FOURTH TITLE IN A ROW FOR LOUGHGIEL

LOUGHGIEL landed a fourth successive Antrim Senior Hurling title by defeating Cushendall by 23 points to 12 and boss PJ McMullan said the hunger is now back to march on through Ulster and reclaim their All-Ireland title which they won in 2012.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Oct 2013, 11:33 BST
CUP OF JOY ... Antrim Senior Hurling Championship winners Loughgiel celebrate their win over Cushendall in the Antrim final in Ballycastle. Picture by John McIlwaine/Presseye.comCUP OF JOY ... Antrim Senior Hurling Championship winners Loughgiel celebrate their win over Cushendall in the Antrim final in Ballycastle. Picture by John McIlwaine/Presseye.com
CUP OF JOY ... Antrim Senior Hurling Championship winners Loughgiel celebrate their win over Cushendall in the Antrim final in Ballycastle. Picture by John McIlwaine/Presseye.com

The Shamrocks defeated Cushendall 3-14 to 2-6 in Sunday’s final at Ballycastle.

Benny McCarry scored two goals and a point for Loughgiel with Joey Scullion notching the other Shamrocks goal.

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Liam Watson grabbed six points for the winners with Paul Gillen among the stars in a superb Loughgiel defence.

Judging by their impressive display on Sunday, 2012 All-Ireland champions Loughgiel will go in as strong favourites in the provincial semi-final.

Loughgiel manager PJ O’Mullan was delighted by his team’s performance, adding that the result had “flattered Cushendall”.

He said: “They scored a late goal and a point and we were 14 or 15 point at one stage.

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“Physically, it was very tough but on the day, our forwards and the defence were just on top and won all the battles.

“The hunger is back again. The players feel they let themselves down last year and they want to go back and rectify that.”

In addition to the displays of two-goal hero McCarry, Gillen and Watson, O’Mullan praised the efforts of Ronan McCloskey and midfielder Mark McFadden.

Loughgiel Vice-President Harry Connolly, who is also a Ballymoney councillor, lavished praise on the club.

“This was the club’s 19th Antrim title,” he said.

Related topics:Ulster