Loughgiel put the foot down to breeze past Ballygalget

AIB Ulster Club Senior Hurling Championship semi-final: John Mitchel’s, Ballygalget 0-9 (Down) Loughgiel Shamrocks (Antrim) 1-25

ONCE they found the measure of Ballygalget’s attritional opening salvo, Loughgiel slipped nicely into gear to breeze into a mouth-watering Ulster decider with Slaughtneil.

They had to scrape for everything they’d earned in Antrim but the Down champions came off a season playing division two hurling in the Saffron county, and it showed.

That they travelled from the peninsula to south Derry without their captain and key forward Daniel Toner, who suffered a broken collarbone in the Down final, was a hugely significant blow to the underdogs’ chances.

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But irrespective, the Shamrocks were so much slicker, so much quicker and so much in command of how this game was played beyond a physical opening quarter.

“Ballygalget came out of the blocks pretty sharp, as we knew they would,” said Loughgiel boss Johnny Campbell.

“They brought the challenge and fair play to our guys, they matched it the whole way through. It took us a wee bit longer than we might have hoped to cut loose, but we stuck to our task.”

Asked if it was his side’s best performance of the season so far, he said: “There was a lot of good hurling in it. The county final was a very manly performance, I thought, but they’re keen to take the next step every day they go out and that’s a plus for us.

“We know the next day that the challenge Slaughtneil will put in front of us will be massive. They should have won an Ulster title or two by now. We just hope that it’s not at our expense.”

The warm autumnal sunshine and the fine surface at Watty Graham Park played into Loughgiel’s hands as Benny McCarry and Liam Watson played key roles in an attack that didn’t hit a single wide in the first half, and just five in total.

It did take them eight minutes to get on the scoreboard as early scores from Gareth Johnson and Gerard Roddy heartened Ballygalget.

But they would score just twice more from play, and just once in the entirety of the second half through Johnson, who finished the game with blood streaming from a nasty hand wound after an injurytime clash. The whole of Loughgiel seemed to be in Maghera, with a sea of red visible from every corner, They finally got to open their voice boxes when Eddie McCloskey fed Damon McMullan to settle them from 40 yards.

With Paul Gillan starting magnificently at corner-back, Loughgiel built a 0-6 to 0-2 lead by the quarter-hour mark and had begun to take complete control in their half-back division.

Liam Watson looked very sharp playing at centre-forward and hit two quick scores that were added to by Mark McFadden and Maol Connolly (free).

Caolan Bailie, who started well at full-forward but faded, fired over and Ciaran Coulter notched a free to bring it to 0-7 to 0-5 after 20 minutes before their veteran goalkeeper Graham Clarke denied Donal McKinley with a brilliant save.

Benny McCarry had plucked the ball from over Gabriel Clarke’s head and fed McKinley one-on-one, but the full-back’s brother pulled him out with a stunning close-range stop.

It wasn’t really until the final five minutes of the first half that Loughgiel took control on the scoreboard, hitting four unanswered points that pushed them 0-15 to 0-7 clear before a late Johnson free narrowed the gap slightly heading into the break.

A bit of jostling between the midfielders on both sides before the throw-in gave the impression that Ballygalget weren’t going to lie down, but they simply had such a dearth of possession that their defence was massively overworked.

Barring three fine catches from Johnson in the second half, Ballygalget won just one more puckout from their own end as they found themselves submerged beneath the Antrim champions’ pressure.

James McGrath battled well until he was sent off at the death for leaving a loose hurl into the face of Eddie McCloskey, but it had long since ceased to matter by then. McCarry hit the half’s opening 1-2, snatching another ball over Gabriel Clarke’s head.

He took the second chance himself, burying low past Graham Clarke from 13 metres.

Watson had a chance to add a second goal soon after, and had a man over as well, but he blazed just over the crossbar having had an unhindered run from the 45-metre line.

Graham Clarke was again on hand to deny Johnny Campbell’s side when he showed superb reactions to get his hurl up and turn a Watson thunderbolt away – a save so good that even the most partisan Loughgiel fans were drawn to applaud.

Loughgiel had steamed 1-23 to 0-8 ahead by the time Johnson got their only second half score, taking a great catch before firing over off his left side.

Both benches were run and with their final opponents Slaughtneil having so many players in the Derry football final this Sunday, that extra little bit of rest may prove valuable in a fortnight.

It didn’t require the same grit as some of their Antrim outings, and that allowed Loughgiel’s attacking spark to return yesterday.

A large helping of both will be needed to claim another Ulster title.

MATCH STATS

Loughgiel: DD Quinn; P Gillan, N McGarry, R McCloskey; J Campbell, T McCloskey, T Coyle; M McFadden (0-2), D McMullan (0-1); M Connolly (0-11, 0-6 frees, 0-3 65s), E McCloskey (0-1), D McKinley (0-1); B McCarry (1-3), L Watson (0-5), S Casey Subs: J Scullion for B McCarry (48), D McCloskey for Casey (48), D Laverty for Watson (51), B McAuley (0-1) for M McFadden (51), O McFadden for Gillan (54) Yellow cards: M McFadden (19),

Ballygalget: Graham Clarke; J Smyth, Gabriel Clarke, J McManus; J McGrath, E Clarke, B Toner; M Fisher, J Doran; G Roddy (0-1), D McManus, C Bailie (0-1); G Johnson (0-3, 0-1 free), B Byers, C Coulter (0-4 frees) Subs: P McManus for Smyth (33), S Bailie for Byers (45), G Dynes for Roddy (45), A Doran for J Doran (48), E Coulter for Gabriel Clarke (45), K McGreevey for G Johnson (61) Yellow cards: J Doran (39), J McGrath (45, 60) Red card: J McGrath (60)

Referee: E Hassan (Derry)