A strong start which saw them score the first six points of the match, set Derry up for their first Ulster Minor Hurling title in 23 years as the overcame Antrim in Sunday’s final at Dunsilly.
With Antrim playing in the Leinster Minor Hurling championship the Saffrons fielded their Under 16 team, but they had beaten Derry in the round robin stage of the competition, though it has to be said a weakened Oak Leaf outfit.
Full forward Patrick McDaid started the scoring in the second minute and scores followed from Fionn Cartan, Fiachra Turner, Carton again, Charlie Friel and Cathal Quinn to open a six point lead.
Team captain Caodhan Crawford, who started at full forward, was seeing none of the ball so the Antrim selectors brought him further out the field and things began to happen. He got Antrim’s first score of the game on ten minutes. The Ballycastle player added two more and suddenly the gap was more manageable, but Derry responded well and came back with three of their own to restore the six point cushion.
The remainder of the opening half as score for score with Derry continuing to kold their advantage and they grabbed the last score of the first half to go in at the break with a seven point cushion. 1-11 to 0-7
Crawford got the first three points of the second half but Derry were always able to close the gap again and Fionn Cartin pulled three back to keep his team comfortably ahead. Antrim battled hard but Derry could always keep them at arms length as they raced to their first Ulster victory since 2001.
After the final whistle Ruairi McNaughton of Cushendall Ruairi Og presented the Danny McNaughton Memorial Cup to Derry captain Niall McNicholl
Loughgiel set up a meeting with Dunloy in next Sunday’s McAuley Cup Final in Armoy when they scored a big win over Ballycastle in the semi-final.
Lorcan Donnely put Ballycasle ahead with an early point but Loughgiel hit back with an Eoin McGarry goal and five unanswered points from Maol Connolly, Shane O’Boyle, Odhran McFadden Declan McCloskey, Eoin McGarry and Domon McMullan. Two points from Ballycastle veteran Neill McAuley stemmed the flow but Loughgiel pushed on to lead 1-09 to 04 at half time.
McAuley got the first score of the second half for Armoy but point from McGarry and Finn Henry, plus and Odhran McFadden goal all but ended the contest. Three in a row from Neill McAuley and one from Ciaran Butler closed the gap for the Town but two late goals from the Shamrocks had them 4-11 to 0-10 clear at the final whistle.
Dunloy booked their place in the final of the McAuley Cup tourna,ent in Armoy when they beat Cushendall in Sunday’s semi-final. Both teams were understandably understrength given the early season start, but they will look at the outing as a good boost to get the ‘machines’ up and running again.
After an early exchange of points between Dunloy’s Anton McGrath and Cushendall’s free taker Joe McNaughton, Dunloy began to show their strength with three in a row between the 8th and 13th minutes, Nigel Elliott, Anton McGrath and Keelan Molloy hitting the target
Three in a row from Joe McNaughton and one from Alex Delargy edged Cushendall back in front, but two in a row from Nigel Elliott and Anton McGrath were followed by goals from corner forward Anton McGrarh and full forward Gabriel McTaggart helped the Cuchullian to a 2-6 to 0-8 lead at half time.
Dunloy veteran Paul Shiels was introduced at half time and he soon mad his presence felt with a couple of neat point and with Keelan Molloy chipping in with a couple himself they pulled clear to win with ease and secure a final spot against old rivals Loughgiel on Sunday next.
Cushendall kept the scoreboard ticking over with a few more points from frees by Joe McNaughton but Dunloy proved just too strong for such an inexperienced Ruairi Og side.
Lámh Dhearg fought back from seven points behind at the break to secure an unlikely point from their opening ACFL Division One clash with Tir Na nOg at Randalstown on Sunday afternoon.
Despite the sides matching each other stride for stride in the opening quarter, Tir Na nOg led 1-10-0-06 at the break with Darragh Fagan netting his sides opening half strike following a slip from Lámhs keeper John Finucane in the build-up.
Conor Murray carried the majority of his sides fight throughout with 10-points over the course of the hour and he was helped by substitute Mark Finnegan- who provided four-points from the bench as the Hannahstown side battled back into contention in a much improved second period.
The hosts won the toss and opted to play against the elements in the opening half and kicked the first score through Oliver McAtamney.
Ciaran Boyd replied for the Lámhs- who kicked a further two scores in the aftermath. Declan Smyth was alert to the resulting kick-out and cut the ball out and found the run of Conor Murray to put his side infront.
Murray doubled his sides advantage from a free and as the Hannahstown outfit had settled into things nicely.
Tir Na nOg would restore parity shortly after. McAtamney kicked a magnificent point to double his account and a converted Aaron McNeilly point then tied things up.
Free-takers Murray and McNeilly traded further efforts from the placed ball before the midway point in the opening half.
Aaron McNeilly dropped over a fantastic angled score to edge his side ahead for the second time and it was a lead they wouldn’t relinquish until the second period.
Points from Eamon McAllister and Darragh Fagan (free) extended Tir Na nOg’s advantage and they found the games only goal ten minutes before the break.
Joshua Higgins sent a fine pass forward with the outside of the boot to allow Eamon McAllister to chase. Lámh’s keeper John Finucane came out to try and cut the loose ball out and slipped, McAllister got there first and lofted the ball goalwards with Darragh Fagan on hand to poke into the empty net and make it 1-07-0-04.
Conor Murray replied with a close-range free to bring his tally to three from the placed ball and four overall, but the hosts tagged on three further points without reply.
