by thesaffrongael

Glenravel win inaugural Abbey Shield

Abbey Shield – Junior Hurling

Rasharkin 0-13    Glenravel 1-16

Aodh O’Loan reports from Dreen

Glenravel hurlers have the honour of being the first winners of The Abbey Shield when they outgunned  rivals Rasharkin on a 1-16 to 0-13  scoreline. Played on a dry sod in Dreen with no rain or wind this was a strange combination for both teams given that inclement weather we all have had to contend with recently. A freak injury to Glenravel’s keeper Ronan Donnelly after twenty minutes led to a long delay as he was patched  up and sped off to hospital. We wish Ronan a speedy recovery and commend the Rasharkin player  who contacted him post game to wish him well. The spirit of hurling is alive and well in South West Antrim. In truth Glenravel played the better hurling over the hour and were deserved winners in the end.

From the start Glenravel’s forwards looked sharp and Joe McKay pounced on a couple of loose balls to put them two up in as many minutes from the throw in. Connor McKeever got one back for the home side from a free but then the visitors went into overdrive with five unanswered points from Conleth OLoan, Joe McKay and Declan McAuley to open up a six point gap. Oisin Doherty and Donald Quigg kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Dreen men but Fergus Donaghy put Glenravel back in front by five points before Connor McKeever again reduced the deficit to four. A high ball into the Glenravel defence saw keeper and attacker come together – both totally focussed on the ball but unfortunately Ronan Donnelly, Glenravel’s  keeper, came off worse in the tackle which was accidental and ended up spending several hours in A&E. The men in Green and White needed to shuffle the deck and solid defender Michael McDonnell  took up net minding duties and performed admirably in his new role with several high fetches and clever puck outs making it look like he was “to the manor born”. After the restart Rian Lennon treated us to the score of the game when he shook off several challenges and pointed from distance under pressure.  Donagh Quigg reduced the deficit to four points form a free but it was the visitors who ended the half stronger with three unanswered points from Joe McKay and Luke Loughlin to put Glenravel ahead at the interval 0-12 to 0-05.

Rasharkin would have hoped for a good start to the second half but it was their opponents who registered the first score from Niall McKeown to stretch the lead to eight points. But at this stage the locals enjoyed their best spell with four consecutive points from Connor McKeever and Connor Higgins who was starting to wield some influence around the middle of the park. Joe McKay steadied the Glenravel ship to restore a five point lead and with fourteen minutes gone in the second half Luke Loughlin put the final nail in the Rasharkin coffin when he goaled to put the visitors eight points ahead with only a quarter of the game remaining. To their credit, Rasharkin were certainly not considering reaching for the white towel and went on to score a further four points in that final quarter with Glenravel replying with two scores to leave it  1-16 to 0-13 in favour of the men in green and white.

Seamus Dougan of South West Antrim committee presents the Abbey Shield to Con Magees captain Declan McAuley after his team’s win over Rasharkin at Dreen.

TO SEE MORE OF DYLAN’S PICS FROM THIS GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/sjzD97ghDCy6bk/?invite=1dd8d8ea-1593-4497-ac60-0cccb0194c51

by thesaffrongael

Saffrons late surge puts a gloss on their win

Leinster U20 Hurling Championship – Tier 2

Antrim 2-21 Down 1-13

Antrim’s U20 hurlers secured a hard-fought victory over old rivals Down at the Dub in Belfast, though the final scoreline masked a significantly more competitive encounter than their previous meeting with Down. While the Saffrons had cruised to an 18-point victory in the Ulster final just weeks ago, this Leinster Tier 2 clash proved to be a much sterner test of their resolve. Down were in contention until the final five minutes, before a late surge of 2-02 from the hosts finally broke their resistance and gave the result a somewhat flattering appearance.

Down’s John Dougan gets his team away to a dream start and hs fires in his team’s opening goal in the third minute

The visitors enjoyed a dream start when a failure in the Antrim defense allowed late addition John Dougan to find his range and blast a shot into the top corner of the net in the fifth minute. Antrim were slow to find their rhythm, hampered by early complacency and a greasy surface, but they eventually settled through the efforts of their excellent midfield duo of Charlie McAuley and Callagh Mooney. Despite the clinical free-taking of Cahal Colman, who remained a constant threat for Down throughout the evening, Antrim managed to claw back the early deficit. A late free from Oisin McCallin ensured the home side held a narrow one point lead at the interval.

