Hurling & Camogie

Battle-hardened Johnnies can edge Loughgiel Shamrocks semi

St John's fell to Dunloy but were already qualified for the quarter-finals Picture by Hugh Russell.
St John's fell to Dunloy but were already qualified for the quarter-finals Picture by Hugh Russell. St John's fell to Dunloy but were already qualified for the quarter-finals Picture by Hugh Russell.

Bathshack Antrim Senior Hurling Championship semi-final: St John’s, Belfast v Loughgiel Shamrocks (tomorrow, Dunsilly, 4.30pm)

IF the St John’s hurlers have a rear view mirror, they don’t look at it too often. After coming agonisingly close to a county final appearance over the last couple of seasons, the Johnnies will be hoping to break their semi-final hoodoo against a fancied Loughgiel Shamrocks side at Dunsilly this afternoon.

The last time the Whiterock men reached a senior county final was in 1994 with city rivals O’Donovan Rossa claiming the Volunteer Cup in 2004.

You’d have to go as far back as 1973 for their seventh and last time St John’s got their hands on the silverware.

St Gall’s gate-crashed the decider in 2014 – but since then final appearances have been the strict preserve of north Antrim.

“You’d get a sore neck looking back,” said St John’s boss Mickey Johnston after watching his side come through four bruising championship encounters.

Like, Dunloy in Group One, Loughgiel topped theirs and went straight in the semi-finals. They’ve had a two-week break between their last game – a thumping 15-point win over St Enda’s – and tomorrow’s showdown.

In a global pandemic and condensed championship calendar, two weeks must feel like a career break for a club that treats the big ball with a healthy ambivalence.

After the footballers crashed and burned in the group stages, the Johnnies can finally concentrate on trying to reach a senior hurling final. By the manager’s own admission, though, they haven’t hit the heights yet.

And yet, they keep progressing and are battle-hardened thanks to the tough assignments thrown up in Group One.

“The group that we’ve been playing in has been more competitive than the other group,” Johnston said.

“We’ve won tight games, we’ve come from behind – against Ballcastle [to draw] – and we didn’t break. The Rossa game was another example. Rossa were six points up against us and it was a seven-point turnaround. We’re not playing well and we’re still winning – so we’re hoping there’s a performance in us.”

Shamrocks duo Eddie McCloskey and James McNaughton are the obvious threats to the Johnnies tomorrow while there could yet be a cameo appearance from the mercurial Liam ‘Winker’ Watson.

“I'd assume Loughgiel would have made the most of the down time,” added Johnston, “whereas we’re asking our players to survive on instinctive hurling, but we’ve skilful hurlers who can survive on instinctive hurling.”

If the manager’s sons Conor and Ciaran are passed fit, the Johnnies have the forwards and resilience to cause an upset.

They also know this terrain almost as well as the Shamrocks by now.