Sarsfields fought their way back from eight points down after 38 minutes to beat Cusheudun by three in Sunday’s Intermediate Hurling Championship opening round-robin game at the Bear Pit. When Conlaoth McNeill pointed for the Emmet’s to put them eight clear, seven minutes into the second half, it appeared that the Cushendun side had safely negotiated their opening round game, but incredibly the visitors never raised a flag for the next 23 minutes as Sarsfields took control of the match, and by the time McNeill scored again in injury time the game had slipped from their grasp. The goal brought them back to within three and suddenly there was a little bit of hope of salvaging something, but the Paddies held firm and sealed the win with a bit to spare, a victory that transforms their season.
Relegated to Division 3 this season there were few pundits who gave the Paddies much of a chance in this game, and when Cushendun had the better of the first half, things appeared to be going that way. Conor McHugh hit the opening score for the visitors on three minutes but Sarsfields hit back two minutes later with a goal by corner forward Malachy Campbell to take a two point lead. They stretched their lead to four as Donal and Niall McKernan added points, and though ‘Loaf’ McNeill pulled one back for Cushendun, the gap was soon out to five when Caolan and Donal McKernan swung over two points inside a minute.
Cushendun started to settle into the game and three points from McNeill and two from Conor McHugh saw them draw level with the Belfast men. A great goal by Conrad McDonnell on 18 minutes put the Emmet’s three clear and though Donal McKernan came back with a point, it was to be the Paddies last score of the half and Cushendun produced a storming finish to the half with a second goal from Conrad McDonnell, plus three pointed frees from Loaf McNeill to lead by six at half time. (2-10 to 1-07)
Niall McKenna pulled one back for Sarsfields at the start of the second half to cut the gap to five, but when Cushendun hit back with two points from McNeill and one from Callum Kilgore, to stretch their lead to eight, the visiting fans must surely have thought the win was secure.
However things turned out much differently than expected and after Niall McKenna pulled back a couple of points a sideline ‘cut’ was sent in around the Emmet’s goal area where Donal McKernan rose brilliantly to double the ball to the net. Suddenly the Paddies were in charge all over the field and two points from McKenna and one from Caolan McKernan brought them level and they pushed on to lead by six with just two minutes left for play. Cushendun ended a twenty three minute scoreless spell when Loaf McNeill fired in a goal, but Sarsfields held their nerve in a hectic finish to seal a remarkable win.
FOR MORE MICKEY MORGAN PICS CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW
Milltown Row played host to a captivating Championship duel between two free-flowing and attacking sides. Curtain raisers can often be attritional, rather cautious affairs but this one was far from it and the spectators dotted along the side line were treated to an absolute deluge of scores right from Ray Mathew’s first whistle. You simply couldn’t take your eyes off it. Thirty scores in the opening thirty minutes should tell you all you need to know. With the sides level on ten different occasions throughout the opening period, it was nip and tuck between the two. The difference in the end – ruthlessness in front of the net which the Oisins had in abundance when it mattered most. Three Glenariffe goals in the final ten minutes of this pulsating encounter added a little extra gloss to a polished performance from the men from the Glens. A special mention must be extended to hat-trick hero Seanie McIntosh who spearheaded their attack; notching up a dazzling individual tally of 3-04 over the hour.
With merely 50 seconds on the clock, both sides had already opened their accounts as Jackson McGreevy and McIntosh exchanged early frees before the visitors nudged two clear thanks to Oliver Kearney and another from their mercurial number fifteen. With their tails up, the men in green surged forward in sight of a goal and were unlucky in their search as St Gall’s stopper Kurtis McGreevy pulled off an excellent save to deny Orin O’Connor from close range.
St Gall’s replied to this close shave emphatically and conjured up their own goal chance. Again, the keepers were in the limelight with Paul McMullan on hand to deny Ronan Crossan, but he was powerless to stop Jackson McGreevy who stormed in to blast home the rebound and produce the game’s first major with five minutes on the clock.
