Intermediate Football Championship –Group 1 – Round 1

Rasharkin 0-11 St Pauls 3-10

St Paul’s domination of the first half of their opening game against Rasharkin set them up for a convincing win at Dreen on Wednesday evening. Thirty two minutes into the game the Belfast side led by 2-05 to 0-00 and were virtually assured of victory, and though Rasharkin ended the first half with two late points, and outscored their visitors for a good part of the second half, they were never going to claw back the deficit. Lady luck was not kind to the home team either during that first half. St Paul’s second goal had an element of good fortune about it when their full forward was through on goal and fisted the ball over the advancing Rasharkin ‘keeper. Had the ball gone in to the goal it would have been disallowed but it came back of the upright and corner forward Conall Duffy reacted quickest to turn the ball over the line for a goal that pushed his team eight clear.

However luck certainly wasn’t on the visitors’ side when they lost star midfielder Colm McLarnon through injury midway through the first half. The county star, who was in great form during that opening quarter, appeared to land awkwardly when jumping for a high ball and had to be stretchered from the field, a worrying development for Colm and his team in this the opening game of the campaign. Hopefully the injury is not as serious as It first looked.

Caoimhin Duffy started St Paul’s run of scoring in the fourth minute with a well taken point and two minutes later Colm McLarnon added another. The first goal came on ten minutes with a length of the field move right through the heart of the Rasharkin defence which was brilliantly finished high into the top left-hand corner by midfielder Mark Munce and Duffy’s goal followed four minutes later to put the Shaw’s Road men 2-02 to 0-00 clear. Two more by Caoimhin Duffy and one from Ruairi Hamill brought the gap out to 11 by the 32^nd minute, but in the time added on for McLarnon’s injury Rasharkin got off the mark with points from Shane Hasson and Donagh Quigg to cut the deficit to nine by half time.

If the home team were to get back into contention then they needed a good start to the second half but after an early exchange of points from both sides St Paul’s wrapped it up with their third goal, their full forward finishing precisely to end the game as a contest. To their credit Rasharkin kept battling and had their best spell of the game, scoring five of the next six points through Donagh Quigg, Eamon McNeill (2), Brian Og O’Neill (2) and Shane Hasson. St Paul’s substitute Shea Burns pulled a couple back for the visitors and after Eamon McNeill replied with two of his own for the home side corner back Ciaran McAlea rose high to palm the ball down into the Rasharkin net to wrap it all up.

FOR MORE PICS FROM THE GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

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Pics by Bert Trowlen

On a beautiful day Antrim GAA FOR ALL got a great opportunity to train and play a match at Antrim County ground Corrigan Park. On the GAA FOR ALL open day to welcome new members Antrim welcomed another 8 new players coming in to enjoy our games and more importantly they also had 2 clubs in Belfast expressing an interest in starting up so hopefully watch this space. With the summer holidays we were all down players but a massive thanks to Bronagh McCavigan bringing up the Aghagallon ALL STARS and Martina Loughran for also bringing up some of the Derry GAA FOR ALL TEAM.

 Training started with County star Patrick McBride doing the warm-up and a few drills and then Gearóid Adams added his experience to the drills as both coaches kept things moving along nicely. We then split the panel into two teams and the skill level shown by everyone was fantastic with great goalkeeping, defending and some fantastic scores on the day. The day was a fantastic success and a massive thanks to Gearóid, Paddy, Bronagh, Martina, Philip, Kevin and Peter for keeping everything going all day. Thanks also to Angela Callon and her husband for showing up on the day and supporting us and also not forgetting the main man Bert Trowlen. Our last thanks go to Aiden Kelly and his club Naomh Eoin for the use of their facilities and pitch which were first class.

