20 August 2009
Dunloy qualified for a semi-final meeting with Glenariffe when they beat Ballycastle by 2-10 to 0-13 in Thursday evening’s re-arranged Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final at Fr Healey Park, Loughgiel.
The Cuchullains ability to take their chances was the decisive factor in a match in which Ballycastle had the lion’s share of possession. For long periods of the game the ‘Castle created scoring chances but tossed them away, while Dunloy weathered the storm and took the majority of chances that came their way.
Ballycastle got away to a promising start when Peter Dallat and Chrissy Boyle pointed to put them two clear but their chances were dealt a bad blow when right-half-back Mickey Dallat diverted the ball into his own net. In truth there was little the luckless Dallat could do about it for had he failed to make contact with Darren Quinn's low cross it would have reached full forward Paddy Doherty who was free on the edge of the ‘square’.
Dunloy began to get on top at this stage and with Quinn deadly accurate from frees and goalkeeper Gareth Magee also adding one from a long range free they went on to lead by 1-7 to 0-7 at the break.
The opening eight minutes of the second-half saw Ballycastle lay siege to the Dunloy goal but as condition deteriorated they failed to raise a flag and Dunloy broke away to score two quick points to put his side five clear.
It was thirteen minutes before Ballycastle broke their second-half deadlock with a point from play by Kevin Barry McShane and in their best spell of the game they added further points from Malachy Dallas and Chrissy Boyle to cut their arrears to just two.
However Dunloy again showed their ability to grab vital scores and Darren Quinn stretched the lead to five again with an excellent goal from a narrow angle in the forty-seventh minute.
Chrissy Boyle (2) and Cozy Dallas sent over points to close the gap to two again but as they pushed hard for that winning goal Dunloy broke away again and Darren Quinn sent over the insurance point to set up a unique semi-final pairing against Glenariffe on Sunday week.
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