Antrim 4-27, Down 2-6
In an earlier meeting in this Ulster Minor hurling Cup competition Down ran Antrim close but in this final at Ballycastle there was only one team in it as the Saffrons ran away with the Danny McNaughton cup by a whopping 27 point margin.
They played with a strong wind at their backs in the opening half and basically had the game won at the break when they went in leading by 1-15 to 0-1.
Down, however, made a great start to the second half when Dara Puci got a goal within a couple of minutes and the indications were that they night make a game of it, but the wind advantage that would have been part of their thinking at half time was all but gone by this stage and Antrim were soon back in control and dominated matters to the end.
The Saffrons were on the mark from the start of the game and though Down tried to make it difficult for them with their strong pressing in the early stages the Antrim began to find the target. With left half forward James McDonnell in great form the scores started to come, the St Paul’s man at the heart of everything they did.
The first goal came on ten minutes when full forward Nicholas McLaughlin regained possession after his initial effort had been blocked and made no mistake this time as he fired home from close range.
With McDonnell firing over from both frees and from play the gap widened as they pushed on to lead by 17 at the break, the Down point coming from a Dara Puci free.
Antrim made a few changes at the start of the second half with Cadhan Crawford and Eunan Johnston, who had been part of the Cross and Passion Ballycastle Colleges team who won the Paddy Buggy Cup semi-final in Dublin the previous day, coming on to join Darragh Kinney who had played from the start.
When Puci fired home his goal within seconds of the restart one wondered if the Ards side could make a game of it, but Antrim’s cushion was so big they never really felt any pressure and they soon regained the upper hand.
The scores were not coming quite as regular as they had done in the first half, but they were always holding very threatening.
Down hit a good patch between the sixth and tenth minutes with a goal and three points. Replacement Tommy Joe Cosgrove started the run with Oran McAnarney and Tom Hickson adding points before the goal that came from a speculative shot from defender Ryan Tolan.
However, Antrim simply moved up a gear with Crawford converting two frees and then going around the left side of the Down defence to give Shea Dorrian no chance for what was his seventh goal of the Ulster campaign.
They added three more points with just a converted Dara Pucci free from a difficult angle in reply.
Jay McAlonan hammered the final nails into Down’s coffin taking a hand in the late two goals and a point. The Dunloy forward hit a goal and point and in between set up substitute Caolán Wilson for his goal.
Both teams now try their luck in different tiers of the Leinster championship with the Saffrons standing a decent chance of making an impression in the top grade.
Down scorers: D Pucci 1-3, 0-3 frees, R Tolan 1-0, T Hickson, O McAnarney and TJ Cosgrove 0-1 each.
Antrim scorers: JC Crawford (0-4 frees) and J McAlonan 1-5 each, N McLaughlin and C Wilson 1-0 each, J McDonnell 0-7, 2 frees, D McNaughton and A Cochrane 0-3 each, R Taylor, C McIntosh, C Leech and S Smyth 0-1 each.
Down: Shea Dorrian, Ryan Tolan (1-0), Marc Mageean, Ryan Clarke, Ben Neal, Patrick Sharvin, Brendan Barry, Fionn Dougan, Cónall Vaugh, Dara Pucci (1-3), Artie óg Birt, Tom Hickson (0-1), Eoin Murray, Oran McAnarney (0-1), Conor Comiskey
Replacements: Rónán Breen, Tommy Joe Cosgrove (0-1), Eoghan Rooney, Joel Rogers, Ruairí Og Ó Scanaill.
Antrim: Liam Magee, Aaron Quinn, Liam Smyth, Oisín Heaney, Darragh Kinney, Conor McCann, Dáire Jemfrey, Anthony Cochrane (0-3), Canice McIntosh (0-1), Dylan McNaughton (0-3), Christy Leech (0-1), James McDonnell (0-7), Jay McAlonan (1-5), Nicholas McLaughlin (1-0), Rónan Taylor.
Replacements: C Crawford (1-5)and C Wilson (1-0) for C Leech and R Taylor (0-1) , Sean Smyth (0-1) and Liam McGarry for N McLaughlin and D Kinney, Eunan Johnston for A Quinn
