Armagh’s Stephen Campbell was special guest at St. Mary’s Aghagallon GAA for All end of season All Star event where a great evening’s coaching and fun was enjoyed by all.
Stephen was joined by St. Mary’s very own Antrim star, Eunan Walsh as the large group who attended were put through their paces in what proved to be a wonderful session for all present.
A nice touch from the St. Mary’s club was the presentation of a special certificate to Saffron Gael’s Bert Trowlen who has been a staunch supporter of the GAA for All over many years and is always there to bring coverage of these excellent events to a wide audience.
Aghagallon and Antrim’s Eunan Walsh with Armagh’s Stephen Campbell with children who received certificates at the end of season GAA foe All-All Stars evening
Holders, St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass advanced to another LGFA Minor final when they produced a five-star performance to overcome the challenge of Gort na Mona in the semi-final in Portglenone on Tuesday night.
Goals from Leah Stewart, Jo Jo Darragh and Annie Griffin between the 10th and 14th minute of the second half put matters to bed at a time when the Belfast girls had briefly threatened a comeback.
St. Ergnat’s led 1-9 to 0-2 at half time and added a point at the start of the second but three on the bounce from the Enright Park side suggested that perhaps this game wasn’t over.
That quick fire treble of majors from the Marian Hill side put paid to that notion and they added a fifth goal from a Ruby McErlain penalty in the 29th minute to run out convincing winners.
It was St. Ergnat’s who made all the early running with Jo Jo Darragh 0-2 and Katie McCloskey 0-2 shooting them into a four point lead by the 7th minute as they dominated the early exchanges.
There would be no relief for the Mona Bye-pass side as Annie Griffin added another before the impressive Darragh moved St. Ergnat’s six in front from a free and Ruby McErlain got herself on the score card with a goal in the 13th minute.
Darragh and McErlain added points before Orla McNulty finally opened the Gort na Mona account with a point in the 20th minute and Mia Dembele Mills followed with another before Katie McCloskey kicked the final point of the half to leave Moneyglass 1-9 to 0-2 ahead at the interval.
Gort na Mona started the second half well and after McCloskey had extended the reigning champions lead, Dembele Mills, Casey Meighan and Chloe Boyd Munce replied with three in a row.
The celebrations had scarcely finished before St. Ergnat’s responded with a sustained onslaught with points from Ruby McErlain and Leah Cassidy bookending a hat-trick of goals from Stewart, Darragh and Griffin to put matters to bed with 15 minutes remaining.
Ruby McErlain’s goal from the penalty spot in the 20th minute only served to put a brighter look on the score-board with the same player adding a late point and Gort na Mona finally rewarded for a battling effort with two late points from Casey Meighan and Brooke Largey.
St. Ergnat’s now meet St. Brigid’s in a repeat of last year’s final which the Marian Hill girls won and they will start this one as favourites but will face a tougher challenge from a Musgrave Park side who defeated St. Paul’s in the other semi-final on Sunday.
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Storm Ashley was only starting to flex her muscles before midday in Fr Maginn Park last Sunday but still had a significant impact on this U21 A Championship preliminary game. The scoreline doesn’t reflect the flow of a game which had Con Magee Gaels leading by 0-04 to 0-02 with only one quarter of the game remaining. In that final quarter the home side really took control and ran out winners but both teams will look back on too many missed chances on a day when long range shooting was definitely not proving productive. Moneyglass can point to several real goal chances in the second half which would have put a different slant on the game. In fairness Con Magee Gael’s defence was rock solid with Deaglan Carey in fine form as net minder bringing off a fantastic save with his side only two points to the good. That save may have proved inspirational as the local lads, who had only score four points in the opening three quarters, went on to add 1-04 in the final ten minutes and run out comfortable winners in the end.
Daire Higgins and Callagh Mooney opened for Gaels with Sean Boyd providing a good score for the opposition. Both teams were really struggling with poor shot choices as Ashley began to grow stronger – even short passing was a lottery – but still both teams served up some fine flowing play as well. Con Magee Gaels would add another two points before the break as Daire Higgins slotted over a free and Fergus Donaghey was first to pounce after a Shea O’Broin spot kick was saved. Donaghy cooly fisted over to bring us to the short whistle with the home side ahead 0-04 to 0-01.
As the second half got underway Ashley was really starting to take control and neither side could raise a flag in the opening fifteen minutes. That honour fell to Moneyglass midfielder Conleth McCann and two minutes later that save from Deaglan Carey sparked the Gaels into life. Moneyglass had mounted several attacks in the opening quarter but couldn’t convert the goal chances so solid was the home team defence. Peader Mc Donald slotted over a great point with only nine minutes remaining. That was followed by a Daire Higgins free and within one minute Gaels’ full back Shea McAuley popped up with a goal to effectively seal the deal as the home side now led 1-06 to 0-02. Both teams added a couple of points each in the closing five minutes; Nate Dixon and Conleth McCann were on target for Moneyglass whilst Gaels replied through Shea O’Broin and Colla Ward to leave the final score 1-08 to 0-04 in favour of Con Magee Gaels when referee Fionntan McCotter called time. Some spectators glad to seek refuge by their household fires, other hardy souls headed over the mountain to Ballycastle for the senior hurling final. Con Magee Gaels and Cushendall won the games but storm Ashley controlled the battles.
