Hurling & Camogie

County champions Dunloy face a second dance with Rossa rebels

Dunloy and Rossa played out a fantastic draw in the group stages of this season's Antrim SHC. The pair battle it out in tomorrow's semi-final in Dunsilly Picture Mal McCann.
Dunloy and Rossa played out a fantastic draw in the group stages of this season's Antrim SHC. The pair battle it out in tomorrow's semi-final in Dunsilly Picture Mal McCann. Dunloy and Rossa played out a fantastic draw in the group stages of this season's Antrim SHC. The pair battle it out in tomorrow's semi-final in Dunsilly Picture Mal McCann.

Bathshack Antrim Senior Hurling Championship semi-final: O’Donovan Rossa v Cuchullain’s, Dunloy (tomorrow, Dunsilly, 1pm)

JUST when it seemed the 2020 Antrim Senior Hurling Championship couldn’t get any better, Dunloy and Rossa are back in the ring again for a semi-final clash that has all the ingredients of being a classic.

Three weeks ago, the two sides went toe-to-toe in Rossa Park. The west Belfast men had the defending county champions covering up on the ropes for long periods before a dramatic 1-1 in the dying seconds of an epic encounter saw the Cuchullain’s steal a share of the spoils.

As Dunloy left the Shaw’s Road punching the air, the draw felt like a knock-out blow to Rossa’s championship prospects.

But Colly Murphy’s men would recover supremely well a week later to put Ballycastle to the sword by hitting a whopping 4-14 and moved into the quarter-finals with more than a bit of swagger.

After a couple of ropey displays, Dunloy also recovered well to top an intriguing Group One with a comprehensive win over St John’s at Corrigan Park and moved straight into the semi-finals.

While the county champions were resting up, Rossa were stitching another thick layer of confidence to their backs by taking out Cushendall in last week’s pulsating quarter-final at St Enda’s, Glengormley.

It was the first time in eight years the Ruairi Ogs will not feature in a county final.

It felt like Rossa’s emancipation day up on the Hightown Road last Saturday afternoon.

Towards the end of the first half, Cushendall threatened to run over the top of their opponents – but once Stephen Beatty kicked the sloithar into the net at the start of the second half, Rossa never looked back.

A couple of observations about this Rossa team: they are bouncing fit, their confidence is sky high, they have a generous spread of scores, they have a good bench and are tactically very astute.

In every outing they’ve managed to wrong-foot their opponents with at least one tactical switch and they seem to get their defensive match-ups right.

Last Saturday, Beatty’s move from wing-forward to full-forward at the start of the second half changed the game. The dual player’s physical presence and ball-winning ability yielded two goals that Cushendall never recovered from.

Michael Armstrong, the best player in this season’s championship, has gone from sweeper to full-forward to man-marker in just over a month. Last week, he stuck to Neil McManus like glue and limited Cushendall’s talisman.

Armstrong was one of the pillars of an outstanding victory.

But a tweaked hamstring late in the game means Armstrong is a major doubt for tomorrow afternoon’s fascinating sequel with Dunloy.

For all their effervescence and flair, Armstrong is the spiritual leader of this Rossa team.

Without him, can they topple the county champions? It’s a huge ask.

Rossa are undoubtedly battle-hardened but Dunloy have had a bit of time on the training field – an absolute luxury in this condensed time-frame – to sharpen their stick-work and refine their tactics, and the work-rate of their forward unit was up to its usual high standard against the Johnnies last time out.

“Dunloy will not play the way they played the last day against us,” noted Rossa manager Collie Murphy.

“They’ll be a lot more fluent. They’ll know our team. Everybody has watched Dunloy over the years and you know their players, but they probably didn’t know ours. So we probably caught them on the hop a bit.

“But our team fears nobody because they’re enjoying their hurling.”

Cushendall’s forward line was far more containable for the Rossa defence than what they’ll face tomorrow in Dunsilly.

In every area Dunloy have pace to burn and consummate score-takers in Keelan Molloy, Eoin O’Neill, Seann Elliott and Conal Cunning.

Rossa have undoubtedly scorched this memorable 2020 championship by playing some wonderful hurling. Dunloy will want to restore what they see is the natural order of things. They'll meet fiery resistance but the county champions should prevail.