Ruairi Og qualified for the final of The Feis Cup with an impressive victory over a lacklustre Dunloy side. For the second game in a row Ruairi Og started impressively and with points from Cormac Mc Allister, Karl Mc Keegan, Paddy Mc Naughton and Shane Mc Naughton they raced into a four point lead after just eight minutes. Nigel Elliott got Dunloy’s first point of the game but it was all one way traffic, Shane Mc Naughton converted from 40 yards after beating his man for pace. Eoghan Campbell, who was hurling well at midfield clipped over a neat point from the right wing and some wonderful build up play from Campbell and Paddy Mc Naughton set up Karl Mc Keegan who split the posts to put Cushendall 0-7 to 0-1 in front. Nigel Elliott then threw the cat among the pigeons when he collected a ball in the Dall half back line and headed for goal, his initial shot was well saved but he finished the rebound to the net to cut Cushendall’s lead to just three points. This however only seemed to spur Cushendall on, Eoghan Campbell got his second point of the game and veteran Karl Mc Keegan lofted over a free to again put Ruairi Og in the driving seat. Paddy Doherty registered a free for Dunloy and Paddy Richmond got a point from play but Ruairi Og finished the half strongly. Alex Delargy gathered possession in the corner, made space and tagged on a point. Neil Mc Manus then found Paddy Mc Naughton in space and Paddy made no mistake from 70 yards. Cushendall had been threatening to score a goal and just before half time it came, Donal Mc Naughton played a ball in front of Aidan Mc Naughton who found Alex Delargy and from 10 yards he beat Gareth Mc Gee for a super goal and at half time the score read Ruairi Og 1-11 Dunloy 1-3.
Any notions that Dunloy had of making a comeback were quickly put to bed as Cushendall again started the half well, Karl Mc Keegan converted two frees and Conor Carson thumped over a super point from 80 yards to leave Ruairi Og 11 points in front. Paddy Doherty stopped the rot with a free but Donal Mc Naughton cancelled this out with a great point from the middle of the park. Karl Mc Keegan converted two frees either side of a Paddy Richmond point to leave Cushendall twelve ahead entering the last ten minutes. Ruairi Og took their foot off the gas in the closing stages allowing Dunloy to hit four points in a row but Karl Mc Keegan had the final say when he converted a 65’ to leave the final score Cushendall1.17 Dunloy 1.10.
How they played: Cushendall were always on top in what was an excellent team performance and they now advance to a final meeting with either Loughgiel or Ballycastle. Eoin Gillan was solid in goals and in front of him all six backs played well. Eoghan Campbell and Paddy Mc Naughton won the midfield exchanges and up front Cormac Mc Allister, Alex Delargy and Karl Mc Keegan were always dangerous but my man of the match goes to Aaron Graffin who was back to his best with a superb performance at full back. Dunloy tried a number of men on him but he dominated from start to finish.
Team: 1. E Gillan 2. M Burke 3. A Graffin 4. D Kearney 5. R Mc Cambridge 6. N Mc Manus 7. D Mc Naughton(0-1) 8. E Campbell(0-2) 9. P Mc Naughton(0-2) 10. C Mc Allister(0-1) 11. C Carson(0-1) 12. K Mc Keegan(0-7) 13. A Delargy(1-1) 14. S Mc Naughton(0-2) 15. A Mc Naughton
Once again many thanks to Colum Thompson for writing this report