Antrim Hurling League Division Three
Cuchulainn’s 1-19 Davitt’s 1-7
CUCHULAINN’S claimed an impressive 12-point win over Davitt’s in their Division Three contest in Pearse Óg Park, Armagh, but the sides are set to meet again in the forthcoming play-offs.
With the teams finishing second and seventh respectively, they’ll clash in the quarter-finals and, on the basis of Sunday’s game, the West Belfast men have plenty of ground to make up.
The margin of victory could have been even greater for the hosts, but Davitt’s goalkeeper Joseph McCaffrey made a host of brilliant saves throughout the contest.
The Armagh outfit were also wasteful in the early exchanges playing against the breeze.
They hit three wides and dropped another three short in the opening 10 minutes, but led 0-3 to 0-2 at the water break thanks to points from Lee Murtagh (two) and Ronan Davidson.
Marcus Toner hit both points at the other end for Davitt’s while referee Brendan Toland also issued a handful of yellow cards in a lively opening quarter.
McCaffrey was first called into action to make a smart stop to deny Fionntan Oliver, but the home side recycled possession well for midfielder Conor Cartmill to split the posts.
Oliver didn’t have to wait long to make amends and he beat McCaffrey from close range, but only after the Davitt’s ’keeper had denied wing-back Ciaran Duffy twice in quick succession.
When Murtagh fired over moments later, Cuchulainn’s had moved into a useful six-point advantage with 20 minutes played.
Toner converted a much-needed free for Davitt’s before centre-forward Stephen McGivern hit a fine point from play.
Murtagh and Toner exchanged frees while the former also rifled over a point from play when he was just inches from finding the net.
Indeed, Cuchulainn’s closed out the half in style with further points from John Donnelly and Murtagh giving them a 1-9 to 0-5 lead at half-time.
However, Davitt’s found their way back into contention on the restart when the impressive Toner burst through the heart of the Cuchulainn’s defence before setting up McGivern for a well-worked goal.
The hosts almost replied in kind at the other end, but McCaffrey made back-to-back saves from Conor Devlin and Paddy Heaney.
Davitt’s then cut the deficit back to three with another free from Toner, but they’d only add another point to their tally for the remainder of the tie.
Donnelly won a puck-out and pointed to move his side four ahead on 40 minutes and the Cuchulainn’s killed the game off with a series of fine points without reply.
Neil Duffy and Cartmill hit points within a minute of each other while Heaney moved the Armagh side 1-13 to 1-6 ahead at the second water break.
The home side made a host of changes for the final quarter, but they kept their foot firmly on the throttle with points from substitutes Conleth Lavery (two frees), Tony Duffy and Ben Devlin while McCaffrey made another sublime save – this time denying Cartmill.
Lavery converted another brace of frees late on while Toner brough his tally to 0-6 with his final point of the afternoon, but the West Belfast men will need to improve if they are to trouble the Armagh City side in the rematch.
CUCHULAINN’S: A Murtagh; O Richards, S McParland, D Hicks; D Ryan, T Marley, C Duffy; C Devlin, C Cartmill (0-2); F Oliver (1-0), N Duffy (0-1), J Donnelly (0-2); R Davidson (0-1), P Heaney (0-1), L Murtagh (0-6, 0-3fs).
Subs: C McReynolds for C Duffy (HT), B Devlin (0-1) for L Murtagh (46), T Duffy (0-1) for N Duffy (46), C Lavery (0-4, 0-4fs) for Heaney (46), J Murtagh for Davidson (48).
DAVITT’S: J McCaffrey; C Heaney, T Toland, A McLaughlin; C Gallagher, T Maguire, C McKee; P Carleton, A Rowntree; R McEvoy, S McGivern (1-1), M Toner (0-6, 0-5fs); OD Persson, C Fegan, CJ Sullivan.
REFEREE: B Toland (Lámh Dhearg).