Antrim midfielder Charlie McAuley makes a break

The second half continued in a similar fashion, with stop-start play allowing Down to stay within touching distance. Cahal Coleman continued to punish Antrim’s indiscretions from placed balls, keeping the gap to just five points midway through the half. Mickey McShane was forced to look to his bench for fresh energy, and the introduction of substitutes helped wrestle back control. Liam McEnhill broke a long scoring drought with a crucial strike to keep the scoreboard moving, while Oisin McCallin matched his counterpart’s accuracy to maintain the Saffron lead as Down hunted for a goal to swing the momentum.

Antrim’s Thomas McLaughlin battles with Down full back Ben Teggart in the final minutes

The decisive moment arrived with five minutes remaining when Jay McAlonan’s parried strike fell into the path of Cadhan Crawford, who instinctively finished to the net. This goal finally sapped the energy from the Down challenge, and the victory was sealed shortly after when Oisin McCallin capped a fine individual performance with a solo run and a sharp finish into the top corner. Although the margin of victory eventually grew to double digits, it was a far more grueling battle than their previous provincial meeting. Antrim now advance to face Kerry with a spot in the Tier 2 Leinster final at stake.

Down’s S McCarthy battles with three Antrim opponents

ANTRIM: S Óg McLaren; C Donnelly, L Glackin, C McCann; N Magee, C McIlwaine 0-1, C McIntosh; C McAuley 0-2, C Mooney 0-5; L McEnhill 0-1, R Fitzgerald 0-1, C Donnelly, C Crawford 1-4, O McCallin 1-5 (0-3f), R McGarry 0-1

Subs: T McLaughlin 0-1, J McAlonan, O McCamphill

DOWN: C Clarke; P McGarry, B Teggart, L Morgan; M Gilmore, S Pucci, C O’Neill; R Breen 0-1, S McCollum; C Coleman 0-11 (0-9f), F Ferguson 0-1, S McCarthy; C Monan, D Rogers, J Dougan 1-0

Subs: D Pucci, D McGrath 

TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/MhbUPPJc8UsVyP/?invite=227a875f-cc3d-4c77-b384-ed3af6f74018

by thesaffrongael

Biddies make history in the village tonight

ACFL Division 3

St, Brigid’s Cloughmills 1-9 Kickham’s Ardoyne 0-11

Naomh Brid, Cloughmills wrote their own bit of history on Wednesday night when they recorded their first ever football win in only their second appearance in division 3 of the ACFL.

Ardoyne Kickham’s were their opponents and made life extremely difficult for a St. Brigid’s side who were forced to play with their jerseys inside out following a clash of colours.

A big crowd had turned out to witness this occasion as Naomh Brid, a club renowned for its hurling prowess, turned to the big ball game for only their second game and their first on home soil.

And the home support certainly weren’t to be disappointed as both sides served up an entertaining game of football with Naomh Brid taking the game to the opposition early on and moving into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after 13 minutes.

Eoin Dobbin, Aidan McNeill and Ryan Mark were their marksmen with Odhran McKee replying for the Kickham’s who were finding it difficult to contain a lively home attack.

Dobbin added his second of the evening before the visitors replied through Brendan Hamilton from a well struck free but Naomh Brid were still edging the exchanges and Dobbin fired to the net to move them five ahead by the 22nd minute.

The visitors finished the half strongly as they began to find their rhythm with Odhran McKee, Patrick McGreevey and Brendan Hamilton all on target in response to a pointed free from Aidan McNeill following a breach.

Trailing by a goal at the halfway stage, it was visitors Ardoyne who made the early second half running but found scores hard to come bye as the Home side put their bodies on the line to prevent them scoring, executing some excellent blocks.

Ace marksman, Brendan Hamilton finally got the North Belfast side up and running as he converted a 10th minute free and then Cloughmills lost a player to a second yellow card as the game turned into a war of attrition.

Two more conversions from the excellent Hamilton had it back to one at the end of the third quarter and it looked like Ardoyne were taking over but the ‘Biddies’ quite simply refused to throw in the towel.

They edged ahead again when Eoin Magee fired over their first point of the half with 10 minutes remaining but it looked to be of no avail when Hamilton converted a ‘45’ and another from closer to goal to leave it all square with only two minutes remaining.

Back came St. Brigid’s and Dobbin edged them ahead before Aidan McNeill struck an excellent free from a difficult angle to secure the points despite a later point from Joseph Gibson for an Ardoyne side who will feel they might have taken something from the game.

