Antrim Junior Hurling Championship
First Round - Group One

Belfast Saints 4-8
Glen Rovers Armoy 8-29

At Woodlands

THRASHED was the word that would be best to describe Belfast Saints' opening day defeat to Armoy at Woodlands on Saturday afternoon.

The small village on the edge of the Glens of Antrim made their way to Belfast determined to put the Junior Championship on notice as they look to end their drought in Antrim's third tier.

Five goals hit the net at the end of the first period of play — three for Armoy and two for Belfast Saints — but it was the white flags that saw a monumental difference with 17 for the travelling side but only four in favour of the hosts.

Conor Christie let the net ripple in one of the first phases of play but it was soon followed by another thanks to Thomas Burns who managed to retrieve the slíotar before hammering home a great effort.

Not only did Armoy show they had an eye for the net but in fact their point-scoring was arguably their more valuable asset as they rarely missed. Just six wides throughout the game was evidence of their accuracy between the posts.

The key men were Emmet O'Hara and Tarlach McBride who both showed their power and managed to hit a tally of scores from a variety of ranges inside the first period. The pair made light-work of their markers and McBride specifically was key for drawing his opposite number into tight areas before passing or scoring in great fashion.

O'Hara soon found the third goal of the half and it was looking very much a tall order to compete for the Saints who struggled to find any joy in the forward areas — barring a few tallies from Phil Maguire who proved age really is just a number as he hit three scores in succession to reduce the deficit.

A cute free from Maguire helped him elect the cross-field pass over a white flag and this time he found the high hurl of Conor McLean who swatted the ball into the back of the Armoy net.

Moments later, temporary hope was reinstated for the Saints when McLean repeated his expertise and used his big-man talents to once again clatter the ball into the back of the onion bag. At that point,  the score-line began to look a lot more competitive with just seven scores between the sides.

Armoy had other ideas, however, and before the bell rang they landed a few more blows on their opponents with Christie, PJ McBride and senior debutant Eoin Burke all finding white flags raised for tremendous efforts.

Antrim refereeing legend Paddy Tumelty was a busy man, and he was solely on umpire duty to assist Fionntán McCotter on Saturday, as the flags continued to rise for Armoy. The North Antrim side rounded off their first-half off with a brace of scores from Emmet O'Hara and Conor Christie as they hit the 17 point tally. 

In the second-half, Glen Rovers were hell-bent on making this a day to remember. When McBride was on the end of a low-pass into the forward line, Belfast Saints struggled to clear and the forward on his second-shooting attempt hit the net.

Phil Maguire dropped deep and began to control the game ever so slightly better for the Saints and managed to drop a few scores over the upright.

A launched free from Robert Gallagher dropped into the net apparently going all the way without a touch from his teammates.

Armoy continued to impress with points between from captain Liam Dillon and PJ McBride who dominated the midfield for the final third of the game.

Another four goals managed to find the net with McBride and O'Hara both scoring for their doubles in this game before the debutant Burke fired home a seventh goal of the game.

Phil Maguire's low-driven free did creep past Conor Watterson's net for a fourth Belfast Saints green flag but it remained just a consolation.

Substitute Liam O'Hara then drove in the fourth goal of the half and eighth goal of the game for Armoy to wrap up this emphatic victory in the championship opener.

Belfast Saints XV: C Grieve; S McCafferty 0-1, M Carlin, P Glennon; A O'Rourke 0-1, R Gallagher 1-0 (1F), J Sloan; J McQuillan, N McCann; N McGettigan, C McLean 2-0, K Grieve; D Grieve, P Maguire 1-6 (2F), M Caldwell

Subs: N Connolly, C McNeill, D McConnell

Glen Rovers Armoy XV: C Watterson; J McFetridge, L Dillon 0-1, S Devlin; A Devlin, C McCormac-McKenna; E Burke 1-1, PJ McBride 0-4; T Burns 1-1, T McBride 2-5, E O'Hara 2-7; T Linton 0-4, J O'Kane, C Christie 1-5

Subs: T Linton 0-1, L O'Hara 1-0