McNaughton seals win for Cushendall with late point

Cushendall 1-11 St John's 0-13

A BRILLIANT point from centre-half-back and captain Paddy McNaughton in the final minute earned Cushendall victory over St John’s in an enthralling minor hurling championship final under the Casement Park lights on Saturday night.

Since these finals have been played under floodlights there have been some tremendous contests and this one deserved to be rated with the best of them as the Ruairi Og fought back from a 0-6 to 0-1 deficit after 13 minutes to win a real thriller by the narrowest of margins.

In wet and windy conditions St. Johns made an impressive start and they took an early lead when Michael Johnston sent over a free in the opening minute. The Belfast boys added to their tally with a point from Eamon Mc Fall in the third minute, but star of the semi-final Eoin Laverty got Cushendall on the scoreboard when he sent over a free from out on the left wing. However St. Johns were the more impressive team and a point from play by Niall Heanan and three from frees from Michael Johnston put them into a commanding 0-6 to 0-1 lead after just 13 minutes.

Cushendall were in a spot of bother but a couple of positional switches which saw Martin McAfee move to left-half-back in a direct switch with Dominic Delargy paid dividends, and with both players benefiting from the change the Ruairis began to claw their way back.

A point from midfielder Ronan McGrady followed by three in a row from Eoin Laverty cut the gap to just two and suddenly the game had a completely different look

Gamekeeper turned poacher Dominic Delargy began to make his presence felt up front and in two beautifully taken points had Cushendall back on terms and within a minute Eoin Laverty had edged them ahead with another unerring strike from a placed ball.

As the excitement rose St John’s drew level again with a point from Eamon McFall and the Belfast boys edged ahead when Niall Heanan split the uprights, but Laverty was again on hand to come to Cushendall’s rescue and a well taken point from play left the scores tied at 8 apiece at half-time.

Just as they had done at the start of the game St John’s were quick out of the traps on the resumption and points from Heanan and McFall pulled them 0-10 to 0-8 clear. The see-saw nature of the game continued and Cushendall went back in front when a Sean McAfee flicked the ball to the net after the St John’s goalkeeper had made a brilliant save from Kevin McKillop’s goal-bound effort.

The Johnnies levelled again before Paddy McNaughton scored a superb point, beating two men before sending over from fifty yards to again get his team’s noses in front. St John’s again found a reply when the accurate Heanan fired over a free, but when Laverty sent a 65 between the Johnnies posts in the final minute the Ruairis appeared to have it all wrapped up.

The excitement was far from finished however and Heanan again restored parity with a pointed free, and just when it looked like a replay was on the cards Paddy McNaughton burst from defence and struck a brilliant winner to seal a truly memorable game.

Team: 1. Conor Mc Alister 2. Conor Grant 3. Sean Mc Killop 4. Eamon Heggarty 5. Dan Kinney 6. Paddy Mc Naughton(0-2) 7. Dominic Delargy(0-2) 8. Paddy Blaney 9. Ronan Mc Grady(0-1) 10. Eoin Laverty(0-6) 11. Kevin Mc Killop 12. Cahir Mc Naughton 13. Martin Mc Afee 14. Sean Mc Afee(1-0) 15. Andrew Delargy