Paul McCloksey swept over in response, goal scorer Fagan popped over and Aaron McNeilly added his second from play.
A further free from Murray before the break narrowed the deficit- though the Hannahstown outfit were 1-10-0-06 behind at had work to do at the interval.
The sides traded early second half scores with the inside of the large post helping Conor Murray add to his tally from play and Darragh Fagan seeing his effort curl over in the wind at the other end.
Tir na nOg were reduced to 14-men for a ten-minute period as Alex O”Donnell was black-carded by referee Ray Matthews a few minutes after replacing Ryan Crilly.
Back-to-back conversions from Conor Murray saw Lámh Dhearg make some in-roads and the introduction of substitute Mark Finnegan saw further progress.
Finnegan dropped an angled effort over and then landed two superb quick fire the efforts, both minimally squeezing inside of the posts from opposite sides of the field that made it a two-point game with a quarter of an hour remaining (1-11-0-12).
He then turned provider for Conor Murray slinging another shot inside of the posts and by the 51st minute the visitors fightback was complete with Murray adding reaching double figures from his seventh free of the afternoon.
Momentum was very much with the Hannahstown side and Finnegan edged his side in front for the third time with another impressive point from play.
Having led for 37 minutes, Tir na nOg needed a response and they had the answers. Aaron McNeilly levelled with an outstanding angled free- despite the angle being very much against him.
McNeilly then had the chance to nudge his side back in front from another set-piece, this time from a more straight forward position and he obliged with little more than a minute of normal time remaining.
In a frantic end to proceedings Lámh Dhearg would ensure they would leave Randalstown with a share of the spoils as captain Terry McCrudden steered a shot between the posts.
Tir na nOg would see out time with 14-men again with Darragh Fagan receiving his marching orders for bringing down Adam Murray, though that would be the last incident of note as the sides took a point a peice at the conclusion.
Tir na nOg: SP McAtamney, B McLarnon, C McGrellis, R Crilly, P McCloskey (0-01), B McCormick, A McNeilly (0-06, 0-04f), O McAtamney (0-02), J Higgins, E Murray, E McAllister (0-01), J McCormick, A Tolan, D Fagan (1-03, 0-01f), C Devlin. Subs: A O’Donnell for R Crilly (35), D Martin for A Tolan (48), K Sherrin for B McCormick (56).
Lámh Dhearg: J Finucane, N McGarry, M McGarry, B Rice, E McKeown, P Mervyn, D Martin, M McElgunn, C Boyd (0-01), D Smyth, C Murray (0-10, 0-07f), R Diamond, T McCrudden (0-01), J Quinn, A Murray. Subs: M Finnegan (0-04) for R Diamond (37), S McManus for C Boyd (45), D Murray for J Quinn (54), C Lappin for A Murray (60+4).
St. Enda’s got off to a perfect start when Sean McBride finished to the net following a goalmouth scramble after two minutes and the visitors would push on to collect the opening day points in a fixture that is usually tight.
Enda Mallon replied with a point for the home side in the 4th minute but Fionn Nagle was beginning to impose his influence on proceedings on the edge of the Aghagallon square and he fired over points in the 5th and 10th minutes to put the Glengormley men in control.
Pauric Maginnis, Aghagallon gets his shot away
Sean Murray added a couple more to leave the visitors 1-4 to 0-1 ahead and when James McAuley came forward to grab a second goal in the 21st minute Naomh Eanna were in complete control.
Jonathan Hannon was busting a gut to get St. Mary’s going and he pointed from play and followed with another from a free but the final point of the half fell to the excellent Nagle to send the visitors 2-5 to 0-3 ahead at the short whistle.
Half time 0-3 to 2-5
Jonathan Hannon continued to provide Aghagallon’s greatest threat and he struck a great point from out on the left in the 7th minute and followed with another from a free to close the gap to six.
The wing half forward blotted his copy book however when he received a Black card and with him went the home side’s greatest threat as St. Enda’s re-established their dominance with a couple of pointed frees.
James McAuley fires to the net for St. Enda’s second goal despite the efforts of Luke Mulholland, Aghagallon
The last three scores of the game fell the way of the home side with the last falling to keeper, Luke Mulholland but they only served to put a better look on the final scoreline.
By this stage the damage had been done with James McAuley running the show from centre-half and Fionn Nagle proving a real handful in attack in a St. Enda’s side who could trouble a lot of sides this season.
Aghagallon: 1 Luke Mulholland, 2 Conlan MacAlonan, 3 Aidan Mulholland, 4 Kieran Hamill, 5 Paudie Gowdy, 6 Pat Brannigan, 7 Ciaran Maginnis, 32 Pauric Maginnis, 9 Enda Mallon, 10 Stephen Devlin, 11 Francis Bustard, 12 Jonathan Hannon, 13 Hugh Hannon, 14 Niall McShane, 15 Ruairi McShane, 32 Pauric Maginnis
St. Endas: 1 Senan Nagle, 2 Diarmuid McNulty, 3 Ciaran McKeown, 5 Ronan O’Neill, 6 James McAuley, 7 Conan Lyttle, 8 Cormac Morgan, 9 Sean McBride, 11 Stephen O’Connor, 12 Ronan Kalla, 13 Michael Kennedy, 14 Fionn Nagle, 15 Eoghan O’Hare, 28 Sean Murray, 18 Lorcan Murray, 19 Leo O’Loingsigh, 20 Ciaran McCabe, 22 Killian Jennings
