ULSTER MINOR HURLING SHIELD FINAL
Éire Óg, Carrickmore 1-9 Sean MacCumhaills 2-10
BY RYAN FERRY
SEAN MacCumhaills are Ulster Minor Shield Hurling champions after they got the better of Éire Óg, Carrickmore in tricky conditions at Ballinascreen on Sunday.
Jamesie Donnelly’s men were 0-8 to 0-4 ahead at the break.
Sean Óg Hannigan and Daimhin Byrne added goals in the second half and while MacCumhaillls finished the game with 14 players, they were not to be denied.
Éire Óg have been going very well at senior level in both hurling and camogie in recent weeks so they came into the final with real momentum.
MacCumhaills had belief although one of their best players in Jacob Malone missed out with a shoulder injury.
Sean MacCumhaills played with the aid of a strong breeze in the first half and they opened the scoring with their first attack with Pauric Kelly firing over from distance.
Shea Munroe got Carrickmore going with a free but MacCumhaills soon started to find their stride.
Lively corner-forward Dylan Patton landed a neat point from play and then a huge free.
Rory Doherty and Daimhin Byrne followed up with lovely points as the Twin Towns side moved 0-5 to 0-1 ahead.
Carrickmore battled back with Shea Monroe scoring a free and a sublime point from distance.
Donnelly’s charges then had a good goal chance but Patton was unlucky to see his flicked effort go narrowly wide.
Tarlach Tracey then reduced Carrickmore’s deficit to one in the 20th minute.
MacCumhaills needed to finish the first half strongly and they did.
They were determined to win the dirty ball and earned frees with Patton slotting over another three scores.
MacCumhaills were four ahead at the break but the big question among their travelling supporters was if it was enough considering the strength of the breeze.
They came out for the second half with intent and Patton swung over a great effort.
MacCumhaills did have a scare in the 34th minute as McGrory had goal on his mind but Shay Bradley was in the right position to clear off the line.
Shea Monroe converted the resulting ’65’ but that was cancelled out almost immediately by Patton.
Carrickmore missed a few chances and they opted to change free-taker and Conor McGlinchey slotted over a placed ball to reduce the deficit to four.
A big moment then arrived in the 47th minute.
A long-range free from Dan Donnelly dropped dangerously in around the square and Hannigan was in the right place to help force the ball over the line.
MacCumhaills’ joy was short-lived as they were reduced to 14 men seconds later when Pauric Kelly was shown a straight red for pulling down the faceguard of an opponent.
Carrickmore made good work of their numerical advantage initially with Phelim McCrory and McGlinchey (free) on target.
However, the Donegal champions swooped for goal number two in the 55th minute.
Patton’s free dropped short and once again Carrickmore couldn’t clear their lines, and Daimhin Byrne buried the sliotar into the net.
Carrickmore had to throw everything they had at the closing minutes and McGlinchey pointed a free, and they then were given a lifeline when Shea Munroe squeezed the ball into the net.
However, it proved to be just a mere consolation as Sean MacCumhaills held on for victory.
Teams
Éire Óg, Carrickmore: Conor McPhillips; Ciaran McKenna, Cal McAteer, Rian Martin; Eoghan Loughran, Senan Munroe, Caolan Grimes; Conor McGlinchey (0-3, 3fs), Micheal McCallan; Phelim McGrory (0-2), Shea Munroe (1-4, 2fs, 1 ‘65’), Tarlach Tracey; Rory Woods, Ryan Coney, Padraig McCrystal. Subs: Aodhan Grogan for Coney (39 mins), Ronan Hurson for E.Loughran (58 mins).
Sean MacCumhaills: Fionn Mac an Ultaigh; Ultan Coyle, Tomas McNulty, Shay Bradley; Patrick McElhinney, Oisin Mullen, Lorcan Byrne; Pauric Kelly (0-1), Dan Donnelly; Rory Doherty (0-1), Sean Og Hannigan (1-0),Jamie Gallen; Dylan Patton (0-7, 4fs), Liam Gallen, Daimhin Byrne (1-1). Subs: Jamie Fallon for L.Gallen (43 mins), Caolan Gillespie for R.Doherty (57 mins).
Referee: Alan Nash (Derry).
