Carey Faughs fans went through a range of emotions on Sunday as they watched their heroes battle it out with a great Carrickmore team in the quarter final of the Ulster Intermediate Hurling championship. Twice they came back from the dead to eventually take the game to penalties, when hero of the hour Steven McGinn sealed the win with two late saves
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Armoy Glen Rovers GAC held thier annual awards night in the Marine Hotel on Saturday night where the indidivual awards and team trophies were handed out. The club were also celebrating 25 years of Camogie in the club and there was special welcome to the ladies who had played for the club during those years
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Ulster Club Intermediate Hurling quarter final
Carrickmore (Tyrone champions) 0-20 Carey Faughs (Antrim champions) 2-14
Carey won 3- 2 on penalties
Two brilliant saves from Carey goalkeeper Steven McGinn during the penalty shoot-out finally decided Sunday’s Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship quarter final and gave the Faughs victory over Tyrone champions Carrickmore. The sides had been level at the end of normal time, and again at the end of extra time, Carey grabbing last gasp points to avoid defeat in both cases. With the light fading fast and both teams out on their feet a penalty shoot-out to see who would advance certainly added to the tension.
Carrickmore sent the first penalty over the crossbar and Carey had their first one saved by the Carrickmore keeper Conor McElhatton which added to the tension. Things began to turn in the Antrim champions favour when Conlith McKinley hit the net, and even though the Tyrone champions came back with a goal from their next penalty Conor McBride kept his nerve to edge the Faughs ahead again. When Steven McGinn saved Carrickmore’s next effort the ball was firmly in Carey’s court and when James Rocket Black drilled his shot home the odds were now in the Faughs favour, probably for the first time in the game. That meant Carrickmore had to score to keep the game alive but McGinn was equal to the task and produced the goods once again, saving low to his right to spark scenes of great celebration which no doubt carried on during the Carey fans long journey home.
You had to feel for the Tyrone men at the end for thy had given so much in a classic game o hurling, which they dominated for long periods of play, but the Faughs simply would not give up the fight, even when the odds were stacked against them, and they were rewarded with McGinn’s great saves, which earned them a semi-final place against Castleblaney in two weeks, time.
Carrickmore started the game with a point from centre forward Dermot Begley on three minutes, but Caolan McCaughan levelled for the Antrim champions one minute later. Conal McGlynn who was to prove one of the heroes of the hour, briefly put the Faughs ahead, but Carrickmore were starting to gain the upper hand and they sent over the next four points through Justin Kelly, Aidan Kelly, Aidan Woods and Bryan McGurk to move three clear by the end of the first quarter. Carey needed to stem the flow and they did with two points from Conall McGlynn frees and the first goal of the game from Conlith McKinley to edge ahead on twenty minutes. Oisin Daly pulled one back for Carrickmore but two lovely scores from Conor McBride stretched the Carey lead to three, though top scorer Kelly hit the last two points of the opening half to cut the Carey lead back to a single point by the time match referee James Callaghan sounded the half time whistle.
The Tyrone champions levelled matters six minutes into the second half and though Conal McGlynn briefly restored the Carey lead, the next fifteen minutes would prove scoreless as Carrickmore got on top. Three in a row by their excellent free taker Kelly, and though the Faughs were creating chances they just could not find the target. The game appeared to be slipping away from the men in green, but James ‘Rocket’Black got them going again with a well taken point in the 50th minute. Conal McGlynn sent over a free off the inside of the upright, another from Kelly and one from Conor Grogan seemed to have sealed the win for the Tyrone champions, but right half forward Conlith McKinley showed great composure to slot over a brilliant equaliser thirty second from the end, to send the game to extra time.