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Dunloy manager Gregory O’Kane stood at the entrance to the changing rooms at Páirc Mac Uílín as the cheers from Cushendall could be heard in the background. It can’t have been easy for him to listen to those cheers. His side came close to recapturing the Volunteer Cup after 60 minutes of championship hurling against the Ruairi’s played into the teeth of Storm Ashley.
The conditions were bordering ridiculous and it was the hot topic for discussion amongst the patrons in Ballycastle. O’Kane said: “The wind was so bad, it was hard to know if it was an advantage considering how we played in the second half.”
Leading by six at half time, it took Dunloy 18 minutes to register another score in the second half. They did have goal chances in that time though and the Dunloy manager said they felt like they could work with the conditions: “You look at the goal chances. It’s a funny one. Once you got past the breeze and in behind, there was goals on. We hit a few wides in the first half, maybe four of them from placed ball. It came down to millimeters and it was a lottery at the end of the day.
“You’re probably thinking now should the game of been played. There’s savage amount of county finals called off throughout the country. It’s just a pity. You don’t get both teams able to express themselves and the way the ball was going, it became a lottery.
“I know we create inside and that would happen even into the breeze. We had goal chances and a goal at that stage probably wins that game.”
Despite the defeat O’Kane stressed on how proud he was of his team and rued the loss of Conal Cunning down to a serious knee injury: “Coby is a hell of a player, what team in Ireland would he not get on. To loss a player of that stature, you really feel it but listen, every Dunloy man on that pitch died with his boots on and you can’t ask for more than that. They gave absolutely everything on a horrendous day.”
After winning four in a row, Dunloy had set the standard in Antrim. Sunday was the first time in 9 years the Ruairi’s had won back to back county titles and with talk of Cushendall now setting the standard, O’Kane said: “We take our chances we win that game. You can talk about levels but at the end of the day we had the chances to win that game. Over the course of the game we probably had more chances and that’s what it comes down to.
“Fair play to Cushendall, they had the same elements and won the game.”
Brendan McTaggart spoke to Cushendall manager Brian Delargy after Sunday’s final win over Dunloy
The celebrations were in full swing on the Páirc MacUílín pitch as Cushendall lifted the Volunteer Cup for the 16th time. In a contest that was every bit as close as expected, it was a game that not only came down to fine margins, but who dealt with the horrendous conditions.
Having won the toss and electing to play against the wind in the first half, Cushendall trailed by 6 at half time. It felt like the elements was strong enough for double that advantage and Cushendall manager Brian Delargy felt they were in a good place during the break: “We were happy enough. It was an atrocious day to try and play hurling in and you don’t really know what sort of lead you’re going to need. Even when Dunloy were playing with the wind when they threw the ball up, it was travelling forward. Just a hard day for hurling. Full stop.
“We had to play really hard in that first half. We dug in. and got a few scores breaking up the field but it wasn’t pretty. We really had to dig in.”
Despite their position at half time, Cushendall had to grind this one out. Dunloy played a strong running game from midfield and broke the line regularly. It ensured they were always in the game and the Ruairi’s weren’t in a position of comfort at any stage: “Fair play to Dunloy, they caused us a lot of bother and seemed to be able to break the line in midfield and get in on us. Liam Gillan made a super block on Keelan, last ditch stuff. As much as the boys put the ball over the bar, that block was as good as a goal at that stage.
“Both teams played well into the breeze. Both like to carry the ball and are suited for that but the battle in the first half set us up well.
“We spoke at half time about getting the ball into the central area before shooting. But when you go out there, it was just so hard to get the ball where you wanted.”
The Cushendall defence and midfield were excellent throughout ensuring the Ruairi’s could put Dunloy under pressure and force turnovers. Wing half back Ruairi McCollam had an superb game, winning countless ruck and aerial ball and Delargy also singled out another of his half back line for praise: “Ruairi is based in Sheffield now with his job. Thank God for modern technology with GPS’s and our S&C coach can send him over the runs and check up on him and he did play really well but to be fair the defence really stood up to them. It’s maybe easier when the ball is hanging in the air.
“I thought Eoghan Campbell was super today. He came out with a few big catches in the middle third where the battle was.”
Having won the championship last year, the Ruairi’s had moved from being the hunter to the hunted. They had the bullseye on their back for the rest of the county to track down but Delargy said it had little baring on how they went about their business this year: “Every championship is really hard to win whether you’ve won the one before or not. We never looked on it like that or like we were being hunted. We handed the cups back in May before the league started and we were hunting everyone else.
“All the top performers just want to get better every day they go out and I feel like we’re still on that journey even though we won the championship last year and done well. We’re still improving and on the upward curve.”
