31/08/05 Watt Lights Up Loch gCaol!

Intermediate Senior B Hurling Final Casement Park

Naomh Eoin 2:07 Loch gCaol 2:14

A stronger and fitter looking Loch gCaol overcame a predictable St. Johns challenge in the Intermediate B Hurling final in Casement Park last Wednesday evening.

Alex Watt opened the Glens men account in the second minute with a well converted 30m free. Conor McCaffrey replied for St. Johns a minute later before Martin Connolly picked off a point for the North Antrim men from the puck out. Jimmy Peoples then leveled the scores on five minutes with a 20m free and followed this a minute later with a similar score after Packie Nolan is fouled.

St. John's Intermediate Hurlers

Damian Laverty then doubled on a high dropping ball to level the scores before Colm Smith pointed from 50m to restore Loch gCaols lead. Peoples replied a minute later with a 25m free to restore parity.

Loughuile Intermediates

Watt then pointed yet another 30m free to give the North Antrim men a 0:05 to 0:04 lead. But on fifteen minutes Conor McCaffrey latched onto a breaking ball on the right wing and soloed for 30m before releasing a shot for a point which fortunately dropped into the top left corner as Fergal Collins and Denis Scullion both attempted to pull and block the sliotar.

With St. Johns now two points in front (1:04 to 0:05) Loch gCaol appeared to spring to life. Watt is fouled in possession and pointed the resulting free. Declan McGarry the leveled the scores a minute later with a sharp 30m point.

Eoghan Caldwell then replied for St. Johns and restored their one point lead before Watt again replied with a free to level the scores yet again. Declan McGarry then stepped up in the 30th minute to score and give the North Antrim men a one point interval lead of 0:09 to 1:05.

Frank Bamber Sambo, the ref and PJ Mullan

The second half began with some promise from the Johnnies. Peoples pointed a 15m free in the 2nd minute but Connolly replied with a point a minute later for Loch gCaol. Then Watt goaled for Loch gCaol and he followed this up with pointed frees in the 39th and 40th minutes. With St. Johns Packie Nolan being dismissed for 2 yellow cards shortly afterwards this all combined to effectively kill the match as a contest. Loch gCaols substitute Connolly points before Watt then delivered a pass to Gareth Connolly and he made no mistake in blasting to the Johnnies net. Peoples replied a minute later with a flicked goal to give the Johnnies some hope. But Watt resumed his free taking exhibition with another free before Conor McCaffrey replied for St. Johns with a point in the final minute. Full credit to Loch gCaol.

Loughuile captain accepts the cup

Their strength in depth as a hurling force was clear to see. Alex Watt, PJ Mullan and Justin McGarry had good games. For St. Johns Jamesey Connolly ,Joe Hand, Conor McCaffrey,Barry McFall and Anto Press all had good games. St. Johns in fairness were very much in the game until the loss of Nolan and age catching up on a few of the their old war horses.

Loch gCaol : 1.PJ Mullan 2.Denis Scullion 3.Art Connolly 4.Jerome McKelvey 5.Conor Carey 6.Justin McGarry 7.Paul McKinley 8.Colm Smith 9.Niall Gallen 10.Declan McGarry 12.Declan McFadden 13.Damian Laverty 14.Gareth Connolly 15.Martin Connolly

Loch gCaols Scorers: Alex Watt 1:07(7f), Gareth Connolly 1:00, Martin Connolly 0:03, Declan McGarry 0:02, , Damian Laverty 0:01, Colm Smith 0:01. LochgCaol Wides = 9

Naomh Eoin 1.Brian Holmes 2.Anto Press 3.Kevin McKeogh 4.Chris Crawford 5.Fergal Collins 6.Kevin Rafferty 7.Barry McFall 8.Jamesey Connolly 9.Joe Hand 10.Conor McCaffrey 11.Packie Nolan 12.Eoghan Caldwell 13.Jimmy Peoples 14.Noel Rooney 15.Fionntain McKillop

St.Johns Substitutes : 16.Ciaran McCurdy for 4.Chris Crawford 16 minutes.17.Adrian Oliver for 6.Kevin Rafferty 40 minutes.18.Kevin Mullan for 12.Eoghan Caldwell 48 minutes.

19.Eamon Grieves 20.Brian Moore 21.Conor McSteen 22.Gerard McCann

Naomh Eoin Scorers: Jimmy Peoples 1:04(4f),Conor McCaffrey 1:02, Eoghan Caldwell 0:01.

St.Johns Wides = 6