Antrim Camogie Intermediate Championship Final Ahoghill v Loughgiel 12th Oct 24

Ahoghill 3-07 Loughgiel 0-09

Match report and photos from Michael Corcoran at Páirc Uí Catháin, Port Chluain Eoghain.

An early goal from Ahoghill’s Aisling O’Donnell in the first thirty seconds of the game, set up St. Mary’s for a run of goals as conditions wreaked havoc on scoring points. With four seasons rolled into one, Ó Cathan Park offered little shelter but spectators were noisy and enthusiastic, delivering an exciting sound track for this intense Intermediate Championship.

Both halves catered for more fouls than points but the difficult conditions majored in that, as both sides went toe to toe for the full sixty minutes and three extras.

Match referee, Owen Elliott, got the game underway after Ahoghill won the toss and opted to play towards the clubhouse just past the hour and a loose sliotar from the throw-in, delivered in high towards Loughgiel’s goals, found the stick of a pressing Aisling O’Donnell, who wasted no time finding the net. This would be Ahoghill’s technique for the next two goals, deliver a soaring sliotar and let the force of the wind drop it sharply down for a gamble near the goal mouth that paid off three out of the five occasions.

But an unphased Shamrocks squad went quietly about their work and found the space above Ahoghill’s bar from acute angles near the scoreboard. Carlina Sullivan would strike first with a minute and half gone, followed by points from Ceala Dobbin and Kirsty McKendry around the four minute mark, allowing Loughgiel to pull alongside Ahoghill on the scoreboard.

Ahoghill’s O’Donnell would figure in an assist as she found Noreen Graham running into space on the right hand side of the pitch. Graham floated the sliotar wide of the right upright but it was well calculated to draw back in from the wind, which was coming from the right corner and that point would be the last the game would see for nearly another twelve minutes as five fouls resulted in no scores until Loughgiel’s Carlina Sullivan stirred the scoreboard back into life with another point from an acute angle under the scoreboard.

Ahoghill’s Catriona Graham played a big role in sweeping back not only to take her fair share of the frees but to strengthen the mid field and finding the sliotar, offloaded to mid fielder Niamh Neeson. Neeson played for the high lob and down it fell to a waiting Katie McCloskey and St. Mary’s would enjoy their second goal of the game with twenty nine minutes elapsed.

It would fall to Loughgiel’s Orlagh Laverty to close the gap by a point, taking a free from a foul deemed a push on the back and as the extra time in the first half incremented down to zero, Elliott blew for the break with sides standing Ahoghill 2-01 Loughgiel 0-05.

With only two points the difference as the game restarted, Ahoghill would now enjoy a portion of the wind on their backs and with a minute and thirty gone on the clock, O’Donnell was busy finding Maura Downey, getting St. Mary’s underway with a fine point.

Loughgiel’s Orlagh Laverty was now profiling more in the game and getting possession of the sliotar at the Shamrocks’ dugout, Laverty carried the sliotar with immense skill into the wind for upwards of twenty metres and delivered for one of the most challenging points of the game.

Ahoghill’s Katie McCloskey was by now having a good game and it could have been better as she reached high above her head to swing on a dropping sliotar but as it bounced off the right upright for potentially a dangerous goal mouth scramble, Elliott blew for a square infringement.

Loughgiel were every bit still in the game, especially after Ceala Dobbin pointed coming in from the right side of the pitch but that was neutralised quickly as Niamh Neeson was pulled to the ground and the resulting free from Caitriona Graham at six minutes widened the gap by two points once more and soon to be five as Katie McCloskey received a high sliotar, dropping on the edge of the square for St. Mary’s to strike and raise the green flag for the last goal of the match.

Loughgiel’s Eva McGarry managed to make good of the advantage as Orlagh Laverty was fouled making her way towards Ahoghill’s scoring zone and that point, despite down the three goals, tallied up four points of a difference in favour of St. Mary’s. Loughgiel needed to keep the momentum going and with twenty minutes left, this was realisable until the game ground down to five fouls in a row, resulting in as many minutes ebbing away in the game.

It would be Ahoghill that came out of the grind with three points on the trot, two from Caitriona Graham and one from Katie McCloskey before Loughgiel replied with a point from a free taken by Orlagh Laverty due to a trip on Eimear McGivern.

With three minutes signaled for extra time, Ahoghill’s Maura Downey wouldn’t need them as she pointed on the last minute of ordinary time to make it feel like Loughgiel had too much to do in the three minutes and Ahoghill’s defense, being solid all along, wasn’t going to give any quarter at the last few minutes.

