Antrim All County U14 'B' Hurling Feile Final - Creggan Vs Glenshesk

Monday, May 25, 2009

Antrim All County 'B' Feile Final

Casement Park
16th May 2009

Kickhams Creggan 0-09  
Glenshesk 2-02

Having reached their fourth B Feile final in six years and been involved at semi final stage in the other two years the young hurlers of Creggan finally landed the “big one” at a wet and windy Casement Park on Saturday afternoon.  

The reward for all this hard work is a 3 day trip to Laois and Offaly in June for Feile 2009.

Playing in very difficult conditions particularly in the first half Creggan decided to play into the wind and quickly found themselves behind after a fortuitous goal by Glenshesk after 3 minutes. Creggan, however, didn’t let this early set back affect their determination to capture their first county title and they fought back taking the next the next 5 scores firstly through a hard fought James Carey point from play in the 6th minute, followed by another point from a free by James. Ruairi Mc Cann then joined the scoring with a great point from play after some very tough attacking hurling and dogged defending by Glenshesk. James Carey converted another free as did Ruairi to leave Creggan two points in front entering the last few minutes of the first half. Glenshesk however finished the half strongly and their attacking play resulted  to two 65s which were both very well converted to leave the scores level at half time, Glenshesk 1-02 Creggan 0-05.

The rain eased a little for the start of the second half however with the wind now in their backs Creggan went immediately on the attack. After 5 minutes Kevin Small, one the youngest players on the field, secured possession of a great long ball from Creggan’s half back line, turned his marker and fired over a great point. This was to be the stimulus for a sustained period of Creggan attacking play. Ruairi Mc Cann landed a long range free then scored a fantastic point from play after taking on several Glenshesk defenders. A few minutes later Kevin Small again secured possession of the ball and took on his marker this time however he was unceremoniously upended however he secured the 20 metre free. The free was taken by James Carey who drover the ball low and hard for a goal, however the ball was deflected around the post for a 65 which Ruairi Mc Cann duly converted.

Four points up and entering the last 3 minutes of the game Creggan seemed to be cruising comfortably to their first underage county hurling title, however Glenshesk were not prepared to lay down and one final blitz on the Creggan goals saw the ball cleared several times from the box until it landed at the feet of one of the Glenshesk forward on the 14m line, the ball being duly despatched to the back of the Creggan net to leave one point in the game and a couple of minutes remaining.     

It was now essential for Creggan to retain possession and not to concede anything further. This is exactly what they did for the remaining of the game and although they did not add anything to their nine point tally they kept the ball well away from the dangerous Glenshesk forwards to see out the remainder of the game

The final whistle was met with jubilant celebrations and the trophy was presented by a very proud Antrim Youth Officer (and Creggan Chairman) Tony Mc Collum who quite rightly paid great tribute to a gallant and sporting Glenshesk team who, although bitterly disappointed to have lost, accepted their defeat with dignity and respect.

Creggan now march onto to Laois on the 19th June to represent Antrim along with Rossa who won the A final by beating Loughgiel. The team will now be seeking the support of as many Antrim Gaels, family and friends as possible over the next few weeks to ensure their Feile 2009 campaign is one for the young men to remember for a very long time.    

Teams and Scorers: Cormac Rice, Donal Carey, Kevin Rice, Jake Mc Ateer, Conleth Mc Grenaghan, Charlie Nelson, Michael Kelly, Ruairi Mc Cann (0–05), Tiernan Burke, Conor Small, Caolan Mc Ateer, Niall Mc Auley, Kevin Small (0–01), James Carey (0–03), Diarmuid Mc Elroy.
Subs: Ciaran Rice, Andrew Sweeney.