Unperturbed, the Oisins replied instantly via the hurl of Brogan O’Connor who fired over from range to level matters. Scores were flying over tit for tat as both teams wrestled to gain the ascendancy. Two points from St Gall’s ace Sean McAreavey were cancelled out thanks to efforts from McIntosh and Kearney again.
Neither side could break away from the other and it really was a case of you score, we score. The hosts sought about forcing some daylight between the sides as Jackson McGreevy fired over two placed balls and set up another white flag with an audacious flick behind himself to pave the way for Ronan Crossan to guide over his second of the evening. However, Glenariffe’s heavy attacking artillery were on hand to respond every time as Kieran McKendry, Alex O’Boyle and Seanie McIntosh split the posts to bring about yet another deadlock.
It then seemed that the men in green had established a bit of breathing space as they gained a three point cushion thanks to points from Conor Patterson, O’Boyle and Odhran Gillan. However, the Milltown men came roaring back firing over the next four points unanswered with the pick of the bunch coming from Mark Napier who guided his effort between the posts to perfection from a tight angle to edge into a slender one point lead with four minutes of the half remaining.
What followed was perhaps the most crucial score of the opening thirty. A bustling drive forward from Orin O’Connor presented an opportunity for Seanie McIntosh to gain his side’s first major, an opportunity which was ruthlessly despatched as he drilled his effort low and hard out of reach of the despairing McGreevy. O’Connor and Jackson McGreevy then exchanged points to leave the score 1-15 to 1-13 in favour of the visitors who would refuse to relinquish their lead for the remainder.
Scores were a little more at a premium in the second period, or at least they were for this games’ exceptionally lofty standards. The visitors resumed proceedings in a similar fashion to how they had ended the first, with another vital goal as Conor Patterson put the finishing touches on a move which was forged by Alex O’Boyle’s sheer tenacity driving forward.
Despite the setback, the hosts responded admirably and refused to lie down. In fact, they held their opponents scoreless for the next twenty minutes. Their attacking approach centred around Patrick Friel’s long balls in to the inside forwards which worked a treat as Sean McAreavey, Fergus Donnelly and Mark Napier all split the posts. Tomás O’Ciaran and Ronan Crossan followed this up with two contenders for score of the game. O’Ciaran’s was a monster effort from deep in his own half with Crossan having absolutely no right to score from the ridiculously acute angle he found himself in. Game on once again it seemed.
The men in blue were now piling on the pressure as they continued to blaze the comeback trail. Their quest appeared to be bolstered when Niall Murray received a second yellow card for a pulldown with ten minutes left on the clock. Napier tapped over the resulting free and with a mere point separating the sides, it seemed a grandstand finish was in proposition.
McIntosh and his comrades had other ideas though as they left their opponents shell-shocked with three goals in nine minutes. A Brogan O’Connor goal was sandwiched between two majors from Glenariffe’s sharpshooter to complete his hat-trick. St Gall’s desperately tried to muster a goal of their own to test their counterpart’s nerve but the opportunity failed to materialise. Mark Napier and Dubhaltach MacLiam’s efforts from range found their mark but it would be too little too late as the damage had been done.
Credit to both teams for an absorbing spectacle. With the pendulum of momentum swinging to and fro for the majority of the game, St Gall’s will feel that the nine point margin of victory perhaps didn’t fully reflect their efforts and they can take solace in the fact that they refused to throw in the towel. For Glenariffe, it was the perfect start to their campaign. They will certainly now look to keep the momentum going in their next game against Glenarm and will once again look to the prolific forward line to fashion another victory.
