St Johns Minor Hurlers travelled to Loughgiel on Sunday afternoon and registered a one point victory over the home team. Although scrappy at times the closeness of the scoring and some flashes of great hurling kept the large crowd on their toes.

St. John's Minor hurlers

St. Johns drew first blood after 2 minutes when Loughgiel goal minder Eddie McCloskey decided to take his puck out outside the box resulting in referee Jim McClean awarding a 70 to St. Johns for Colm McFall to point.

Simon McCrory pounces on the loose ball

Loughgiel replied shortly afterwards when Sean Paul Burns wandered from his midfield berth and pulled on a loose ball some 12 feet out to hit the back of the Johnnies net. Conal Maskey then broke on a 35m solo run before being fouled and Jimmy Peoples pointed the resulting 40m free.

Fionntain McKillop who had been receiving some close attention from his marker then collected possession and charged through the centre to kick the sliotar over from 10 yards out to level the scores.

St. Johns at this stage were the more dominant side but were totally ineffectual registering 7 wides in an eleven minute spell. Eddie McCloskey opened up for the Glensmen on 15 minutes with a well taken point before his team mate Damian Laverty played an intelligent cross field ball for corner forward Brendan McGarry to latch onto and guide to the Johnnies net to give Loughgiel a one point lead.

St. John's forwards waiting for the free in

But moments later Fionntain McKillop was duly fouled by his marker and Jimmy Peoples pointed the resulting free to level the scores. Peoples again converted yet another free 2 minutes later to give the South Antrim men the lead once again. Simon McCrory then made a great catch and handpassed back to Tony Fearon to further increase the Johnnies lead.

Dermot and Conor jubilant after the win

Conal Maskey soon after delivered an 80m clearance into the square where Barry McFall was fouled and Peoples duly obliged with the resulting free. Shay Casey replied on the stroke off half time for Loughgiel when he collected a loose ball some 30m out and just managed to scrape over a point with a weak shot by his standards to leave the half-time scoreline of Loughgiel 2:02(8) St. Johns 1:07 (10).

St Johns had registered 10 wides in the first half to a solitary wide for the Glensmen and because of this they still had a championship match on their hands when they should have had matters well and truly done and dusted.

Upon resumption Damian Laverty pointed a 10m free for Loughgiel on the left after Conal Maskey had fouled. A few moments later Conor Campbell delivered an 80m ball to the edge of the Johnnies square for Brendan McGarry to jump and field brilliantly on the edge of the square before shooting across the goal into the far corner to change the lead yet again! - Loughgiel 3:03 (12) St Johns 1:07 (10)

Minors celebrate their tough win

Colm McFall replied with a 45m sideline cut into his brother Barry who pointed from 25m. Loughgiel fullback Shane McMillan then pointed an excellent 80m free before St John's Simon McCrory scored with a superb point from 35m under severe pressure.

Minor management team

Eddie McCloskey then made an excellent save for Loughgiel onto the post after Adrian Oliver had connected with a stinging ground stroke from 15 yards. Barry McFall then received a good ball from Tony Fearon and subsequently pointed to level the scores yet again. Damian Laverty was then fouled for Loughgiel and he pointed the free himself to give Loughgiel the lead with minutes remaining.

Fortunately another Jimmy Peoples free and a match winning point from sub Liam Boyle gave the Johnnies a one point victory. Certainly an exciting game (nerves jangled and guts were wrenched for many supporters) but St. Johns will have to look to the fact that they had 13 wides to Loughgiels 4 over the 70 minutes and should have won by a lot more.

John Meade (most people's man of the match) had an outstanding game for St. Johns and was given excellent support in his defence from Noel Rooney, Conal Maskey and Dermot Hartigan. Simon McCrory, Jimmy Peoples and the hard working Fionntain McKillop shone in flashes for St. Johns. Loughgiel had good performances from Conor Campbell, Eddie McCloskey, Damian Laverty, Brendan McGarry and their full back line off Paul McCloskey ,Shane McMillan and Mark McFadden.

robbie ensures the minors are in safe hands

 

 

Loughiel: 1.Eddie McCloskey 2. Paul McCloskey 3.Shane McMillan 4.Mark McFadden 5.Shane Mulholland 6.Conor Campbell 7.Barry McFadden 8.Sean Paul Burns 9.Odhran McFadden 10.Eoghanin McCarry 11.Eddie McCloskey 12.Damian Laverty 13.Shay Casey 14. Kevin McGarry 15. Brendan McGarry
Substitutes Used: 16.James Campbell for 5.Shane Mulholland
5.Shane Mulholland for 12.Damian Laverty
Substitutes Not Used: 17.Padraig Connolly 18.Tony McCullough 19.Conal Dobbin 20.Ciaran McCloskey 21.Padraig McFadden 22.Ronan McFadden 23.Conal McMurray 24.Daniel Casey
Loughgiel Scorers: Brendan McGarry 2:00 Sean Paul Burns 1:00 Damian Laverty 0:02(2f) Shay Casey 0:01 Eddie McCloskey 0:01 Shane McMillen 0:01(1f)

St.Johns: 1.Paul Gribbin 2.Kevin McGuinness 3.John Meade 4.Noel Rooney 5.Dermot Hartigan 6. Liam Knocker (Captain) 7.Conal Maskey 8.Colm McFall 9.Simon McCrory 10.Jimmy Peoples 11.Tony Fearon 12.Fionntain McKillop 13.Barry McFall 14.Adrian Oliver 15.Conor McStein
Substitutes used: 16.Eoghan Caldwell 42 mins for 15 Conor McStein 17.Liam Boyle 45 mins for Tony Fearon
Substitutes not used: 18.Peter McGarrity 19.Kevin Kennedy 20.Gerard McCann 21.Brian Holmes.
St.Johns Scorers : Jimmy Peoples 0:05(5f) Adrian Oliver 1:00 Barry McFall 0:02 Colm McFall 0:01(1X 45) Simon McCrory 0:01 Tony Fearon 0:01 Liam Boyle 0:01 Fionntain McKillop 0:01.

Referee: Jim McClean (Dunloy)