As play recommenced from a foul on Caitriona Graham, St. Mary’s goal keeper ran out to deliver the free into a long familiar sound of the final whistle. Ahoghill had won the intermediate Championship 3-07 to Loughgiel’s 0-09.

Ahoghill will now gear up for their Ulster campaign as Loughgiel now turn their attention to Sunday’s senior championship match against Dunloy in Cushendall.

Ahoghill starting panel and scorers

Aine Graham, Mairead McCloskey, Bronagh Gaffin, Fiona Blaney, Orla Neeson, Éadaoin McGarry, Caoimhe Scullion, Niamh Neeson, Enya Neeson, Katie McCloskey 2-01, Aisling O’Donnell 1-00, Molly Horan, Noreen Graham 0-01, Caitriona Graham 0-03f, Anne-Marie O’Neill, Maura Downey 0-02

Loughgiel starting panel and scorers

Shauna McKillop, Erin Connolly, Aoife O’Mullan, Zoe Cassley, Ciara Dobbin, Ciara Connolly, Sarah Flavin, Louise McKillop, Cara Connolly, Therese McKinley, Kirsty McKendry 0-01, Orlagh Laverty 0-03 (2f), Ceala Dobbin 0-02, Catie Connolly, Carlina Sullivan 0-02, Eva McGarry 0-01

Don’t forget to enjoy all of our photos in the Saffron albums on a large screen such as a laptop or tablet. Click on a photo to see it larger, look at the album as either a photo book or web pages and you can order a copy online as a keep’s sake.

Photos from this evening’s game can be found by clicking on the album link here…

https://myalbum.com/album/YFSr6TbX5sm7xe/?invite=fd64f2c1-dd9f-4da4-acf7-eaecbb8c7a11

Follow Michael G Corcoran @keep_clickin on X (formerly Twitter) for match Gifs when available.

Follow The Saffron Gael @TheSaffronGael on X for links to match reports.

U-14 All-County C Football Final

St Ergnat’s, Moneyglass 7-08-8-10 St Teresa’s

Kevin Herron reports from Dunsilly

FIVE-Days after winning the South Antrim Fr Mullan Plate, St Teresa’s powered to All-County honours with a 8-10-7-08 win over Moneyglass in a magnificent C decider at Dunsilly on Friday evening.

Cristoir McCabe shot his side into an early lead inside of two minutes, but Shea Scullion replied with the game’s opening goal after his shot dipped St Teresa’s keeper Ethan McErlean.

A point followed from Colm Gribbin and St Ergnat’s stretched their lead when Sionán McCormack drove through and applied a close-range finish to give his side a 2-01-0-01 lead.

McCormack would add to his goal with a converted 45’ but their lead would diminish as St Teresa’s came roaring back.

A kick-out from Daire Quinn was gathered by Cristoir McCabe and his shot evaded Quinn with a bounce that trickled to the corner of the net.

McCabe rattled the bar with a shot two minutes later and fortunately Joseph Varndell was waiting to turn home and make it a one-point game with only 10 minutes on the clock.

Points were traded between Cahir McErlain and Cristoir McCabe though a third goal inside of the opening 14 minutes would edge St Teresa’s ahead for the second time.

Damien Melaney floated a high ball into the area and Cayden Devlin palmed home from close-range to make it 3-02-2-03.

In response, Sionán McCormack landed a magnificent point with a high shot that dropped over the posts.

St Teresa’s had keeper Ethan McErlean to thank for preserving their lead with a super save that denied Shea Scullion his second of the half.

Instead, they would pull further ahead through a Cristoir McCabe point and a deflected Darragh McDonald goal that had them 4-03-2-04 ahead with five minutes to the break.

Their five-point advantage wasn’t enough though as Moneyglass finished the half strongly. Sionán McCormack’s pace was proving a problem to deal with as he galloped through as ease and blasted home.

McCormack made another trademark burst but this time McErlean did enough to turn his shot behind at the expense of a 45’ that McCormack played short to Shea Scullion to float over.

A minute into added time McCormack lashed home his hat-trick after evading a succession of last-ditch tackles as his side were 4-05-4-03 ahead at the end of an exhilarating half.

St Teresa’s regained the lead inside of 60-seconds of the restart through a Gerard Delaney shot that bounced to the net, and Kaiden McKay dropped over a point shortly afterwards.

Talisman Cristior McCabe added his second of the evening as St Teresa’s opened up a five-point advantage for the second time (6-04-4-05), but it was short-lived as Sionán McCormack blasted low to the net.

Damien Melaney flashed a shot over the bar to double his account and Joseph Varndell did likewise from a superb McCabe pass in behind.

