From the throw in, Loughgiel started off the brighter with the ball falling directly to corner forward Barney McAuley who off stepped on to his left and struck the ball cleanly between the upright to open the scoring account.
Rossa equalised through Stephen Beatty after a great ball from Danny Murray straight to Jonathan McGuinness who travelled well before laying it off to Beatty.
Liam Watson slotted a placed ball into the corner to Barney McAuley to score his second point within the first few minutes.
Loughgiel’s Ciaran McKinley held Jonathan McGuinness to prevent him getting the ball, this was well spotted by referee Gerard Robinson and Michael Turley made no mistake when aiming the ball, it was on target but it fell just short and after cleared well by Chrissy O’Connell.
Joey Scullion rose the highest and side stepped Eoghan O’Neill to raise the white flag once again for the Shamrocks.
Points were exchanged well between both teams in the next few minutes with great team work by Loughgiel’s James Campbell, Benny McCarry, Declan Laverty and Donal McKinley and on the Belfast side, Stephen Shannon and Gavin Bell linked up well to convert a score.
Neil McGarry operating at a surprising position of centre half forward played a ball into the corner where out coming Joey Scullion and Eoghan O’Neill raced to win, Joey won the ball but his shot at goal was pulled by the wind to the outside of the posts.
Conor McClelland out jumped everyone in the midfield area to win the puc out from Danny Murray but his pass to Christopher Hamill was intercepted by James Campbell and with more one-two passing up the field the ball was given in to the corner to Benny McCarry, but after a foul committed by Kevin McDonnell it was Liam Watson who stepped up to convert the free.
Danny Murray had other ideas, he kept his cool and prevented the green flag being raised by stopping the ball and clearing it to the wing, Donal McKinley was on hand for the Shamrocks and took his first point of the day.
Stephen Shannon was fouled in the Rossa defence, and after a long range strike, he just couldn’t seem to get it to Conor McClelland, and Declan Laverty sweeped in behind and after a quick hand pass to Odhran McFadden, the ball was back at the other end of the field.
Jonathan McGuinness tried for another chance at goal for Rossa, but again Chrissy O’Connell denied this and Declan Laverty helped clear the ball out of the danger zone once again.
Christopher McDonnell took on the Loughgiel defence on what seemed to be by himself, avoiding many challenges but he couldn’t seem to find any of his team mates, he had a go but the loose ball was collected and cleared by Ronan Gillan
Quick thinking by James Campbell he played a side line ball short, back to Paul Gillan and Paul struck a massive ball to put the corner backs name on the score sheet, in the eighteenth minute.
Danny Murray tried to find Christopher McIlhatton in the middle of the park but Liam Watson cutely stole the ball from him and quick look up he saw an un marked Barney McAuley on the opposite side of the park.
The ball was played directly too him , with a short run Barney took one final look up before he rattled the net for the North Antrim side in the nineteenth minute.
Gavin Bell, Stephen Shannon and Christopher McDonnell linked well down the side of Fr. Healy Park before the only way Loughiel prevented the score was to foul Christopher McDonnell.
Frees were exchanged by both teams for the next few minutes with neither team converting a score.
Liam Watson from a placed ball hit the ball high into the air, both Eddie McCloskey and Matthew Devlin jumped high but the ball found Eddie’s hand and with a quick shuffle of the feet he placed the ball between the posts.
Ciaran McKinley over turned the puc out to put pressure back on the Rossa defence, an accidental slap to the head on Eddie McCloskey, meant Barney McAuley converted another placed ball to leave the score line 1-10 to 2 points to Loughgiel at half time.
Again Loughgiel were the quickest out of the blocks with a point from Eddie McCloskey in the first twenty seconds.
Danny Murray pulled off a great save to deny Joey Scullion but he couldn’t get it cleared and Joey made sure second time round as the umpire reached for the green flag.
Odhran McFadden, was playing a great game at centre half back fro the Shamrocks doing nothing fancy just being steady and he out jumped Conor McClelland before a quick pass out James Campbell and a long effort was just pushed out for a 65 by Danny Murray, this was not converted to a score however.
