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Senior Reserve Hurling Cup
Dunloy 4-19 Cushendall 3-15
Dunloy full forward Chrissy McMahon steered his team to victory over Cushendall in Monday evening’s Reserve Cup round-robin game at Pearse Park. The Cuchullains full forward was in superb form, hitting 4 goals and 4 points in a man of the match performance in a 4-19 to 3-15 win.
McMahon’s finishing power was the main difference in the two teams in a game that was well contested up until the final quarter. Dunloy always held the upper hand, but Cushendall kept bringing themselves back into contention, only to be knocked back each time by a McMahon goal.
McMahon’s two goals came in the opening quarter, the first on 8 minutes and the second on 14 to help his team to a 2-6 to 0-6 lead at the first water break. Cushendall grabbed the first three points after the break through Pierce McKeegan, Scott Walsh and Paddy Sharpe and by half time they were just two in arrears.
The visitors had closed the gap to a single point early in the second half when McMahon grabbed goal number three and he followed that up with a point 30 seconds later. A goal from Colm McKeegan nearing the second half water break kept Cushendall in contention but after that it was all Dunloy as Liam McCann, Ciaran Elliott and McMahon popped over the points, and when the full forward got his fourth goal seven minutes from time there was no way back for the visitors.
To their credit Cushendall kept battling to the very end and they finished on a high as Colm McKeegan grabbed two late goals to complete his hat-trick. However it was a case of too little, too late as the Cuchullains already had the points wrapped up.