Andersonstown SC Antrim IHC, Group Two
Gort Na Mona 0-11 Clooney Gaels 7-19
Friday night began the weekend’s Hurling Championship action in Turf Lodge in a top vs bottom clash.
Gort na Móna faced off against Group Two leaders Clooney Gaels in hopes off causing an unlikely upset against the championship favourites.
It was the home side who started the better as points from Aiden McDonagh and Neil Henry established an early lead.
It wasn’t long before the James O’Connell and Ronan Graham levelled the scores.
It took until the 17th minute for all hope to begin to fade for the home-side as Patrick Graham caught a poor-back pass out and drilled the ball home to score the first goal of the evening.
Gort replied after a barren 10-minute spell as midfielder James Connolly pucked over the bar and tried to stem the overwhelming Clooney momentum.
Connolly’s point was to no avail as within 20 seconds a mix-up from goalkeeper Conor McCann saw his attempted clearance blocked by Clooney Full-forward James O’Connell as the ball trickled over the goal-line.
The momentum was in full swing as a Thomas McGlone returned the puckout from the previous goal and his pass was caught by Donal Graham who rattled another goal home.
The scores on the 20-minute mark looked grim for Gort na Móna as it sat at 3-5 to 0-3 in favour of the away side.
Gavin McKenna and Neil Henry reduced their deficit briefly with points from distance, but the half-time score saw Gort trailing by 10 points, 3-7 to 0-6.
With a mountain to climb in the second half the game was all but lost, Clooney racked up a load of points from play as Ronan Graham added to his tally, alongside corner forward PJ O'Connell.
Relentless pressure continued the scoring for Clooney as the game grew further out of sight for Gort.
On the 42nd minute Clooney Gaels added to their goal tally as Thomas McGlone struck into the top corner for the table-toppers.
Patrick Graham once again found the net as his shot ricochet through the maroon defence and found its way past Conor McCann for Clooney’s fifth goal of the evening.
Padraig McHugh was the first Gort na Móna player in the book after chopping down a Clooney attack.
With the game virtually over at half-time Clooney Gaels continued their merciless scoring routine, Patrick Graham once again making it a hat-trick of goals as he scored his third and Clooney’s sixth of the evening.
Dominic Neeson scored the final goal of the afternoon as Gort were put out of sight in this annihilation in Group Two.
GORT NA MÓNA: C McCann, C Healy, C Devlin, P Cournane, G McKenna 0-1, P McHugh, D Dixon, A McDonagh 0-1, J Connolly 0-1, N Henry 0-6 (0-4 frees), T Morton, N McGivern, R Coleman, M MacMáoilan 0-2
CLOONEY GAELS: A Graham, H O Donnell, S O Connell, D Graham, F O’Neill, B Graham 0-1, D O’Neill, E Brady, N JR O Connell 0-1, R Graham 0-3, T McGlone 1-0, P JR Graham 3-2, PJ O Connell 0-3, D Graham 1-0, J O Connell 1-8 (0-4 frees)
Subs: J Magee, D Neeson 1-1, C McCloskey, R Mortin, D Scullion, E Graham, G Graham
REFEREE: Darren McKeown (Naomh Gall)
