invite=c09a1517-3e84-4e60-9dfa-ec7579ef1237

by thesaffrongael

Hurling leagues get underway on Sunday

The Antrim hurling leagues get underway on Sunday with a full programme from Division 1 right down to the newly formed Division 4.

With several of the Senior Reserve teams complaining about a lack of regular matches some of them have joined Division 2 to make sure they get enough games this season. A few of the Division 2 club’s I spoke with are not too keen on the idea, saying that too many of the clubs are able to manipulate the fixtures to make sure they have full use of their best players in these games.

DIVISION 1

Division 1 gets underway on Sunday at 2pm when Portaferry host Dunloy Cuchullains, but the other two games in the top division don’t start until 4 when St John’s host county champions Cushendall at Corrigan Park, Rossa have Ballycaste as visitors to Shaw’s Road and Loughgiel have a home tie against St Enda’s at Fr Healy Park, this one starting at 4-30

DIVISION 2

All but one of the eight Division 2 games get underway at 2pm when St Gall’s host Cloney Gaels at the Bog Meadows, Creggan are at home to Ulster Intermediate Champions Carey Faughs, while Tir na nOg take on Oisins Glenariffe at Whitehill. St Paul’s host Cushendun Emmet’s at Shaw’s Road while Loughgiel Shamrocks 2nds have Bredagh as visitors to Fr Healy Park. Sarsfields have Carryduff visiting the Bear Pit while St Brigid’s Cloughmills have a home tie against Glenarm. The final game in this division starts at 4 when St Paul’s 2nds take on Loch Mor Dal Chais.

DIVISION 3

2 pm is also the start time for the five Division 3 fixtures which sees Davitt’s take on Dunloy 2nds, Glenrovers Armoy face Ruairi Og seconds 2nds,  Gort na Mona’s welcome Con Magees Glenravel to Enright Park while in the last game in the division Lamh Dhearg take on visitors Ballycastle 2nds.

DIVISION 4

In Division 4 All Saints Ballymena are at home to St Brigid’s, Belfast, Belfast Saints face Ardoyne in a Belfast derby while Rossa 2nds face Glenarm 2nds at Rossa Park.

by thesaffrongael

Antrim U20s face Westmeath in Mullingar

Leinster Under 20 Hurling Championship – Tier 2

Westmeath v Antrim at Cussack Park, Mullingar

Antrim Under-20s step into the unknown tomorrow (Saturday) when they take on Westmeath in the Leinster Championship in Cussack Park, Mullingar. (Throw-in 2pm).

Liam Glackin who played at full back in the Ulster final for Antrim in their win over Down and at centre back in CPC’s Paddy Buggy final win. The selectors will have to decide what suits him best in Mullingar

When we spoke to team manager Michael McShane he sounded upbeat about things, saying that training has been going really well since beating Down in the Ulster final three weeks ago. The four senior players in the panel, Sean McKay, Cormac McKeown, Aodhan McGarry and Joseph McLaughlin were away last weekend with the senior squad at their warm-weather training camp in Portugal, returned a few days ago and trained with the rest of the squad last night.

Michael and his management team will not name the starting 15 until they arrive at Cussack Park as there are a couple of players with slight niggles and they want to asses them in the morning to be sure they are good to go. However the Ballycastle man assures us that the spirit in the camp is very good. They have worked very hard for a few months now and are really looking forward to the challenge of playing in Tier 2 in Leinster.

Aodhan McGarry
Niall Magee
Callagh Mooney

Their group in the second tier contains Westmeath and Meath and McShane stressed that nothing short of a win on Saturday will suffice. One team of the three advances to Tier 1 and that is something the management team have set their sights on since the campaign started. They have seen Westmeath in action on a couple of occasions and have been impressed with what they saw.

“I have got to see the opposition in action in a couple of games. They are a very big, strong team and they play a very distinctive running game. We know that any time you go into Mullingar to play Westmeath you are going to be up against it.” Like ourselves their aim is to get into Tier 1 and to do that they need to win tomorrow. McShane added “ To be honest whoever loses tomorrow will be more or less out of it.”

The way the group works sees whoever loses out tomorrow facing Meath next weekend, while the winners of tomorrow’s game face the same opposition the following weekend on April 12th.

Summing up McShane added “We are all very excited about this game, which should have a real championship feel about it, We are really looking forward to it and hopefully we get the win.”

The Saffrons have qualified for this stage of the competition by winning the Ulster title which saw them beat Derry and Down in the round robin section, and them beat Down in the final in Ballycastle. Down provided stiff opposition in that final and at half time there was only four points between the sides. However they pulled away in the second half and were comfortable enough winners in the end.

McShane and his team have had a wide selection to pick from, especially with St Killian’s winning last season’s Paddy Buggy Cup (All Ireland Colleges B Championship) and Cross & Passion doing the same this year. There is deep pool of talent available and they have been given their chance during a series of challenge games, plus their Ulster campaign.

Oran Donnelly
Charlie McAuley
Ben O’Kane
Fiontann Bradley who was top score in the Ulster final win over Down

We would expect to see a team along the lines of the one that beat Down in the Ulster final. Cormac McKeown did not start that day because he selected to start on the senior team the following day against Laois in the National Hurling League Division 1 B game at Corrigan Park. However he did get a run out during the second half of the Down game and looks certain to start tomorrow.

Team manager Mickey McShane

The team who beat Down in that Ulster final was

Antrim: Eoghan Richmond; Ciarán McAllister, Liam Glackin, Malachi McGibbon; Charlie McAuley, Ben O’Kane, Niall Magee; Sean McKay, Calum McIlwaine; Aodhan McGarry, Oran Donnelly, Thomas McLaughlin; Callagh Mooney, Joseph McLaughlin, Fiontan Bradley

Subs: Sean Óg Blaney for C McAllister (28); Cormac McKeown for O Donnelly (38); Orrin O’Connor for J McLaughlin (58); Austin Birt for L Glackin (58)

Scorers: F Bradley 0-10 (5fs); A McGarry 1-1 (1f); J McLaughlin 0-3; S McKay 0-2; O Donnelly 0-2; C Mooney 0-2; O O’Connor 0-2; N Magee 0-1; C McIlwaine 0-1; C McKeown 0-1

THE WESTMEATH LINE-OUT

Tomorrow is the biggest game most of these young men have faced. The stakes are high and it promises to be a great contest. Get yourself down to Mullingar to cheer them on.

For those not able to travel the game is being streamed live on Clubber