Antrim Hurling League Division 2B
Bredagh 0-22 St Paul's 2-13

BREDAGH found the answers to fend off the challenge of St Paul's and claim the points at Cherryvale on Wednesday evening.

It was the half-forward line of the South Belfast club that made the real difference, contributing 19 of Bredagh's scores, but undoubtedly the star of the show was county star Ronan Costello who finished the game with 13 points and seven of those from play.

St Paul's were right in contention throughout and when James Farrell his their second goal with nine minutes to play, the sides were level and there was a sense the West Belfast outfit could push on. But credit to the hosts who didn't panic and found the scores to open a gap and maintain it until the final whistle as they made it three wins from four to start the season.

On a fine evening, Bredagh were quicker to settle but were off target with three early scoring opportunities before Declan McCartney got them off the mark after four minutes and wing-forward Sean Hughes doubled the advantage with a fine point on the run straight after.

St Paul's were finding it hard to make headway in attack early, but gradually settled and a pair of Caolan Crossan frees had them level, but Bredagh were soon back in front with Hughes pouncing on a loose ball to score and then Donal Hughes set-up his Down team-mate Costello for his first of the evening.

Colm McLarnon got the first fro play for St Paul's before setting up Crossan to tie it up for a second time, but another from Costello gave the hosts a slender lead at the water break.

Another pair of Crossan frees edged St Paul's ahead for the one and only time of the game, but the hosts with wind advantage were soon back into their stride with Sean Hughes and Costello hitting two apiece to put their side three clear.

The teams traded two points apiece to see out the half, with Bredagh going closest to the opening goal when Costello brought an excellent save out of Joe Gillen, but it was the Harps who led 0-11 to 0-8 at the half.

They pushed on straight from the restart with four of the first five points through Costello (three) and Donal Hughes with a Crossan free the sole reply for St Paul's, but the visitors were right back in the game on 41 minutes when Frankie Sewell's shot for a point from deep dropped and ended up evading everyone to nestle in the net to leave three in it.

Matt McAreavey hit back with a Bredagh score immediately, but the Shaw's Road side were starting to enjoy a good spell and James Farrell did well to win a ball in traffic to point, while Crossan pointed a free and the lively Michael Walsh fired over his second of the evening to leave the minimum between the teams.

Bredagh replied with a pair of Costello frees either side of the water break, but then came the second St Paul's goal ass Mark Munce made a powerful run through the centre and popped a hand-pass inside where Farrell got a flick to beat Ian Galway and send the sliotar to the net and leave the sides all square at 2-12 to 0-18.

Once again, the hosts responded well and is was Costello who led the charge as the pointed a free and then another three from play - the last an exceptional effort from out on the right to give his team breathing space.

St Paul's kept pushing and were denied a third goal when Crossan's shot was stopped on the line and cleared by Oran McFlynn, while he then saw a 20 metre free whistle over.

The visitors couldn't engineer the goal they needed to snatch a draw as Bredagh half firm in stoppage time to claim the win. 

BREDAGH: I Galway; O McFlynn, N Woods, N Smyth; C Ferry, N McFarland, M patterson; M McAreavey (0-1), D McCartney (0-1); S Hughes (0-4, 0-1 free), D Hughes (0-2), R Costello (0-13, 0-6 frees); L Hogan (0-1), E Donnelly, C McMullan. Subs: J McCollum for C McMullan (20), R Curran for L Hogan (44).

ST PAUL'S: J Gillen; C Gallagher, D Stevenson, A Carey; F Gamble, F Sewell (1-0), S Lawell; M Munce, C O'Carroll; C Crossan (0-9, 0-8 frees), D Chapman, C McLarnon (0-1); D McGreevy, J Farrell (1-1), M Walsh (0-2). Subs: A McMorrow for D McGreevy (HT), G Maguire for C O'Carroll (52), K Murray for M Walsh (55), N Martin for M Munce (59)

REFEREE: Darren McKeown (St Gall's)