14 May 2014
U15’s blitz the Cats
Antrim Cup, 10th May 2014
On Saturday 10rd May the Antrim u15 hurling squad continued their development with another game against top quality opposition. Following the long, and successful trek to Wexford the previous Saturday, the squad had a much shorter journey to Hannastown in Belfast to play host to Kilkenny in the inaugural Antrim Cup, an event which was financially supported through the One Antrim initiative. Originally scheduled as a three team blitz with Limerick, this was a weekend that coaches and players had been looking forward to for some weeks. Unfortunately Limerick was unable to attend, which resulted in a single game against the Cats.
As it was only possible to get a single game, both sides agreed to play three twenty five minute periods. As Antrim had a squad of twenty nine in attendance, the coaches decided to play the first sixty minutes in “normal game” format, while utilising the remaining period to give all squad players at least fifteen minutes of game time.
Antrim 2-10 Kilkenny 1-5 (after 60 minute game)
Playing with the aid of the breeze, Antrim got off to a good start with four attacks within the first five minutes, but unfortunately were unable to convert this early pressure into scores. With six minutes of the game gone, Antrim finally translated their dominance in possession to the score board when centre-half forward Daire Matthews registered the first point of the game. Antrim continued to press, but failed to convert – thwarted by a couple of fine saves from the Kilkenny net minder. Antrim really were dominating, indeed it was a full nine minutes before Kilkenny registered their first attempt on the Antrim goal posts – a shot which went wide.
As the minutes rolled by Antrim continued to press, but perhaps taking the wrong choice on a number of occasions by shooting for goal when the point was on offer. Kilkenny, while struggling to gain much possession were growing stronger and it looked as though this was going to be a very tight low scoring affair. Aided by the breeze, Antrim were squandering numerous scoring opportunities – while at the back Dubhaltach Magee-Baker, Liam Gillan and Manus Smith were putting in a fantastic shift to deny the Kilkenny forwards any room or possession close to the Antrim goal.
With fourteen minutes gone, Antrim extended their lead through a point from play by half-forward David Kilgore. Two minutes later Conor Boyd shot over from mid-field and it finally looked as though Antrim were beginning to get on a roll and convert the significant pressure into scores. Antrim concluded the scoring for the first period, with a well taken point from play through full-forward Eoin Magee, to leave the score Antrim 0-4 Kilkenny 0-0 with twenty minutes played. Throughout the first period Antrim had dominated defensively and in the mid-field section with Shane O’Connor, Conor Boyd and Micheal McGreevy working tirelessly, which was reflected in the fact that Kilkenny had a total of three attempts on the Antrim goal.
However, upfront Antrim were not converting their opportunities into scores, and in reality should have been much further ahead at the break.
Aided by the breeze in the second period, Kilkenny dominated the early exchanges and within three minutes of the restart registered their first score of the game with a well taken point from play. Two minutes later the deficit was further reduced when Kilkenny scored their second point with a free from forty five meters.
At this stage it was clear that Kilkenny were in the ascendency and it looked as though Antrim would rue the spurned chances of the opening period. However, Antrim responded with renewed vigour with Micheal McGreevy and Conor Body taking a firm grip at mid-field and Oran Kearney and Conal McAteer sweeping up the possession in the half-back line, while Liam Gillan commanded the full-back position. Conor Boyd re-established the three point gap with a well taken point from play after seven minute of the restart. Kilkenny again responded with a point from play to leave it a two point game within a minute.
With forty minutes of the game played Antrim finally pushed clear when they registered their first goal, with a rasping shot from Ruairi Crummey to the corner of the Kilkenny net. This was the score that gave the Antrim lads the belief that they could now kick-on and press home the dominance they were showing in many sectors of the field. With Corey Blair and Ruairi Crummey proving to be a real handful for the Kilkenny full-back line, Antrim looked dangerous on every attack. Within three minutes a second goal followed when Daire Matthews fired the ball to the roof of the Kilkenny net.
Antrim continued to press and on forty seven minutes Phelim Lennon opened his tally with a point from play to leave the score Antrim 2-6 Kilkenny 0-3. Within a minute Kilkenny responded with a pointed free before Micheal McGreevy restored the nine point Antrim lead with a well taken score from play after a searing run through the heart of the Kilkenny defence. While Antrim were dominating in many sectors at this stage, Kilkenny were threatening the Antrim goal with more frequency with Philip Kennedy producing a couple of fine saves to deny Kilkenny scores.
With five minutes of the “normal” game remaining Kilkenny did spark a mini revival when they found the back of the Antrim net with a three pointer. However, in the determined fashion the lads had shown all afternoon, Antrim immediately responded with two great scores from play through Phelim Lennon and Tiarnan Murphy. Conor Boyd wrapped up a fine personal performance for the afternoon with the final Antrim score with a forty meter free. Kilkenny responded and in the last minute of the “normal” game with a converted close in free to leave the final score after sixty minutes Antrim 2-10 Kilkenny 1-5.
For the remaining fifteen minutes Antrim made a number of changes – a total of twelve substitutions – to ensure the full squad got valuable game time. Needless to say this did cause the flow of the Antrim play to change and the momentum of the game switched firmly in favour of the visitors, who tagged on a number of well taken scores in the opening five minutes – scoring 1-1 to Antrim’s 0-1, Antrim’s score coming from Conor Boyd. In the final two minutes of this extended fifteen minute period Kilkenny scored 2-2 while Antrim failed to register a further score. The final score after the seventy five minutes was Antrim 2-11 Kilkenny 4-8.
Overall the afternoon was a great success for the squad – throughout the sixty minute game Antrim proved they were more than a match for their illustrious opponents from Kilkenny. Antrim dominated all aspects of the play with 60% of all efforts on goal coming from the Saffrons, and but for a poor scoring ratio the scale of the victory after sixty minutes could have much greater. One aspect the performance coaches will no doubt be keen to work on. While the numerous substitutions disrupted the flow of the game, the additional period proved invaluable in ensuring all players got game time against top quality opposition.
Antrim panel for the afternoon was:
Philip Kennedy
Manus Smith
Liam Gillan
Dubhaltach Magee-Baker
Conal McAteer
Shane O’Connor
Oran Kearney
Conor Boyd (0-3, 0-1 f)
Micheal McGreevy (0-1)
Corey Blair
Daire Matthews (1-1)
David Kilgore (0-1)
Tiarnan Murphy (0-1)
Eoin Magee (0-1)
Ruairi Crummey (1-0)
Paul McMullan
Marcus Donnelly
Phelim Lennon (0-2)
Paddy Graffin
Conal Colgan
Conor McHugh
Ronan Fegan
Mark Kettle
Colin Longair
Mark McCavanagh
Seamus Og McCurry
Ed McQuillan
Scott Walsh
Ben McQuillan
