Lamh Dhearg (Antrim) 1-12, Inniskeen 2-6.

Inniskeen's ambitions of winning the Paddy O'Rourke Cup, Ulster club Junior hurling championship trophy, for the 2nd time ended in bitter disappointment when they were out fought by a stronger Lamh Dhearg team from Antrim in this tough, hard-hitting and at times attritional contest that was played in O'Neill Park, Dungannon, on Sunday afternoon last. The Belfast side got off to the better start and were 4 points up inside the opening minute which left Inniskeen chasing the game from the early stages but to their credit they battled their way into contention with 2 goals by tight Campbell in the 10th and 26th minutes keeping them well in contention and just 4 points adrift at the break. In the second-half the standard of play deteriorated with turnovers, missed opportunities and stoppages the order of the day on both sides, as defences dominated, Inniskeen probably marginally more effective in that regard as they limited opposition sharpshooter Domhnall Nugent to a mere 2 points in the entire 2nd half but against that Inniskeen could only score 3 themselves, although they did push the issue right to the wire. In the end though missed opportunities from play and frees that saw their wides tally increase to 8, as well as dropping a number of other efforts short also contributed to their downfall. Lamh Dhearg played the final quarter with 14 players following the dismissal of burly full forward Joe Doone on a straight red card.

Teams and Scorers: Lamh Dhearg: PJ Herron, Michael McGuigan, Mark Lynch, Conor Herron, Conor McConville, Michael Herron, Cathal Kelly, Brendan McComb, Paddy Mervyn 0-1, Donal Nugent 0-9 (6f, 1pen), Charlie McCluskey, Terry McCrudden 0-1, Declan Lynch 0-1, Joe Doone, Aidan McGuigan 1-0. Subs: Ryan Diamond for C McCluskey, Jack Trainor for T McCrudden.

Inniskeen: Niall Butler, Padraig Garland, Padraig Dowdall, Colm Meegan, Paul Meegan 0-1, Philip Brooks, Martin Murphy, Gavin Dooley, Donal Meegan, Trevor Hilliard, PJ Boyle 0-1, Ronan Meegan 0-3, Tadgh Campbell 2-0, David McGahan, Conor Faul. Subs: Ciaran McKinley for C Faul, Jamie Dooley for D Meegan. Referee: Terence Masterson (Down).

 

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