Carrickmore again looked the more assured side when Daly and Kelly put them two clear in first part of extra time and for a while it looked like they could put the game beyond Carey, but the Antrim men grabbed a lifeline when Conal McGlynn grabbed a point just before the half-time whistle. When McGlynn got in for his team’s second goal early in the second part of extra time it started to look like Carey were holding the upper hand, but Carrickmore hit the next three points to move one clear as the game entered added time. The odd were again firmly in the Tyrone team’s favour but a fantastic score by midfielder James McCouaig just twenty second from time, tied thing up again and brought the game to penalties.
Facing a scenario which neither team had come up against before the tension was palpable but the Antrim champions handled it that bit better, and Steven McGinn, who grandfather moved to Ballycastle in the early sixties from Killclogher, just ten miles up the road from where Sunday’s game was played, proved the hero of the hour.
CAREY FAUGHS
Steven McGinn, Zach McCaughan, Sean McBride, Patrick Gillan, Michael McVeigh, James Black, Conall McGlynn, Caolan McCaughan, James McCouaig, Conlith McKinley, Conor McBride, John McBride, Shea Hunter, Patrick Butler, Callum Cane. Subs Eoin Hill
CARRICKMORE
Conor McElhatton, Michael Kelly, Dean Rafferty, Anthony Corssan, Bryan McGurk, Enda grimes, Conor Grogan, Cormac Munroe, Seamus Sweeney, Oisin Daly, Aidan Woods, Aidan Kelly, Tony Hughes, Sean Og Grogan, Justin Kelly
REFEREE – James Callaghan (Donegal)
https://myalbum.com/album/EzFUi6ho8G5MvT/?invite=3fd8f1a5-3aaa-4eaa-8862-e1f254c8ca96
Carey Faughs face a tough task when they travel to Carrickmore on Sunday to take on the Tyrone champions in the Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship quarter final. As all of the Antrim teams know who played in the Ulster Intermediate Championship there are no easy games in this competition.
Many people have queried how Carrickmore were allowed to play the game on their own pitch, but the hurling club Eire Og and the football club St Colmcilles are separate and the match is being played at St Colmcille Park.
The last time the Faughs played in Ulster they fell at the first hurdle against Sunday’s opponents. This time around it is not going to be any easier, and with the Tyrone men still seeking their first provincial crown they will feel they have a great chance of repeating that 2021 result. However you feel there is a bit more steel about the Faughs this year and the management duo of Eddie McCloskey and Benny McCarry have given them back their self-belief.
They lost just once in the league stages of the Antrim championship, conceding a late goal to Cloughmills in the final minute in Carey. That result meant they were really up against it but they showed great character to win their last threegames, beating St Gall’s by 2-20 to 2-15 in Belfast and following that up with a 0-23 to 1-18 win over Oisins in Glenariffe.
Their 3-23 to 2-24 win over Cloney Gaels in the semi-final set them up for another tilt at Oisins in the final where they produced a great final quarter to win by five point and claim the trophy. The build up to Sunday’s game has continued the buzz around the parish and there was a great crowd in the hall on Wednesday evening when the all the young fans got a chance to meet the team and get jerseys and souvenires signed. The club is really looking forward to this big game and they will travel in big numbers. It is going to be a tough task for the Faughs but the form they have shown this year shows they are capable of taking on anyone. Let’s all get behind them on Sunday
Éire Óg, Carrickmore 1-15 Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon 2-6
Eire Óg Carrickmore made it four Tyrone SHC titles in a row on Sunday thanks to a convincing six-point victory over great rivals Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon.
The winners started strongly with Oisin Daly opening the scoring and then Justy Kelly following up with a goal, but Eoghan Ruadh fought back with a goal through Branan Molloy.
Éire Óg put their foot on the gas again to move 1-8 to 1-2 ahead, but Eoghan Ruadh gave themselves some hope with a goal from Kiefer Morgan late in the half that reduced the deficit to three points by the break.
It looked like the comeback was really on when Eoghan Ruadh hit the first two points of the second-half to leave the minimum between the teams, but that’s as close as the Dungannon club would get.
Éire Óg hit the next six points in a row to move seven clear by the 51st minute, and never looked like losing it from there.