Senior Reserve Cup Hurling – Group 1

Cushendall 2-16 Rossa 1-8

Cushendall made it two wins out of two in Group 1 of the Senior Reserve Hurling Cup when they beat Rossa on Monday night at Paric Mhuire. Boosted by a good start he Ruairis were four to the good at the break (1-8 to 1-4) against a Rossa side who were making them work for anything they got. The third quarter was closely contested and the gap was still four at the water-break, but Cushendall finished strongly with a goal and three points to win well in the end.

With midfielder Scott Walsh running the show Cushendall hit the first four scores of the game, three from Walsh and one from full-forward Paddy Doherty but once they got going Rossa started to show a bit of belief and a great point from Jim Reynolds settled them down. Corner forward Conan Brown added another and when a long delivery from Dylan Magee ended up in the back of the net the Belfast men were in front. A massive strike from his own 45 metre line by centre-back Oisin McVicker put Rossa two clear in the 23rd minute but the home team finished the half strongly and boosted by a brilliant individual goal by man of the match Scott Walsh they hit back to lead by 1-8 to 1-4 at the interval.

Conor Carson pointed from a penalty soon after the restart and Scott Walsh added on from a free, but to their credit Rossa battled away and three points from centre forward Matt Devlin and one from Conor O’Neill closed the gap to four again by the half-time water break. As is so often the case this season the water break again proved a momentum changer and when the sides got going again there was only one team in it. Ronan McAteer and Comac McClafferty added point to stretch the led to six, and though Matt Devlin pulled one back for Rossa it was to be his sides last score and three more points, plus a brilliant goal from substitute Ruairi Sharpe, saw his team home with 11 to spare.

CUSHENDALL

Eoin Gillan, Stephen Walsh, Terry McAlister, Joe McCurry, Ruairi McCollum, Liam Gillan, Paddy Sharpe, Ryan Delargy, Scott Walsh, Conor Carson, Eunan McKillop, Paul Monaghan, Ronan McAteer, Paddy Doherty, Conan Brown.

Subs – Cormac McClafferty, Ruairi Sharpe

ROSSA

Donal Armstrong, Eoin May, Gavin Bell, James Quinn, Manus Smith, Oisin McVicker, Niall Devlin, Gavin McGrath, Jim Reynolds, Michael Close, Matt Devlin, Dylan Magee, Conor O’Neill, Conor Rocks, Patrick McGreevey.

Subs – Mickey Kettle, Adam Aicken, Daire Matthews