All Ireland Club champions Loughgiel took the first step
towards retaining their county title when they produced a powerful second-half
display to convincingly beat Rossa in Sunday’s preliminary round at Casement Park.
Rossa hurled very well in the opening half and must have had many hurling fans
wondering why they are not playing their hurling in Division 1. When they went
in at half-time trailing by just a goal (2-7 to 1-7) after playing into a stiff
breeze they must have thought they were in with a chance of an almighty upset,
but Loughgiel’s undoubted class shone through in the second-half and
brilliantly led by man of the match Eddie McCloskey they powered their way to
an emphatic victory.
After an early exchange of points Shay Casey set Loughgiel on the victory trail
when he cut through to rifle the ball to the Rossa net, but the Belfast side
hit back strongly and boosted by a Johnny McGuinness goal they levelled the
scores at 1-2 apiece. Eddie McCloskey was creating havoc in the Rossa defence
however and after clever work the left-half-forward and centre-forward Declan
Laverty the latter placed Benny McCarry for his team’s second goal and sent
them to the dressing room with a 2-7 to 1-7 cushion.
When Rossa cut the gap to just two points within twenty seconds of the restart
an exciting battle looked to be on, but slowly but surely Loughgiel’s class
began to show through and further goals from Benny McCarry, Eddie McCloskey and
substitute Dan Mc Closkey saw them coast through to a meeting with Glenariffe
in the first round proper on the first weekend in September.
LOUGHGIEL – DD Quinn, Paul Gillan, Neilly McGarry, Ronan McCloksey, James
Campbell, Martin Scullion, Johnny Campbell (capt), Tony McCloskey, Barney
McAuley, Eddie McCloskey, Declan Laverty, Joey Scullion, Benny McCarry, Damian
Laverty, Shay Casey. SUBS – Liam Watson for Damian Laverty; Dan Mc Closkey for
Shay Casey
ROSSA – Phil Green, Mickey Kettle, Gavin Bell, Kevin McDonald, John Kerr,
Eoghan O’Neill, Ciaran Orchin, Chris McIlhatton, Paul Close, Johnny McGuinness,
Michael Armstrong, Stephen Beattie, Thomas Morgan, Liam McAuley, Michael
Turley.
Referee – Garrett Duffy (St Gall’s)
From Antrim GAA Website