Danny Murray puc out struck to the wing but blocked down by Declan Laverty followed by a cross field ball to Benny McCarry to extend the margin between the two teams.
A superb sideline cut by Stephen Shannon to Christopher McGuinnes, found an in running Conor McClelland to score a point for Rossa at the other end.
Chrissy O’Connell failed to find a red jersey in the poc out and Jonathan McGuinness took the ball on a solo run up the wing, he spotted Christopher McGuinness free in the middle and with a great pass, McGuinness side stepped the Loughgiel defence and raised the white flag for the second time for Rossa within a minute, this was again quickly followed up by Christopher McDonnell getting the Belfast team another score, Conor McClelland wanted in on the action also, after catching the ball high from the sky he took a long strike but he seemed to get more height than distance and Ronan Gillan
cleared the ball out as far as Ciaran McKinley who seen Neil McGarry in space who finished the ball between the posts.
Rossa gain a free about thirty yards out from their own goal, keeper Danny Murray comes out to take the shot, his effort makes the distance into the square and Conor McClelland connects on it but Chrissy O’Connell pulls off a great save to deny the Rossa man.
Matthew Devlin over turns the puc out and Stephen Shannon comes in to help him clear the ball out of defence but a quick flick from Eddie McCloskey stops him getting out of danger, a great double team effort by the McCloskey brothers Tony and Eddie helps open out the Rossa defence but Eddie filed to convert the shot, however he redeemed himself catching the puc out and striking straight between the uprights.
Gavin Bell takes a short side line ball to Christopher McDonnell and from about 70 yards out McDonnell opened up his shoulders to score another point.
Christopher McGuinness and Eoghan O’Neill worked well laying the ball off to each other working up the field but they couldn’t find the distance and Ronan Gillan cleared for Loughgiel.
Eoghan O’Neill playing further out the field made a difference to the Belfast side, he picked up loose ball and took a shot over his shoulder from the middle of the park to get his name on the score sheet also.
The next five minutes was more like a game of tennis than hurling as the ball was constantly cleared out of both defence lines and neither team able to register a point, Odhran McFadden, sweeped up every ball for the Shamrocks and Stephen Shannon doing the same for Rossa.
Stephen Shannon found Christopher McDonnell but after a great tackle by Mark McFadden and a hand passing game between McFadden, Declan Laverty and Benny McCarry, Mark McFadden converted the game into a score.
Stephen Shannon got involved in play once again and after with stick work he eased past a challenge from Joey Scullion to find Jonathan McGuinness to point for Rossa.
Danny Murray failed to fully clear the ball out of the Rossa goal mouth and Barney McAuley took a shot aiming low only for Michael Turley to be on the line and pull off a superb save.
Three consecutive points from Rossa’s Christopher McIlhatton, Christopher Hamill and Christopher McDonnell, followed by a great save in defence by Matthew Devlin, meant that Rossa were every bit capable of taking their scores.
Jonathan McGuinnes added yet another score for the Belfast club, however Rossa will rue what could have been a goal chance, Jonathan McGuinness ran with the ball to the corner, but after he slotted the ball straight across the square no one was able to get a touch on it and the Lougheil defence cleared the ball down the field on what was the last strike of the game.
FT Loughgiel 2.17 Rossa 0.12
Loughgiel Team;
Chrissy O’Connell Paul Gillan, Ronan Gillan, Ronan McClockey, Declan Laverty, Odhran McFadden, Ciaran McKinley, Liam Watson, James Campbell, Eddie McCloskey, Neil McGarry, Donal McKinley, Benny McCarry, Joey Scullion Barney McAuley. Subs Tony McCloskey for Ciaran McKinley, Mark McFadden for James Campbell, Conor Gillan for Eddie McCloskey, Connor Campbell for Neil McGarry, Karl Casey for Paul Gillan
Rossa Team;
Danny Murray, Michael Kettle, Eoghan O’Neill, Kevin McDonnell, Matthew Devlin, Stephen Shannon, Gavin Bell, Christopher McIlhatton, Christopher Hamill, Jonathan McGuinness, Conor McClelland, Michael Turley, Stephen Beatty, Christopher McGuinness, Christpher McDonnell