Ulster Minor Hurling Tournament Semi-Final
Glenariffe/Glenravel 2-15 Bredagh 1-16
Antrim champions Glenriffe/Glenravel held off a late surge from Bredagh to reach the Cup final. Two points separated the sides at the end of the hour but it was an hour that had the Glenriffe/Glenravel fans biting their nails to their quick.
A run of four points in as many minutes from the Down men brought Bredagh to within one raised white flag but the Glensmen weren’t to be denied with man-of-the-match Callum McIlwaine splitting the uprights in the third minute of injury time.
It was a brilliant individual performance from McIlwaine who’s seven points all came from open play, five of those in an electric first half. He had plenty of support from Orrin O’Connor in attack, Colla Ward and Niall Magee in defence while Phelim Ward and Oisin Gillan grabbed the goals.
The Ardsmen had a greater spread of scorers throughout with seven different names on the list of scorers. Sean McCollum was always a threat and played in a variety of positions while John Dougan, Luke Doran and Finbar Blaney hit eight points between them.
Daniel Kinney had an excellent game between the sticks with his range of puck outs and with three points from placed ball, he was an excellent asset to his side but they came up short against a talented Glenriffe/Glenravel side.
The opening goal came after eight minutes with the sides tied on three points apiece. It came through the genius of Gillan when he stole in behind Conor Dunne and raced through on the Bredagh goal.
He made no mistake with his effort and when McIlwaine fired over a brace of points soon after, Glenriffe/Glenravel threatened to run away with this game. Bredagh dug in however with McCollum and Kinney frees keeping them in touch.
With the game ticking into the last minute of the first half, Bredagh were given a lifeline with their major. Luke Doran’s speculative effort over his shoulder came back off the uprights and with the sliotar bouncing loose, Shane O’Connell reacted quickest and pulled first time to the back of the net.
That goal came at the perfect time for Bredagh and while Orrin O’Connor’s fourth white flag of the half and third from placed ball put four between the sides on the stroke of half time, it was still all to play for in the second half.
With the aid of a slight breeze after the restart, Bredagh halved the Glenriffe/Glenravel deficit through Doran and McCollum. The Antrim champions looked to come out of their slumber however and opened a five point lead by the 41 st minute with O’Connor and McIlwaine combining.
Indeed, it took a quite brilliant piece of defending to deny Glenriffe/Glenravel a second major with John Scullion looking certain to find the back of the net but he was denied with a hungry Bredagh defence.
A run of three points brought the Down men to within two once again before Glenriffe/Glenravel hit their second major. It was Phelim Ward who applied the expert finish but it owed much to the work of O’Connor in the build up.
With seven minutes remaining and five points the difference, Bredagh refused to down tools. Scores from Doran, Finbar Blaney, Kinney (’65) and Odhran Morgan-Lyttle on the stroke of the hour had many thinking on extra time but McIlwaine had the final say when he raised his seventh white flag.
Glenriffe/Glenravel look forward to a final meeting with Erin’s Own Lavey on New Years Eve with a 12pm throw in.
GLENARIFFE/GLENRAVEL:
B Duncan; C McNaughton, C Ward, H Fyfe; J Kearney, N Magee, O Mort; C McIlwaine (0-7), J Scullion; E Harvey, O O’Connor (0-6, 5 frees), C Leech; M Furey, P Ward (1-1), O Gillan (1-1).
Subs: J McKay for E Harvey (51), O McKeown for J Scullion (59)
BREDAGH:
D Kinney (0-3, 2 frees, 1′65); C Quilton, E Browne, C Dunne; F Ferguson, P McGarry, S Doyle; P Loughrey, D Cunningham; J Dougan (0-2), L Doran (0-3), F Blaney (0-3); S McCollum (0-4, 3 frees), S O’Connell (1-00), O Morgan-Lyttle (0-1).
Subs: T Dougan for F Ferguson (38), C O’Neill for P Loughrey (43), T O’Brien for D Cunningham (45), C McAnarney for C Quilton (48).
Referee: Alan Nash (Derry)