Intermediate Hurling Championship–Group 2– Round 1

Tir na nÓg 8-14 Con Magees 1-12

Tir na nÓg scored a runaway win over Con Magees Glenravel in Sunday’s IHC Group 2 game at Whitehill and sounded a warning that they will be one of the teams to look out for in this year’s campaign. The Glenravel side started quite promisingly and were three points to the good in the early stages, but once the Randalstown boys found their range there was no stopping them as they ending up rattling the Glenravel net on eight occasions, something that will do their score difference no harm at all.

Points from Declan McAuley, Conleth O’Loan and Cormac McKeown got the visitors off to a promising start but the home team were soon into their stride and three points from corner forward Ciaran Logan, and one from Ciaran McKeown had Tir na nÓg in front by the ninth minute. Eamon Og McAllister added a point to put them two clear before full forward Pearse Sheering got the first goal nearing the end of the first quarter.

Conleth O’Loan pulled one back for Glenravel from a free and second later the ball was over the bar again after Declan McAuley caught the puc-out and found Ciaran Laverty, who put Cormac McKeown in for another point.

Tir na nÓg came back strongly with points from Ciaran Logan and Daniel Martin before Eamon Og McAllister got his team’s second goal as they pushed on to lead by 2-09 to 0-07 at half time.

Con Magees got the first point of the second half through Declan McAuley but Randalstown were starting to the open gap and Josh Higgins fired in their third goal a minute later. Declan Traynor lifted the Glenravel spirits when he grabbed a goal on 37 minutes but it was all downhill from there on for the visitors as Tir na nÓg came back with two points in a minute from Eamon Og McAllister and Ciaran Logan, which were followed soon afterwards by goal number four, Pearse Sheerin finding the net for the second time.

Things got even worse for the visitors when they were reduced to fourteen men after their goalkeeper received a red card, though they did manage to pull a couple of points back through Cormac McKeown. Goal number six came from midfielder Ciaran McKeown, while seven and eight followed soon afterwards from the rampant blues who will fancy their chances of a semi-final spot even at this early stage.  

Click on the link below for more of Bert Trowlen’s pics

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As Antrim’s sole representatives in the GAA Rounders All Ireland Championship, Wolfe Tones opened their campaign with a last ditch 11-10 win over Derry Side Patrick Pearse’s Kilrea on Saturday at Mallusk.

Wolfe Tones started the match with a strong fielding performance, quickly achieving three outs. Kilrea managed to bring one run to the board over six bats.

When Wolfe Tones took to the bat, Kilrea responded with strong fielding and amazing outfield catching, limiting Wolfe Tones to one run. A few fielding errors from both teams saw them drawing five runs each by the end of the second inning.

As the third inning began, both teams were locked in a dead heat. Kilrea’s batting saw them add another four runs, while Wolfe Tones fell behind, bringing only two runs, ending the inning with a score of 7-9. 

The final innings were a test of nerves and skill. Wolfe Tones managed to level the score again with two crucial runs, thanks to brilliant batting and quick thinking on the bases. With some on-point fielding, Wolfe Tones prevented Kilrea from adding any runs to their score.

In the final inning, Wolfe Tones took to the field again. An amazing outfield catch by Patrick Hampson, a tagging out play by Mark McCabe, and a final out by Sonia Butler on first base limited Kilrea to one run, making the score 10-10 before Wolfe Tones’ final bat.

Marie Henry and Mark McCabe both connected with the ball, reaching first and second base. Arleen Ramsey’s hit brought Marie home and moved Mark to third, levelling the scores. With one out and two batters to go, Ryan Montgomery stepped up, hitting the final ball that allowed Mark to run home, adding the winning point to the board.

Wolfe Tones

Michelle Dolan, John Ramsey, Marie Henry, Mark McCabe, Arleen Ramsey, Ryan Montgomery, Fiona Owens, Patrick Hampsey, Sonia Butler

Partick Pearse’s Kilrea

Maria Sioba, Sarah Clarke, Brian McAllister, Deirde O’Mullan, Lisa Davey, Roisin Healey, Andrew Hickey, Kieran McCall, Darren Burns

Referee: I. Cheyne

 ACFL Division 1 Final                                                                          

 St Brigid’s 2-10 Erin’s Own Cargin 0-11

Goals wins prizes is the old adage and indeed such rang true at Dunsilly on Friday evening past as a couple of majors in the Division One league decider from Niall Duffy and Jack Dowing proved decisive as St Brigid’s took delivery of the Eddie Fitzsimmons memorial trophy for the first time in their history.

