The senior hurlers came up short in an enthralling Junior Championship semi-final away to Glen Rovers, Armoy and the old adage that goals win games proved the difference between the sides at the final whistle.
Both teams traded early points with Donn Whelan on target with a long range free from inside his own half but in the 9th minute Colin Lordan finished to the net after a high ball played into the square broke kindly and his finish gave the keeper no chance putting Armoy in front. Points from Marcas Toner (0-2) and Stephen McGivern kept us on Armoy’s coat tail but a fortuitous Armoy point following a mis strike was followed up by Armoy’s second goal when Thomas Burns displayed fine stickwork to lob the sliotar over the keepers head to the net. We plugged away with further points from Marcas Toner (0-2), and Donn Whelan (0-2f), but Armoy finished the half strongly adding a further point and the killer blow of their third goal on the stroke of half time from Linton leaving us trailing 0-8 to 3-4.
Both teams continued to match each other, point for point from the restart with Donn Whelan (0-2), and Stephen McGivern on target but in the 39th minute Armoy dealt the killer blow when Linton fired to the net for his second goal and Armoy’s fourth of the day. We never let our heads drop and in the final quarter out scored Armoy 1-6 to 0-7 and with the Armoy keeper pulling off a couple of great saves to deny further goals Armoy saw the game out for the victory 1-17 to 4-13 and progress to the final.
Congratulations to Armoy on the win but we must also compliment our own team for the determination and effort they displayed in a great advertisement for junior hurling.
Click here for photos of the game.
Scorers: Donn Whelan 1-8, Marcas Toner 0-6 and Stephen McGivern 0-3