Teams:
St Gall’s:
K McGreevy; D Churchill, E Rush, O McIlhatton; P Friel, T O’Ciaran (0-01,) R Irvine; J Hopkins, F Donnelly (0-02,) J Hopkins; N O’Neill, M Donnelly (0-01,) R Crossan (0-03;) S McAreavey (0-05,) J McGreevy (1-04,) M Napier (0-04)
Substitute scorer:
D MacLiam (0-01)
Glenariffe
P McMullan; P McIlwaine, N Murray, C McIlwaine; C Patterson (1-01,) M Haughey, D Kearney; O Kearney (0-03,) O Gillan (0-01;) K McKendry (0-02,) A O’Boyle (0-04,) R Leech; B O’Connor (1-02,) O O’Connor (0-01,) S McIntosh (3-04)
TO SEE MORE OF BERT TROWLEN’S PICS FROM THIS GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW
Intermediate Hurling Championship – Group 1 – Round 1
Shane O’Neill’s Glenarm 0-24 St Brigid’s Cloughmills 0-21
Shane O’Neill’s Glenarm were pushed to the pin of their collar before getting the better of St Brigid’s Cloughmills in the opening round robin game of the Intermediate Hurling Championship at Feystown on Saturday afternoon.
Going into the game every pundit was predicting a convincing win for the Glenarm men, especially after the great display they put up in the relegation-promotion final against Down side Ballycran just over a week and a half ago. However Cloughmills were up for the task and for most of Saturday’s game they held the upper hand for long periods.
Glenarm, were really up against when they had a man red carded early in the second half, but to their credit they stepped up to the plate when the odds appeared to be stacked against them, and with ace forward Niall McGarel pulling the strings they eventually gained the upper hand to win by three in the end.
Tempers flared in the dying minutes as both teams pushed hard for the win but common sense soon returned and both will live to fight another day (pardon the pun). The win was vital for the Shane O’Neills side who travel to Carey Faughs in their next game in two weeks, time. Cloughmills came out on the wrong side of things in the end, but they can be proud of their performance today. They have home advantage next time out when they face St Gall’s and going by Saturday’s performance a win is certainly not out of the question there.
A Dylan McLaughlin point in the first minute gave Glenarm an early lead, but they would not get their noses in front again until the final quarter when they eventually got on top going down the home stretch. Jimmy Doherty and Marty Dobbin came back with points for the Biddies, and though McGarrel replied right away for the home side, three points in as many minutes from Eoin Dobbin, Marty Dobbin and Liam Kearns gave Cloughmills the upper hand again.
McGarrel was causing lots of problems for the opposition and two more points by him and one each from Ciaran Magill and Dylan McLaughlin got the home side back on terms. However every time they got level again Cloughmills got their noses back in front, and they went in at the break holding a deserved 0-13 to 0-11 lead.
When Eoin Dobbin stretched that lead to three a minute after the restart Glenarm’s task was getting much more difficult. Things went from bad to worse when a Glenarm player received a straight red card, but strangely enough it appeared to be the wake-up call they needed and soon afterwards they started to claw their way back. Two points from McGarrel and one from Dylan McLaughlin brought them level, but each time they tied things up, the Biddies found an answer and Eoin Dobbin, James Doherty and Liam Kearns all took turns in answering McGarrel points to push their team into the lead again.
A great long range point from a free by Darren Hamill eventually gave the home team back the lead and though Clouhmills did manage to draw level again, the home side landed the last three scores of the game through McGarrel (2) and Sean O’Boyle to clinch a vital win.
GLENARM
Michael Abram, Joshua Quinn, Barry Hamill, John Scullion, Aidan Scullion, Darren Hamill, Declan McDermott, Kieran O’Boyle, Daniel Black, Dylan McLaughlin, Ciaran Magill, Blain McDermott, Michael Furey, Niall McGarel, Sean O’Boyle.
CLOUGHMILLS
Christopher McKiernan, Rian Dobbin, Sean McKendry, Johnny Duffin, James Doherty, Ruairi Laverty, Geoffrey Og Laverty, Stephen Smyth, Kevin O’Boyle, Martin Dobbin, Callum McKendry, Liam Kearns, Reece Watt, Corey Blair, Eoin Dobbin.
REFEREE – Colm McDonald (St Gall’s)
FOR MORE PICS FROM THE GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW
The Intermediate Hurling Championship gets underway this weekend with Group 1 games on today (Saturday) and the Group 2 matches down for decision tomorrow.