Last week Cloughmills lost their opening game to St. Malachy’s but on the evidence of what we saw tonight they are more than capable of holding their own in the division and should get better and better as the season progresses.

The celebrations after suggested that they certainly enjoyed the occasion and the future looks bright for the boys from the village.

Naomh Brid: 1 Cathaoir McFerran, 2 Rian Dobbin, 3 Sean McKendry, 4 Jack McDowall, 5 Johnny Duffin, 6 Gerard O’Mullan, 7 Kevin O’Boyle, 8 Ryan Mark, 9 PJ McBride, 10 Eoin Magee, 11 Aidan McNeill, 12 Dara Watterson, 13 Dara McGivern, 14 Niall McFadden, 15 Eoin Dobbin

Subs: 18 Stephen Smith,

Ardoyne: 1 Tiernan Hughes, 2 Cormac Curran, 24 Michael McGreevey, 19 Odhran Mullan, 20 Ciaran Lopes, 5 Joseph Gibson, 6 Pearse Marley, 7 Finnen Wall O’Brien, 8 Oisin Maskey, 9 Gary McKiernan, 10 Odhran McKee, 11 Daniel Moore, 12 Oisin Coulard, 13 Patric McGreevey, 14 Fiontan Lagan, 15 Brendan Hamilton

Referee: Joe McCavana (Naomh Comhghall)

TO VIEW MORE PICS FROM TONIGHT’S HISTORIC GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/GzYKSFZ2m3BMJi

by thesaffrongael

Antrim team to meet Down in Leinster U20 B Championship

It seems not time since they met in the Ulster U20 final but Antrim Down will cross swords again on Wednesday night at the Dub Arena in round 2 of the Leinster B competition. Last time out Antrim were convincing winners, romping home with eighteen points to spare and will understandably start as red hot favourites, but Mickey McShane and his backroom team will no doubt have told their team to take nothing for granted, The Saffrons were favourites going in against Meath in the Leinster A opener and came up short, as indeed were the senior team against Down in the National Hurling League when the went in as favourites.

The line-up is much the same as the team that won Ulster but Orrin O’Connor is suspended after being desperately unlucky to be sent off in the final seconds of last weekend’s win over Westmeath, while Colla Ward and Fiontan Bardley have apparently left the panel.

A win against Down would put Antrim in a very strong position, following their win over Westmeath on Saturday and a result against either Kerry or Carlow would secure a final place. The Kingdom beat Carlow last weekend and would appear to be the big danger in the competion.

In the mean time Antrim must focus on the meeting with Down and make sure there are no slip ups.

Throw-in at the Dub is 7-30 so get along and give them your support

by thesaffrongael

Monkeynastix programme a big hit with the young Lámhs FUNdamentals

Lámh Dhearg’s FUNdamentals members have just completed a very active and enjoyable 5 week programme of Monkeynastixs in Hannahstown Hall generously funded by the Belfast City Council. The professionally organised and structured course was conducted under the expert tuition of Suzanne from Monkeynastix NI.Monkeynastixs is a dynamic and interactive movement program which inspires children to learn and grow in a safe, FUNtastic environment! Monkeynastix offers a holistic curriculum blending creativity and music with essential training in flexibility, balance, strength, agility, coordination, and body awareness. Each energy-packed session is designed to captivate and educate participants.Club FUNDamentals coach Paddy Moriarty  was impressed with the programme in which the children thoroughly enjoyed.“the programme really reinforced and enhanced the development of the movement skills of our children in a fun and different way in which we focus on in our weekly popular FUNdamentals programme “


Monkeynastix Coach Suzanne was very impressed with the club FUNdamentals ethos and set up 
“Throughout my 5 weeks with the children at Lámh Dhearg , I witnessed fantastic listening skills, advanced ability in their fundamental movements and enthusiasm from every single child. I have no doubt this is due to the foundations the coaches have laid well before I attended. 
The parent involvement undoubtedly makes this community of coaches and young people stand out. I enjoyed watching their confidence grow with the equipment each week and was able to challenge them well beyond expectation, a truly amazing group of children, coaches and parents. Thanks to Lámh Dhearg for having me”
FUNDamentals will now move back outdoors on the club 3G pitch after the Easter break on Saturdays at 10.30. New members aged 3 or 4 are always more than welcome to come along and attend. For further information please private message the club on twitter @Låmhdhesrgclg or Facebook Lámh Dhearg clg and a mentor will duly contact you.

TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVEN CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/6cZw5VsEDx66nH/?invite=93eee2dc-ff80-41ad-b172-7820595f64f2