Ulster Senior Hurling Championship final: Antrim 6-21 Armagh 4-14
ARMAGH going down to 14 men ensured Antrim stretched their Ulster senior winning streak to 15 even if their 13-point winning margin flattered them somewhat.
Although this was a final of high numbers, with 10 goals and 35 points, the card count was low – indeed the only two both went to the same player, Armagh midfielder James King.
At the time of his 58th minute dismissal, the Orchardmen had battled back to just four points behind, and had missed a good opportunity for a fifth goal, having trailed by 12 in first half injury-time.
In truth, though, he deserved to go, for a clumsy chop at Simon McCrory, and Antrim also deserved their victory.
The Saffrons’ joint-manager Dominic McKinley summed it up well when he said: “Overall we’ve got to be pleased with what we did. We had our usual up and down spells, but the players stayed at it today.
“We drew more players out, left it more open inside, and eventually it did come good. Their goalie made some great saves and we probably could have been a bit more clear earlier in the match.”
Indeed, after Armagh had opened their account with a third minute goal from Declan Coulter, a tightly fought game seemed to have taken a significant turn in the final third of the first half when Antrim fired in three goals in a devastating sevenminute spell.
John Dillon started that score splurge, skipping round the ’keeper to net in the 24th minute, and three minutes later he was involved again, teeing up Eoghan Campbell for a low shot which Simon Doherty could only parry high up into the air.
When it came down, a mad scramble ensued and Antrim captain Conor Carson came away claiming their second major score.
Three more minutes brought the third three-pointer for the Saffrons, when James Connolly picked out an utterly unmarked Ciaran Clarke, who caught, turned, and lashed to the net.
Antrim added five more points, appearing to take complete charge of the game, with all those scores coming from play, including a rocket shot from Benny McCarry that Doherty somehow tipped over his crossbar.
However, Armagh did give themselves a glimmer of hope when that man King raced through the middle in the third minute of added time to net, making it 3-14 to 2-8 at the interval.
Armagh boss Sylvester McConnell acknowledged that was a crucial period, saying: “We had five minutes where we got shaky, and we haven’t been shaky all year. We just lost a bit of concentration and maybe a wee bit of belief.”
Yet they actually responded extremely well, first with that King goal, then with two more from fullforward Eoin McGuinness, in the 38th and 48th minutes.
The match would have been right in the balance but for the bad goal they gave away in between those two of their own from McGuinness, Clarke netting Antrim’s fourth in the 45th minute after a poor Armagh puck-out.
McConnell said: “The boys put in a good effort – we came back to four points in the second half, then we lost a short puck-out and then had the sending off.
“It was just unfortunate he was already on a yellow – [referee] Eamonn [Hassan] had to make a decision on it, he gave him a yellow, which was fair enough, for a misjudged stick. Those two things kind of swung it away from us, we were still in it then, but they changed it.”
The Armagh boss did not object to King’s dismissal, but suggested that some Antrim players might have merited similar punishment earlier: “Referees have to make decisions, you can’t complain. Eamonn’s a fair enough referee. Probably we felt Ryan [Gaffney] was getting that all the first half, he went in a with a split eye, the guy was putting the stick into his faceguard before he put his hand up and there were no cards for that.”
Although Armagh narrowed the gap to three points shortly after that red card, Antrim did pull away with the extra man, outscoring their opponents by 2-5 to one point from the hour mark onwards.
The last two goals came from wing-forward James Connolly, the first of those after referee Hassan played an excellent advantage after Eddie McCloskey was clattered.
Antrim finished with a free from Christy McNaughton, but Connolly’s second goal moments earlier had brought their tally from play to an impressive 6-16.
Although McKinley has already stated that he and Terence McNaughton will not be continuing their temporary managerial roles into next season – indicating a preference for a fellow Saffron to take charge – he insisted there’s plenty of talent for the new permanent boss to work with, commenting: “I think everybody knows how good Antrim can be, and I’m not blowing their heads up, they’re young players, but there’s a clutch of forwards that any other county in Ireland would be happy with.
“In spells they are very good – but in between those spells we do not do anything, and that’s a worry. I think it’s something we can work on. “Defensively we need to work on keeping scores out because we are conceding a lot, but that easily can be corrected.”
As for the identity of his successor, McKinley simply said: “I think at this moment in time, we need someone in-house. Somebody with a good structured plan for three or four years. Start off, have a good pre-season.”
He also called on players to show the required character and commitment to be county players, commenting: “I think at this moment in time we have too many players that have one foot in – too many. You have to decide, are you going to be a county player or are you going to be ifs and buts?
“There can’t be any more ifs and buts. You have to step in the ring and you have to stay there and work through it. There will be hard times and good times…
“I think we have serious hurlers. In the spells we play, we are quite, quite good. We just need to sustain it for longer periods and also work on our defensive set-up. It is not as bad as everybody is making out.”
There were plenty of positives for both counties yesterday, but once again it was Antrim left holding the Liam Harvey Cup.
MATCH STATS
Antrim: C O’Connell; S McCrory, N McAuley, B Graham; F Donnelly, P Burke, J McKeague (0-1); E Campbell, D McKernan (0-3); E McCloskey (0-1), J Dillon (1-2), J Connolly (2-2); B McCarry (0-3), C Carson (capt, 1-1), C Clarke (2-7, 0-3 frees, 0-1 sideline) Subs: O McFadden for McCrory (16), S Delargy for Graham (26), McCrory for Donnelly (47), C McNaughton (0-1 free) for McKernan (64)
Armagh: S Doherty; C Clifford, A McGuinness, C Devlin; J Corvan, N Curry, K McKernan; F Bradley (0-2); J King (1-0); D Carvill, C Carvill (capt) (0-2), C Corvan (0-1); R Gaffney (0-7 frees), E McGuinness (2-2), D Coulter (1-0). Subs: P McKearney for Bradley (60), O Curry for A McGuinness (68), A Toal for D Carvill (68) Blood sub: P McKearney for Gaffney (35-h-t) Yellow cards: J King (40, 58) Red card: J King (58)
Referee: Eamonn Hasson (Derry)