Moneyglass were thrown a lifeline when referee Gerard Dougan awarded them a penalty for an illegal lift off the deck, but the opportunity passed them by as Ethan McErlean sprung low to his right to repel McCormack’s penalty.

Points were traded between McCabe and Cahir McErlain and the same duo bagged goals within a minute of each other as the four-points remained the difference midway through the second half.

Jude Melarkey cut the deficit to a goal inside the final 10 minutes, but St Teresa’s had the chance to pull clear when they were awarded a penalty for trip inside the square.

Cristior McCabe seized the responsibility and blasted low to the net to move his side 8-07-6-07 ahead with six to go.

McCormack tried to hit back instantly- though he had to had settle for a point with McCabe responding.

St Teresa’s insurance score arrived a minute from time as Damien Melaney swung over to give a seven-point advantage.

In injury-time that lead was eaten into when Sionán McCormack was denied by McErlean and a push in the aftermath saw Moneyglass awarded a second penalty.

This time Shea Scullion stepped up and he made no mistake, however time was against his side as Cristior McCabe added a further score before the conclusion as his side were worthy 8-10-7-08 winners at the end of a truly magnificent game of football under the Dunsilly lights.

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

https://myalbum.com/album/Av6MgWUxKva5G9

Ulster Schools McNamee Cup – U-13 ½ Hurling

CPC 6-8 vs St Pat’s Maghera 2-6

Monday 23rd Sept, seen a well anticipated fixture between the two schools, held at MacUilin ground at 2pm. This was the opening game in this competition and with both schools reaching the final of the Thompson Cup in June time (Ulster Year 8 Final) a tight game was always on the cards. Both teams fielded very strong panels and it turned into as expected, a physical and skilful encounter. The game was keenly contested and at half time there was only 3 points between the sides, with CPC guilty of a number of misses and at times overplaying the ball. However after half time, the Ballycastle school asserted their dominance, mainly due to the outstanding performances of Tom Richmond and Killian Cassidy in midfield. Late goals by Daire Kearney and Dara McAuley sealed the victory for CPC and got their campaign off to a winning start. Both schools will be happy to get their campaign started and there is a lot of hurling to do between now and the final of the competition scheduled for the second week of November.

Cross and Passion College have a bye next week and then they play the  newest addition to the Ulster Schools “A” Hurling – Gaelscoil Dhoire in two weeks time, who are backboned by strong GAA clubs such as Slaughneil, Dungiven and Ballinascreen.

FOR MORE PICS FROM CLAIRE FAWL CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/Wo5enZzUbfWUbS/?invite=3c3cc03d-abfd-4f0f-8c29-0610af426bcb

Junior Hurling Championship semi-final

Rasharkin 2-16 Gort na Móna 1-15

Rasharkin made their way to the final of the Junior Hurling Championship when they beat Gort na Móna by four points in Saturday afternoon’s semi-final at Dreen. 2-08 from left half forward Conor McKeever set the Rasharkin men on the road to victory, the first goal coming directly from a sideline cut on eight minutes while the second one came on 22 and put them 2-11 to 1-7 ahead at half time. Two points by McKeever and one from Conor McKillop at the start of the second half increased the Dreen men’s lead to seven but two from Dessie McClean and one from Thomas McCaffrey began to close the gap.

Points from Donagh Quigg and Conor McKeever saw the home side pull clear again, but McCaffrey and McClean (2) kept the Turf Lodge men in touch. Two more by McKeever entering injury time all but sealed the win and though the Gorts centre back Neill Henry sent a long free over the bar for the visitors it was a case of too little too late as Rasharkin secured a final meeting with Armoy in two weeks’ time.

Rasharkin: James O’Mullan, Daniel Doherty, Conor Doherty, Connaire Donaghy, Daniel Hasson, Aidan McKeever, Ruairí O’Boyle, Shane Hasson (0-1), Conor McFerran (0-1), Cathaír Henderson (0-1), Emmet McFerran, Conor McKeever (2-8), Declan McKay, Conor McKillop (0-1), Donagh Quigg (0-4)

Subs: Caolan Maria for Conor McKillop, Brian Óg O’Neill for Declan McKay, Connor Higgins for Daniel Hasson,

Gort na Móna: Caolan McCrory, James Connolly, Padraig McHugh, Mark Rea, Nathan Gibson, Neill Henry, Gavan McKenna, James Aaron Hicks, Brendan Cousins, Dessie McClean, Manus McMullan, Colm Scullion, Darron Boyd, Patrick McCaffrey, Tomas McCaffrey

For more pics from this game click on the link below

https://myalbum.com/album/q9m5v9PiNt2ha3