McAuley Cup final

Loughgiel 2-23 Dungiven 0-12

Loughgiel Shamrock’s proved too strong for Kevin Lynch’s Dungiven in the final of the Paddy McCauley Cup in Armoy on Friday night. Despite the heavy rain that fell for most of the evening the Armoy pitch was in good shape as both sides took the field.

The Derry side kept in touch during the early exchanges but eventually Loughgiel’s superior stick work wore them down and in the end were convincing winners.

Shan McGrath pointed the Antrim league winners ahead from a free in the first minute and restored their lead after the visitors full-forward had levelled with a good point from play.

Darragh McGilligan closed the gap to one with a good point for the Derry side but slowly Loughgiel began to get on top with Paul Boyle, James McNaughton 0-2 and Jack McCloskey hitting four on the bounce to move them five ahead with 10 minutes gone.

Corey O’Reilly replied from a ‘65’ to raise Dungiven’s hopes but McNaughton responded immediately with a point at the other end before Jack McCloskey got in for the game’s opening goal with 15 minutes on the clock.

O’Reilly, who was impressive throughout for Dungiven, had a great opportunity to reduce the deficit but he inexplicably fired wide of an empty net after a good move opened up the Shamrock’s defence.

They were made to pay for their miss as James McNaughton, Jack McCloskey and Cathal Hargan struck points for Loughgiel before O’Reilly made some restitution for his earlier miss with a great point from a 60 meter free.

The Shamrocks were now in full swing as Rian McMullan, Paul Boyle, Ruairi McCormick and McMullan again added to their total to move them 14 ahead by the 25^th minute and even at this stage it looked a long way back for the Derry side.

They did add points from Thomas Brady and Liam Hinphey during the closing stages of the half but these were cancelled out by similar scores from Shan McGrath and James McMullan to leave it 1-17 to 0-6 at the break.

Adrian Armstrong opened the second half scoring with a point for Dungiven in the 7^th minute but once again it brought a sharp reply from the men in red as Cathal Hargan and James McNaughton from a couple of frees moved his side17 clear.

Corey O’Reilly struck a superb 70 meter free between the uprights for Kevin Lynch’s in the 13^th minute but before the ink had dried on Owen Elliott’s score card, McNaughton got in for a goal at the other end and that was that.

Loughgiel emptied their bench at this stage as tempers became a little frayed but Owen Elliott soon restored order with the excellent Corey O’Reilly striking three late points for Dungiven and Shan McGrath and Odhran McFadden concluding the Loughgiel scoring.

After the game members of the late Paddy McAuley’s family presented the McAuley Cup to Loughgiel captain, Damon McMullan before their young supporters joined in the celebration photograph.

Armoy stalwart, Philip Christie thanked both clubs for their efforts and their cooperation in making the event possible and wished both sides all the best in their forthcoming championships.

Loughgiel: 1 Chrissy O’Connell, 2 Pearce Patterson, 3 Caolon Blair, 4 Ronan McCloskey, 5 Enda og McGarry, 6 Damon McMullan, 7 Ddhran McFadden, 8 Ruairi McCormick, 9 Dan McCloskey,10 Cathal Hargan, 11 James McNaughton, 12 Rian McMullan, 13 M McCloskey, 14 Paul Boyle, 15 Shan McGrath, 16 Cormac McFadden, 17 Rory McCloskey , 18 Ben McGarry, 19 Christy McGarry, 20 Daniel McPeake, 21 Connor Dickson, 22 Seamus Dobbin

Darragh cup final – North Antrim Under 17 Hurling

One of the highlights of North Antrim juvenile hurling, the Darragh Cup final, will take place tonight in Cushendall with Dunloy taking on Glenariffe/Glenravel at 7-30.

Dunloy made their way to the final when they beat Loughgiel in last weekend’s semi-final at Fr Healy Park, in a high scoring and very entertaining game, while Glenariffe/Glenravel came from three points down to beat Ballycastle in dreadful conditions at Pairc MacUilin to seal their place in the final.

This is always a highly entertaining game and a much sought after trophy, in memory of the former Ruairi Og juvenile star John Darragh so get yourself along to Cushendall tonight to see two good teams in action.

McAuley Cup – Senior Hurling – Friday 21st July @ 7-30

Loughgiel Shamrocks will take on Kevin Lynch’s Dungiven in the final of the 2013 McAuley Cup tournament at Armoy on Friday evening at 7-30.

This will be the first time the tournament has been played since 2019, mainly because of the Covid epidemic, and it is great to see it back. Friday evening’s final will see the same two team meet as did battle in that 2019 decider. The Sharmrocks won that day, but there have been a good few changes on both side in the four years since they last met.

The fact that both teams are from different counties is a big plus for this years’ final, for had it been two Antrim teams, or indeed two Derry teams, meeting each other  neither would have been too keen to show their hand against a team they might well be meeting in the championship in a couple of weeks’ time. Both Loughgiel’s manager Hugh McCann and his Dungiven counterpart Kevin Himphy will see this a really good preparation for the campaigns that lie ahead.

The competition was started some years ago in memory of Paddy McAuley who was the man who restarted hurling in the glen in 1968. There have been a few teams have started and finished over the years in Armoy but the Glen Rovers club was founded in 1956, the name no doubt being a nod to the Cork legend Christy Ring who played his club hurling for the club of the same name in Cork city. Sadly it didn’t last too long back then but when Paddy McAuley got it up and running again in ’68 it has survived to the present day.

Let’s hope there are many more years to come.