FOURTH TITLE IN A ROW FOR LOUGHGIEL
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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Hide AdLiam 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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Hide Ad“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.