Bathshack Antrim Senior Hurling Championship Group Two round two: Cushendall 1-20 Loughgiel 1-15
Cushendall surged past rivals Loughgiel in the second half of Sunday’s Group Two clash at Dunsilly to remain on course for an automatic semi-final berth in the Antrim Hurling Championship.
The Ruairi Og’s host St John’s in their final group game in a fortnight with the winners taking top spot after the West Belfast men eased past St Enda’s 2-30 to 0-14.
Loughgiel will need to defeat St Enda’s to claim a quarter-final berth, but they’ll take plenty of positives from Sunday’s encounter despite the five-point loss.
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Indeed, the Shamrocks were well on top in the early stages with Paul Boyle scoring three stunning points inside the first seven minutes. Centre-back Declan McCloskey added a fine point and a long-range free as Loughgiel lead 0-5 to 0-1 after 11 minutes with Neil McManus converting a free at the other end for Cushendall.
McManus was played inside along with Paddy McGill and Francis McCurry, but Cushendall struggled to make the ball stick in their forward line with Loughgiel’s Tiernan Coyle and Tony McCloskey defending with gusto in the first quarter.
Loughgiel extended their lead to six points, 0-9 to 0-3, after 22 minutes when substitute Maol Connelly scored before goalkeeper Chrissy O’Connell was called into action to deny McCurry minutes later.
The impressive Boyle clipped over a point moments after O’Connell’s save, but Cushendall’s next attack finally yielded a goal.
Eoghan Campbell’s surging run through the Loughgiel defence created another goal-scoring chance, but the Antrim skipper was thwarted by another superb save from O’Connell. However, he couldn't stop McCurry from bundling the sliotar over the line.
The goal gave Cushendall a foothold in the game and back-to-back points from Paddy McGill and McManus (free) brought the sides level in stoppage time. A late free from Connolly restored Loughgiel’s led, but there was just the minimum between the sides at half-time.
Another free from Connolly got his side off to the ideal start, but their opponents dominated the next 15 minutes of the game and hit 0-9 without reply.
McManus was responsible for seven of those points as the Antrim star converted a series of frees, one 65 and an excellent point from play with Alex Delargy and Campbell also adding to the Cushendall tally.
Loughgiel manager Hugh McCann introduced James McNaughton in the middle of the onslaught in an attempt to turn the tide.
Connolly’s free on 49 minutes was his side’s first score for the best part of 20 minutes and the Shamrocks thought they had a goal moments later when Shay Casey found the net. However, referee Colm McDonald ruled that Shan McGrath had thrown the ball in the build-up to the goal.
They hadn’t long to wait for a legitimate goal, though, when McNaughton rifled home on 53 minutes to leave just five points between the sides and a 65 from Connolly cut the gap back to four.
Despite a few long deliveries late on, Loughgiel couldn’t engineer another goal with Eoin Gillan making two great saves in quick succession and a classy score from Cushendall’s Ronan McAteer settled any lingering nerves for the Ruairi Og’s.
Fittingly, it was McManus who had the final say on proceedings as he slotted over another free on the 60-minute mark to bring his tally to 0-12 (0-9fs) and leave five points between the sides at the full-time whistle.
Meanwhile, in Group One, last year’s county finalists Dunloy and Rossa were comfortable winners over Carey and Ballycastle respectively on Saturday night.
The Antrim champions secured a 2-23 to 1-13 win over 2021 Intermediate winners Carey at Loughgiel with Conal Cunning (1-8) and Nigel Elliott (0-7) impressing up front for the Cuchullain’s.
In Dunsilly, Rossa scored an impressive 0-26 to 0-8 victory over Ballycastle and McQuillan’s face an anxious wait to learn the full extent of Ciaran Clarke’s injury after the Antrim star left the field after just 12 minutes with a knee problem.
Rossa led 0-12 to 0-16 at the break and surged clear in the second half and will face Dunloy in a fortnight’s time to see who will progress straight through to the semi-finals, but both sides are already assured of a place in the quarter-finals at least.
Carey will host neighbours Ballycastle with the bottom-placed side being eliminated from the Championship.
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