In what is in my opinion is the toughest and most competitive section across all our championships, hurling and football, there are five teams in Group 1 and six in Group 2, with as many as eight or nine of those capable of winning it.
Today’s games are in Group 1, which has five teams, sees the 2022 Junior champions Glenarm take on last years’ Junior winners Cloughmills at Feystown at 5pm, while St Gall’s host Oisins, Glenariffe at the Bog Meadows at the same time. Carey Faughs, who by virtue of the fact they won promotion to Division 1 this season, are the overall favourites for the title, have a bye today and will get a chance of viewing their future opponents Shane O’Neill’s, whom they host in two weeks’ time.
It is an early start for the six teams in Group 2 tomorrow with all three games having a throw-in time of 1pm, because of the All Ireland Football final. Tir na nÓg take on Con Magees Glenravel at Whitehill, Sarsfields welcome Cushendun Emmet’s to the Bear Pit while Cloney Gaels have home advantage against St Paul’s
Davitt’s made a great start to their 2024 Junior Hurling Championship campaign when they travelled to the Cricky on Friday evening in their first round robin game of the campaign. With both team’s missing a few regulars Davitt’s took full advantage and going ahead in the early stages they maintained their dominance until the end. With Stephen Thompson leading the line with 2-1 for the Davitt’s Park outfit they scored a significant win and with just three in their group they are all but assured of a semi-final spot before Rasharkin at home in two weeks’ time.
Early scores from Stephen McGivern, Peter Og Carleton and Christopher Gallagher gave Davitt’s a good base to work from and though Ardoyne came back with a point from Patrick McGreevy, the gap was back out to three when Marcus Toner split the posts for the visitor. Matt McKillen pulled one back for the home side, but Davitt’s stretched their lead to four when Toner and Gallagher found the target for Davitt’s.
The decisive period of the game came on twenty minutes when Ardoyne were desperately unlucky to see Dean Goodall’s shot rebound of the post when a goal seemed certain. Davitt’s took full advantage and when the ball was cleared up the field, Stephen Thompson found space near to goal and fired to the Ardoyne net. To make matters worse for the home side Thompson grabbed his second goal soon afterwards when what appeared to be a shot for a point dipped at the last second and ended up in the net to put the visitors 2-8 to 0-5 clear at the short whistle.
Ardoyne now had a mountain to climb and they kept battling hard, but each time they reduced the gap Davitt’s found an answer. As weather conditions worsened as the game progressed it became ever harder for the home side to get themselves back in contention and when Davitt’s grabbed their third goal as the deluge hit hard in the dying minutes, there was simply no way back.
Ardoyne have the consolation on knowing they will be in the knock out stages no matter what way the other games go, but they have a four week wait before travelling to Rasharkin on August 24th, and that is far from ideal. Davitt’s on the other hand have home advantage when they face the men from Dreen in two weeks’ time and are now in a very strong position.
ARDOYNE: JP Agnew; P Clarke, P Baker, E Mac Lochlainn; C Wallace, K McCallin, C Barnes; D Goodall, P McGuigan; D Moore (0-1), P McGreevy (0-6, all frees), M Cromie; M McKillen (0-1), P Heaney (0-2), C Trainor.
Subs: C Curran for C Barnes (HT), P Hull for M Cromie (45), S Hill for M McKillen (58), P O’Neill for C Mac Lochlainn (59)
DAVITT’S: G Cosgrove; L McCaffrey, J Parke, O Cosgrove; P Og Carleton (0-1), C Heaney, D Mooney (0-1); M Og Rowntree, C McKee (0-4); M Toner (1-4, 0-2f), S McGivern (0-3), C Maguire; S Thompson (2-1), A Rowntree, C Gallagher (0-2, 1f).
Subs: G Nelson for O Cosgrove (19), D Whelan for A Rowntree (59), E Gallagher for G Nelson (60)
REFEREE: Kevin Parke (Naomh Éanna)
For more pics by Brian McKee click on the link below
