Cushendall made it back-to-back Antrim Senior Hurling Championship titles as they beat Dunloy 1-16 to 2-12 at a storm-hit Ballycastle on Sunday.
Trailing by six at the break was far from insurmountable for the defending champions as they had a gale at their backs in the second peropd and a good spell would see them get ahead and stay there.
Despite playing into the gale, Cushendall would have been very happy with how things began as they led 0-3 to 0-2 after 10 minutes with frees from Neil McManus and Dunloy’s Seaan Elliott accounting for all the scores.
Dunloy did get into a flow with Keelan Molloy and Paul Shiels on target with Joseph McLaughlin landing Cushendall’s first from play, but the goal Dunloy needed came on 20 minutes as Eoin O’Neill read a long delivery from Kevin Molloy to get in behind and bury.
He could have had another but hit whipped effort was saved for a 65 that Elliott converted with Keelan Molloy then stretching the gap to seven.
It wasn’t a huge gap considering the wind and goalkeeper Ryan Elliott made a stunning save from a Neil McManus penalty. McManus did land the 65 and at the break, this left six between them with Dunloy 1-8 to 0-5 ahead.
It took a while for Cushendall to find their range in the second half, but they began to eat into the lead with McLaughlin, Fred McCurry, Fergus McCambride, Paddy McGill and a monster free from goalkeeper Cononr McAilister bringing them to within one.
They hit the front as Ed McQuillan cracked home, but Dunloy responded in kind soon after as Seaan Elliott buried a penalty after older brother Nigel had been impeded.
But the Ruairis powered on with five of the next six to lead by a goal late on and although Paul Shiels clipped over a pair of late frees for Dunloy, it was a goal they needed as Cushendall claimed the Volunteer Cup for a 16th time.
Portaferry crowned Down champions
The Down SHC final also survived the weather with Portaferry beating Ballygalget 3-20 to 2-13 at Pairc Esler.
Portaferry bagged all their goals in the first half, starting with Eoghan Sands hitting the Ballygalget net on 11 minutes.
Sands added the second after 25 minutes to give Portaferry a 2-8 to 0-3 advantage.
Tom McGrattan extended the lead with a goal on the half-hour mark but Ballygalget hit back as Marc Fisher netted just before the break.
Portaferry enjoyed a 3-10 to 1-5 lead at hal-time and Tim Prenter gave Ballygalget hope with a goal 11 minutes into the second half.
That left five points between the sides but Portaferry did enough to secure the title.
