Derry beat Antrim in U21 hurling championship

[treborstemme]

Just have to tell the Nation about Derrys unbelievable result in Casement Park tonight.  Unbelievable result for Derry hurling.  A great boost for all the hard working hurling people in this very small hurling county. 

Derry 2-16
Antrim 1-18

Bring on the Dubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tayto]

Jesus fair play to them, I was wondering if Derry were good or Down bad after the result the other week. Hurling people have a tendency to always look on the bad side of things and after that result just assume Down are a mess, but on the contrary obviously this is a useful enough Derry team, especially considering the Antrim minors the last few years have been very strong.

[Lecale2]

Well done Derry! Everybody assumed it would be Antrim v Dublin in the semi Final.

[Punxsutawney Fergal]

Strangely enough I will be up for the Dubs when they play Derry!!! Hate their footballers but like their hurlers

[milltown row]

being an Antrim man i glad Derry won last night at Casement, fair play, maybe derry should enter the Lenister leagues as well.  sambo and woody thought all they had to do was turn up, good for Ulster hurling the problem for derry is i'm sure all these lads play football and will be poached or told to concentrate on the big bal game.

derry have produced quality juvenile teams for years at schools level and county but lose these lads when it comes to senior, if this is a talented bunch they should be looked after and brought slowly into the senior teams.

some equality between the footballers and hurlers is required when handing out money. regardless of how well the teams do on the national stage

[Maximus Marillius]

That is some result, considering that Antrim felt they had very good underage players and with their minors putting in some good results the past two years. Clearly the future for Derry is brighter than we thought Well done to all concerned..the GAA lives strong in Derry at present.

[maxpower]

shocking result considering the relative strength of the Antrim u21 team.

fair play to Derry

[tayto]

some equality between the footballers and hurlers is required when handing out money. regardless of how well the teams do on the national stage

Well that's what Paudie Bulter is supposed to look after, that hurling money gets spent on hurling. Will be a interesting semi-final, we're without Carton but Shane O'Rorke is back after breaking his collarbone against kildare.

[Maximus Marillius]

Has anyone got a report of the game or the teams?

[screenexile]

From derrygaa.ie

Ulster U21 Final - Derry 2-16 Antrim 1-18

Well done to the U21 hurlers on their Ulster title, beating Antrim 2-16 to 1-18.

Gareth O'Kane put Derry in front from a free after thirty seconds, Neil McManus levelling after four minutes from a free deep in his own half. Sam Dodds and Michael Kirkpatrick from a long range free edged Derry 0-03 to 0-01 ahead, McManus responding with a point from one hundred metres!

Gareth O'Kane extended the Derry lead from a free but Seamus McDonnell and Shane McNaughton brought the sides level at 0-04 each after ten minutes.

Eddie McCloskey and Paddy Henry exchanged points, as did Collie McFall  and  Paddy Henry for 0-06 each after twenty minutes.
Five points came in a frenetic last five minutes of the half, Ben Dodds and Michael Kirkpatrick on target from frees either side of a McFall point to cut Antrim's half time lead to 0-09 to 0-08.

Twice Antrim stretched the lead to two points after half time with scores from Shane McNaughton and a Paul Shields free but Derry's resolve did not waver as Oisin McCloskey and Gareth O'Kane twice responded for 0-11 each, Michael Kirkpatrick then replying to Seamus McDonnell's point.

By the midpoint of the half Kevin O'Neill and Sean Leo McGoldrick had  edged Derry 0-14 to 0-12 in front but then came the critical period of the game after Paul Shiels had again narrowed the gap to the minimum.
In the 47th minute Ben Dodds won a puck out and the ball was transferred forward to Sean Leo McGoldrick and he bulged the net to put daylight between the teams at 1-14 to 0-13.

Shiels converted two frees, with substitute Cormac Donnelly then reducing the margin to a point ten minutes from time.
Two minutes later McGoldrick again broke the deadlock with a stunning strike for 2-14 to 0-16 but Antrim hit back immediately with a Paddy Doherty goal, the game set up for a dramatic finale.

Shiels narrowed the gap from a free but Paddy Henry hit back four minutes from time. In the last minute Doherty reduced the gap to a single point as Derry hung on desperately.

In the final seconds of added time Antrim forced a side line free but Collie McFall's effort dropped narrowly wide and the referee's final whistle was sweet music to the Derry ears!



After the game Ulster Council GAA President Tom Daly presented the cup to a delighted Derry captain Ruairi McCloskey from Banagher.

The Derry scorers were Sean Leo McGoldrick 2-01, Paddy Henry 0-04, Gareth O'Kane 0-04, 0-03 frees, Michael Kirkpatrick 0-03, 0-02 frees, 0-01 '65', Sam Dodds, Ben Dodds, Oisin McCloskey, Kevin O'Neill, 0-01 each.

The Antrim scorers were Paddy Doherty 1-02,  Paul Shiels 0-06, 0-04 frees, Collie McFall 0-03, 0-01 free,  Neil McManus 0-02, 0-01 free, Shane McNaughton 0-02, Seamus McDonnell, Eddie McCloskey, Cormac Donnelly 0-01 each

Derry Daryl McDermott Stephen Henry Ruairi McCloskey (Captain) Sean McNicholl Michael Kirkpatrick Mark Craig Cormac McKenna Ben Dodds Niall Holly Paddy Henry Oisin McCloskey Gareth O'Kane Sam Dodds Kevin O'Neill Sean Leo McGoldrick

Antrim Chris O'Connell Arron Graffin Conor McKinley Mark Devlin Neal McAuley Neil McManus Barry McFall (Captain) Simon McCrory Colin Duffin Shane McNaughton Collie McFall Eddie McCloskey Seamus McDonnell Paddy Doherty Paul Shiels
-Cormac Donnelly for Simon McCrory, -Kevin McKeegan for Colin Duffin

Referee Tiernan Mahon Fermanagh

[Maximus Marillius]

Isn't paddy Henry still a minor?

[johnneycool]

A fair few seniors on that Antrim team.

Well done Derry.

[Whitehair]

Yeh Henry played for the Derry minors v Down in the Minor Championship there in the spring as far as i remember.

[Aerlik]

Many, many congratulations to the Derry U-21 squad and management.  What a result against Antrim.  Really proud of you lads.  Well done.

What recognition will the galloots on the County Board give the lads?  Probably a sandwich and a glass of Shloer if they're lucky.

[heurebag]

serves antrim rite, s+w must go