Following our successful haul of Antrim titles our winners have now progressed to the Ulster stages were we will be hoping to add further silverware.Liam O’Reilly, won the Antrim U18 title beating Aaron Burns of Ardoyne in the final and came up against Marcus Sheridan of Cavan in the semi-final of the Ulster championship.
In a match played at Eugene Quinn’s, in Armagh, Liam totally dominated the first game winning on a decisive scoreline of 21-11. At this stage he would have been hoping to finish the match off in two but Sheridan masterminded a second game win on a 21-17 scoreline to set the match up for a third and deciding game.
Credit must be given to Liam as he steadied himself and raced into an 11-0 lead. This broke any resistance Sheridan had left and he took the tie break 21-5 to qualify for the Ulster Final.
In the final Liam came up up against the much fancied Caolan Daly of Tyrone. Played in Carrickmore Liam started slowly, with Daly putting him under a lot of pressure. Liam appeared to be a bit tense and his shots were not flowing as Daly took command eventually winning the first 21-11. Liam gave a great account of himself in the second with the lead changing several times. He relaxed and started to roll the ball out. Daly dug deep and battled away and in a tense game he managed to fight of Liam’s comeback to win the second and the Ulster title 21-19.
Liam will partner D Murphy(Gortnamona) in the final of the Ulster Minor Doubles next Saturday.In the Ulster Silver Master’s B Double’s Joe Murphy and Stephen Brady have progressed to the final. They had two wins on route to the final, both on a scoreline of 2-0. In their first came they overcame Monaghan oppostion of J Treanor and F McKenna while accounting for the Down pairing of S McNally and B Havern in the semi. The final is scheduled for Gortnamona on 28 February at 2.00pm.
Owen McKenna has also qualified for the Ulster Intermediate singles final. In the semi-final he accounted for R Kelly of Tyrone in two. He will carry the favourites tag into the final and will be hoping to progress to the All-Ireland stages. This game is fixed for 28 February in Loughmacrory.
Kevin McParland has teamed up with Dominic Marley of Gortnamona for the Ulster Masters B semi-final. They play on Sunday 21 February in Armagh against either a Cavan or Monaghan pairing. Let’s hope they can progress to the final which will be held on 28 February at Gortnamona.
