Hurling & Camogie

Loughgiel show their teeth as Cushendall clash looms

Paul Boyle evades Stephen Shannon during yesterday's Bathshack Antrim SHC quarter-final Picture: Mark Marlow
Paul Boyle evades Stephen Shannon during yesterday's Bathshack Antrim SHC quarter-final Picture: Mark Marlow Paul Boyle evades Stephen Shannon during yesterday's Bathshack Antrim SHC quarter-final Picture: Mark Marlow

Bathshack Antrim Senior Hurling Championship: O’Donovan Rossa 0-20 Loughgiel Shamrocks 3-27

HUGH McCann was about to light up a cigarette before being accosted by a couple of reporters to gauge just how impressive he felt his Loughgiel side were in dismissing O’Donovan Rossa from this year’s championship to set up an intriguing semi-final with Cushendall.

The Shamrocks manager was probably the most contented man in Dunsilly yesterday afternoon. Loughgiel were good. At times they were better than good.

“This is the easiest job in the world,” McCann grinned.

“All they want to do is hurl. My job's easy. I’ve got some super coaches, great strength and conditioning, physios, the whole lot. I just turn up on a Sunday and make sure they’re all there!

“They are as honest as they come. That’s all you can ask for.”

Take your pick from James McNaughton, Paul Boyle, Daniel McCloskey or Eddie McCloskey – all of whom delivered hurling masterclasses, albeit against a sorely weakened Rossa side who were without two of their best players in Michael Armstrong (injury) and Stephen Beatty (suspension).

“The two names weren’t mentioned [before the game],” said McCann.

“We knew Rossa would bring 15 players here and that’s what we concentrated on. The rest of it was outside of our control. I feel sorry for them that they lost those two players but we can only play what’s in front of us and that was 15 ‘Rossa lads.”

And those "15 ’Rossa lads" all gave good accounts of themselves and were still in yesterday’s quarter-final up until the last 15 minutes during which time man-of-the-match Paul Boyle hit two goals.

Shan McGrath raised the first green flag of the day after 17 minutes as Loughgiel went through the gears in impressive style. Their movement, their shooting and spread of scores will give them plenty of confidence ahead of their semi-final showdown with the Ruairi Ogs in a fortnight’s time.

Loughgiel have been a bit of a slow burner in this year’s championship. From the early turbulence against St John’s to yesterday’s classy display, McCann’s side have improved a fair bit.

“St John’s and Cushendall are two massive teams, those group games stood us in good stead, and with the reserve championship we started to build momentum.

“At this stage, we’ll take anybody. Our confidence is high. Cushendall is our next game, a massive game and they’ve already beaten us in this year’s championship so we know what they’re going to bring…

“When you put a performance in like that it builds more confidence within the group.”

Aodhan O’Brien and Thomas Morgan kept the scoreboard ticking over for Rossa in the opening half, but the west Belfast men just couldn’t live with the clever movement and running power of their opponents as this quarter-final unfolded.

Loughgiel led 1-14 to 0-13 at the half-time break and although they were outscored in the opening exchanges of the second half, Eddie McCloskey, Paul Boyle, Shan McGrath and James McNaughton were ruthless every time they got a sight of Rossa’s posts.

McCann added: “To be honest, I thought we dominated the first half but we just didn’t get the scores to mark that on the scoreboard but that came through in the second half. Plus, we used five subs and every one made a contribution.”

After five or six minutes, the Loughgiel Shamrocks manager was left alone to enjoy his cigarette. Contented and ready for whatever their semi-final throws at them.