The Lámh Dhearg annual Golf Classic sponsored by Hannahstown Credit Union at Balmoral was a huge success with over 130 golfers playing and the tournament generated generous support of over 60 sponsors .
The Executive Committee would like to thank the Golf Organising Committtee , the golfers and the sponsors for their much valued and continued support which is very beneficial to boosting our club and pitch development funds Well done to all concerned in such a well organised and enjoyable day . Congrats to all the winners Team Prizes Winner 1st 92 Pts – Paul Rice, Paul Gribbon, Sean Hesketh, Jim Liddy (Under Armour Hoodie / Jumper) 2nd 90 Pts – M Gregory, G Armstrong, P McClelland, C Mulhern (Under Armour T-Shirts) 3rd 89 Pts – Paddy Donnelly, Patrick McDonnell, John Benson, Gerard Mervin (Under Armour Kit Bag) Individual Prizes 1st Oran Laverty 44pts (Under Armour Golf Shoes) Longest Driver – Aaron Kennedy (Ping Towel & UA Glove) Nearest to Pin – Jim Murphy (Ping Towel & UA Glove) Best Gross – Conor McIlvenney Gross 74 (Titleist Pro V1 Golf Balls) Ladies Prize – Laura Coyle (FJ Bag) TV Prize – George Fegan
Fielding a team containing six members of the All Ireland winning side of 2012 Loughgiel had too much guile and know-how for St Paul’s in Tuesday night’s Senior Reserve Shield final at Dunsilly. The Shamrocks played with the wind in the opening half and lead by 3-12 to 1-04 at half time. When St Paul’s started the second half well with a penalty goal from centre forward Sean Og McLaren it looked like there might be a comeback on the cards, but the Shamrocks veterans shut up shop and went on to win with a bit to spare.
Fielding a team of ‘auld fellas, and boys of a brave age’ the Shamrocks made their experience tell from the start and former club and county great, Eddie NcCloskey hit 1-01 to add to points by Odhran McGrath and Aodhan McFadden.
St Paul’s too had an All Ireland winner in their team and centre-forward Sean Og McLaren, former All Ireland U16 Poc Fada champion, got his team back in the race with a goal and he added a point soon afterwards to keep his team well in contention, but two quick goals from Tomas McIntyre and Benny McCarry in the tenth and eleventh minutes left the Shaw’s Road men with a mountain to climb.
The Shamrocks raced on from there adding a series of great points, four of them from Benny McCarry, two from Eddie McCloskey and one each from Tomas McIntyre and Cathair McGrath to reach half-time with a 3-12 to 1-04 lead, all the St Paul’s scores coming from Sean Og McLaren.
McLaren gave St Paul’s a bit of hope with his penalty goal early in the second half but they were unable to keep up the challenge and with Benny McCarry leading the line up front Loughgiel went on to claim the trophy with a twelve point win.
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Loughgiel secured a place in the final of the Under 16 A Hurling Championship with a comprehensive win over Ard na Rí at Fr Healy Park on Tuesday evening. Ard na Rí had caused a real sensation when they beat runaway league leaders Dunloy in last week’s opening round of the championship and travelled down to Loughgiel in confident mood, but without their star forward Padraig Kelly. However they were no match on the night for a razor sharp Shamrocks side who performed at the highest level.
Ard na Rí played with the strong wind in their favour in the opening half and a goal from Odhran Bellew and points from Bellew and Conal Dempsey had them 1-02 to 0-02 ahead after nine minutes. However Loughgiel were growing into the game and points from Joe Deery, Cahir McCloskey and Cahir McErlean plus a goal from Cody McGarry gave them a lead they would not lose.
Ard na Rí came back with two pointed frees from Conall Dempsey but the final ten minutes of the half belonged to the home side as they hit a goal and six points without reply, the goal coming from Joe Casey and points from Logan McConville (2), Casey, Dee Laverty, Cahir MCloskey and Cody McGarry to lead by 2-11 to 1-03 at half time.
With the wind behind them in the second half there was no way back for Ard na Rí, though to their credit they matched their first half score of 1-03, but Loughgiel tacked on another 1-12, the goal coming from Joe Casey.
In the other semi-final St Paul’s had a big win over Naomh Padraig at Shaw’s Road scoring a massive 7-24. The two will meet next week in the final, probably at Dunsilly in what promises to be a great final.
LOUGHGIEL
Ciaran Hennessy, Lorcan Murtagh, Joe McFadden, Aaron Gillan, JJ McGarry, Domnhall McKay, Caolan Christie, Cahir McErlean, Conor McCann, Dee Laverty, Logan McConville, Joe Deery, Cahir McCloskey, Cody McGarry, Joe Casey.
Loughgiel scorers – Joe Casey 2.5, Cody Mc Garry 1.4 ( 3f ), Cahir Mc Closkey 0.5, Joe Deery 0.3 ( 3f ), Logan Mc Conville 0.4, Conor Mc Cann 0.1, Damian Laverty 0.
ARD NA RÍ
Eoin Rodger, Lorcan Gallagher, Cairbre Mac Adhaimh, Evan Matthews, Conor McIlhatton, Odhran Bellew, Aaron McHenry, Séagh McEwan, Dan McAuley, Finn Smyth, Ruairi McIlhatton, Daniel Doran, Conan Mulligan, Conall Dempsey, Barra Bellew.
Referee – Ray Mattews
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Match report and photos from Michael Corcoran in Pearse Park
Tuesday’s thrilling encounter between Dunloy and Cushendall might have been won at the toss. An astute decision by Dunloy’s captain, Katie Laverty, on winning the toss to switch around and play the first half into the wind was a fortuitous decision, helping to keep the Dall from scoring into the strengthening wind for all of the second half. An all too familiar blast of autumnal air ran the full length of Pearce Park and made pointing into it from range, a thing of rarity.