Both teams took a time to settle to the task on hand with the sides exchanging early scores with Tomas Cann’s opening point finding reply in kind from Conor Mc Aleer.

Both sides were guilty of missed opportunities but after Cargin net minder John Mc Nabb despatched a 13^th minute ‘45’ between the posts the reply from the city lads was quick and decisive.

James Smith pointed to bring St Brigid’s back on terms and in the next few minutes they took the lead.

A Conan Mc Nicholl point gave them a two point advantage and a mix up in the Cargin defence opened the way for Jack Duffy to find the net before corner forward Mc Nicholl followed with a point to put St. Brigid’s a 1-04 to O-02 ahead.

St Brigid’s were now dictating matters and finished the half strongly with Paddy Finnegan and Rory Mc Erlean raising further white flags with an Enda Mc Grogan’s point at the other end for the Toome men their only reply and at the short whistle St Brigid’s led 1-06 to 0-03 and were good value for their lead.

Th second half saw the South Belfast men nip smartly out of the start traps with a Conan Mc Aleer point in the 33^rd minute but a foul on Jamie Gribbin was punished when Tomas Mc Cann delivered the resultant free kick between the posts.

McCann added another following another foul on the lively Gribbin and the South West sidewere starting to look more up for the fight.

Jamie Gribbin added another in the 38^th minute as Cargin enjoyed a spell of dominance but St Brigid’s responded with  a second major when corner forward Conan Mc Nicholl fired to the back of the net after fielding a cross from Reuben Carelton and the game had swung back in favour of the Musgrave Park side.

St Brigid’s now led 2-09 to 0-06 and looked to have secured their first league title unless Cargin could pull something out of the fire.

Another point from the accurate boot of net minder John McNabb offered some hope but St. Brigid’s replied with a point from  Conor McAleer before being reduced in number when centre back Shea Downey picked up a second yellow card.

Tomas McCann added a point from a placed effort following a foul on Ronan Devlin and Callum Gribbin followed with another and when his brother Jamie made it three on the bounce the Toome men had posted notice they were not about to quietly leave the stage.

Cargin, who were missing quite a number of regulars looked to the their bench in the latter stages with Gerard Mc Corley, Diarmuid Quinn and Michael Clarke entering the fray and a foul on Jamie  Gribbin saw John McNabb deliver between the posts.

That was as close as they got as St Brigid’s stood firm despite losing Conor Downey to a red card but by this stage the league title was on its way to Musgrave Park for the first time.

St Brigid’s: Declan Heery, John Toner, Joe Finnegan, R Boyle, Reuben Carelton, Shea Downey (0-01), Shay Campbell, Jack Dowling (1-00), Michael Cummings, Niall Duffy (0-01), Patrick Finnegan, James Smith (0-01), Conan Mc Nicholl (1-03), Conor Mc Aleer (0-02), Rory Mc Erlean (0-01)

Subs

Ben Doherty for Ronan Boyle

Brian Mc Gurk for Reuben Carleton

Conor Downey for R McErlean

FGergal Sherry for Patrick Finnegan

Cargin: John Mc Nabb (0-03) Paudie Mc Laughlin, Kevin Mc Shane, Ronan Gribbin, Ronan Devlin, James Laverty, Jack Harney, Gerard Mc Cann, John Carron, Callum Gribbin (0-01), Jamie Gribbin (0-02), Enda Mc Groggan (0-01), Tomas Mc Cann (0-04),

Referee: Paddy Tumelty (Lamh Dhearg)

For more of Bert and Paddy’s photos from the game click on the link below

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