All County Feile A Final – Venue: Cushendun
Report by Aidan McSparran, Mark McSparran and Matthew Black
A few weeks ago when visiting St Killian’s College I was ask by English teacher Emer Fury about getting some of her pupils to try doing reports for the Saffron Gael, an idea first muted by Irish teacher Seamus McAleenan. Two weeks ago Monique O’Boyle did a report on one of the school’s camogie matches and on Saturday three students worked together to do a report on the Feile A final between Loughgiel and St Paul’s. What made it so special for me was that the boys actually played for Glenariffe, the team beaten by Loughgiel in the North Antrim final. Im sure you will agree that what they have written is very, very good.
Loughgiel Shamrocks 1-03 St Paul’s 0-03
In a low scoring affair between Loughgiel Shamrocks and St Pauls, Loughgiel clinched the All County Feile Final. The match took place at 5.30pm in Cushendun and despite the lack of scoring it was still an engaging and highly entertaining match.
St Paul’s looked dominant in the early stages and grabbed the first two points of the game through Caoimhin Killyleagh and Paul Donnelly. However a well taken goal from Jack McCloskey put Loughgiel one point in front at the interval.
St Paul’s brought the game level in the opening stages of the second half with another excellent point from Caoimhin Killyleagh. However this was quickly matched by two points (one free) from Loughgiel’s Ronan McCollam. Conor Dixon left three between the teams with the final score of the game. St Paul’s continued to attack aggressively for the remainder of the match but could not find a path through a very strong Loughgiel defence.
The Shamrock’s powerful performances over the past few weeks continued with their team captain Ruairi McCormick once again having a fantastic game in the full back position.
As the celebrations for Loughgiel begin, we’d like to wish them the very best of luck as they represent Antrim in Galway in The National Feile to be played on June 8th.
Loughgiel:
Mark Christie, Pearse Patterson, Ruairi McCormick, Cahir Connolly, Ronan McLaughlin, Finn Henry, Tiago McGarry, Conor Dickson (0-1), Conin Sheridan, Conor McGarry, Darragh Patterson, Ronan McCollam (0-2 (1f)), Ben McGarry, Jack McCloskey (1-0), Odhran Reid.
Subs: Eoin McGarry, Charley O’Hagan, Jack McKendry, Ronan Casey, Danny McAuley, Dairmuid Casey, Roan McGarry, Liam Glackin, Ronan Fitzgerald.
St Paul’s:
Conal Devlin, Diarmuid O Sullivan, Barrie Burns, Daire Maginn, Conor Connolly, Tiarnan Auld, Liam Walsh, Declan Quinn, Caoimhin Killyleagh (0-2), Paul Donnelly (0-1), Lorcan Phillips, Sean Munce, Shea Burns, Miceal Howell, Callum Murray,
Subs: Tiarnan Munce, Ryan McCoy
Pictures credit to Sean Paul McKillop