Despite an early goal from Dunloy’s Aine Magill in the first five minutes, Cushendall carved a lead of four points at the short whistle, mainly due to the accurate free taking of Eva McNeill in challenging conditions. It could have been better for the Dall when on the twenty eighth minute, Kady McNeill was pulled to ground on a goal run and rather than take the point on the edge of the square, the Dall’s Eva McNeill opted for the goal with no success. The second half was full of frantic rucks and physical encounters, that had the supporters in an equally frantic state but despite being awarded a dozen fouls, the Dall couldn’t combat the wind and had to watch Dunloy eke out the win from an additional six points.
In less than two minutes from referee Paul O’Neill’s throw-in, two over carry infringements handed two points to Cushendall from Orlaith McAllister and Eva McNeill. A buoyant Dall crowd would have to tolerate a super clinical goal from Aine Magill from a mid field pass from sister, Bronach but that one point lead dissolved away quickly as Cushendall’s markswoman, Eva McNeill dropped three consecutive frees over the bar, whilst Dunloy replied with a free from McAtamney and a point from Katie Molloy from a Cassie McArthur assist.
Dunloy’s Aine Magill rattled the back of Cushendall’s net for the only green flag in the game
Cushendall would dominate the remaining fifteen minutes and clocked up another four points coming from Siobhan McKillop and Orlaith McAllister before team mate, Eva McNeill, cruised two more frees over the bar due to Dervla Cosgrove and Orlaith McAllister being infringed, Cosgrove’s foul attracting a yellow card for Bronach Magill well into added time. As the short whistle blew, Dunloy remained at 1-02 whilst Cushendall ran in with a four point lead, 0-09.
Six points for Dunloy in the second half was good enough to secure the win but the formula for success was also dependent on Cushendall not being able to make something happen from their twelve frees. Eleven of those were probably on the margin of ‘makeable’ given the wind but an uncharacteristic wide from Eva McNeill on the twenty second minute will have been one that could have changed the game.
Dunloy’s Eimear Johnston was a powerhouse in every corner of Pearce Park
Early points from McAtamney (2 off), Aine Magill and Katie Molloy allowed the Dunloy ship to pull alongside the Dall at nine apiece, and then when Aine Magill dropped to the ground in another goal run attempt, Cassie McArthur was there to point the remnant. The point of the night clearly fell to McAtamney as she struck her free from the clubhouse dugout in added time, splitting the uprights as the light fell rapidly under the heavy clouded sky, ending the game Dunloy 1-08 Cushendall 0-09.
On Sunday, Dunloy should have better odds against Ahoghill, and assuming they earn those three points, Loughgiel need to at least draw with Cushendall on Sunday to remain at the top of the table and earn a place in the final. What a finale in the last of the round robin stages.
LÁMH DHEARG were crowned U-16 B All-County hurling champions after seeing off St Johns in the decider at Pairc Naomh Una on Tuesday evening.
The Hannahstown side drew first blood through a converted Matthew Murray free, but the Johnnies replied with the games opening goal- Lewis Rafferty’s low shot finding the net to give his side the advantage.
Murray doubled his account with a rasping reply and further scores were traded between Raffety (free) and Shay McGarry with a terrific score from range.
Parity was restored when Murray doubled his free taking account and the Lámhs inched ahead again thanks to a long range McGarry placed ball.
They extended their lead through a Dylan Fegan point and Murray notched his third free of the half before clipping over his second from play to open up an 0-8-1-1 lead.
The deficit was halved thanks to successive Rafferty frees, though Lámh Dhearg pulled clear with their first goal of the evening.
Talisman Matthew Murray stood over a placed ball and opted for a major, with his bullet of strike finding the net.
St Johns hit back when Rafferty dropped in a free and Padraig Mulvenna smuggled the ball to the net at the back post to make it 1-8-2-3.
Murray and Rafferty exchanged fine angled points but Lámh Dhearg ended the half in the ascendancy with McGarry converting his second free of the half and Oran Agnew then dropping a shot over in injury time to ensure his side held a 1-11-2-4 lead at midway.
Lámh Dhearg made a lightning start to the second half when Shay McGarry’s free was dropped short and hammered to the net by Dylan Fegan,
A point followed from Dylan Quinn and they had doubled their lead inside of three minutes, however St Johns replicated that in response.
A defensive mix-up saw Lewis Rafferty bundle in his side second and the Johnnies third and he converted a free sixty-seconds later to make it 2-12-3-5.
Rafferty added two further points from placed balls inside the opening ten minutes of the second period, with Darragh Quinn taking a slipped pass from Matthew Murray and rifling home between times.
Murray dropped over his first point of the second half from a free and Dylan Fegan would land his sides last score from the same scenario as they led 3-14-3-7 in less than 10-minutes remaining.
St Johns were unable to breach the Lámhs rearguard in the remainder of the game and had to make do with consolation Rafferty points from frees.
In the end, Lámh Dhearg saw out the closing minutes and a few late bursts to run out winners and claim their first U-16 hurling honours since 2016.
LÁMH DHEARG: A Brown, D McStravick, T Lee, E Flynn, O Laverty, D McConville, R Downey, S McGarry (0-3, 0-2f), Darragh Quinn (1-0), C Baker, M Murray (1-7, 1-4f), O Agnew (0-1), C Quinn, D Fegan (1-2, 0-1f), Dylan Quinn (0-1). Subs: O Kelly for D McStravick (53).
ST JOHNS: J Cunningham, R Gallagher, D Mervyn, T Press, B Og Herdman, O Gregory, O Marley, M McCorry, D McKenna, D Hand, J Rafferty, D Robb, B Gough, L Rafferty (2-9, 0-8f), P Mulvenna (1-0).
