Hibernia Cup – Under 15 Hurling

Antrim : 6-13 (31)  Down: 2-16 (22)

Antrim held off a late rally to beat neighbours Down in the Hibernia Cup Under 15 Hurling at Portaferry on Saturday. The young Saffrons were cruising to victory when Down hit back with two goals and a point in a two minute spell near the end, but the lead was never really threatened and they responded with a Ronan McCollum goal and a point from Padraig McKillop to win by nine in the end.

The early stages were evenly contested with Enda McCartan and Ronan McCollum answering two early points from the home side, but Down went two clear again before Paul Donnelly pulled one back for the Saffrons from a free. The home side continued to dominate and despite the fact that Finn Henry pulled a goal back for the visitors on 17 minutes the Ards boys pushed on with three unanswered points to lead by four after twenty minutes.

All was to change in the last eight minutes of the opening half as Antrim hit back with a barrage of scores, and after Ronan McCollum, Paul Donnelly and Padraig McKillop added points, goals from Donnelly and McKillop in the 28thand 29th minutes sent the Saffrons in at the break with a five point lead (3-7 to 0-11)

An Anthony McGarrigle point just after the restart put six between the sides, though Down closed the gap with points 35th and 40th minutes. Antrim’s drive for home really got going in the 50th minute when McGarrigle grabbed his team’s fourth goal and even though Down responded with a point, a third major from the Sarsfields player, plus two points from McKillop put Antrim in charge.

Two more McKillop points put the young Saffrons eleven clear before Down produced their late rally with 2-1 in a two minutes to cut their arrears back to just five, but a Ronan McCollum goal and a Padraig McKillop point ended the fightback.

ANTRIM: Rhys Camlin (Lamh Dhearg), Stefan Hughes (Naomh Eoin) , Ruairi McCormick (Loughgiel), Declan Mooney (Davitt’s), Tiernan Auld (St Paul’s), Enda McCartan (Sarsfields), Ryan Mort (Dunloy), Declan Quinn (St Paul’s), Conor Dickson (Loughgiel), Ronan McCollum (Loughgiel), Anthony McGarrigle (Sarsfields), Finn Henry (Loughgiel), Paul Donnelly (St Paul’s), Padraig McKillop (Ruairi Og), Luke Loughlin (Naomh Eoin).