Cross and Passion pick up another title

Cross and Passion Ballycastle added yet another title to their collection when they defeated St Louis Ballymena in the Gaelfast Year eight final midweek at Woodlands, Belfast.
St Louis started the brighter of the two sides, with Oscar Bradley leading the way and registering some excellent scores, most notably a superb long-range point from a free near the sideline.
They settled in quickly, with Conor Delargy, Daniel McAtamney and Conn Óg McErlaine creating some impressive passages of play.
The Ballycastle lads were forced to call upon their goalkeeper, Cian O’Mullan, to make a number of important saves to keep the game tight in the opening stages.
They responded well, however, with wing forward Archie Neil and centre half forward Conall Devlin leading the charge.
Neil provided the turning point of the half when he delivered a superb pass into full forward Michael Johnson, who finished clinically to the net and raise the green flag to settle his sides nerves.
Both teams continued to battle fiercely for the next five minutes, but the North Antrim sides defence and midfield began to assert control, with Brendan Murtagh and Joe McSparron repeatedly turning defence into attack.
The full forward line of Michael Johnson and Eoghan McIntyre began to add to the Ballycastle tally, helping them build a three-goal lead by half-time.
Thanks to the efforts of St Louis goalkeeper Aaron Johnson, along with half-backs Luca McCollum and Charlie Herald, the deficit could have been even greater.
Cross and Passion emerged for the second half determined to press home their advantage and dominated proceedings.
Influential performances from Brendan Murtagh, Conall Devlin and Joe McSparran ensured a steady flow of goals and points, confirming them as worthy Antrim Schools Cup champions.
Overall, the Ballycastle college ran out comfortable winners, but it was encouraging to see two teams battling for every ball, tackling fiercely and demonstrating impressive levels of skill and work rate throughout.
To their credit, St Louis fought until the final whistle, with Oscar Bradley continuing to lead by example, but, in the end, they were no match for a much stronger Ballycastle outfit.

Cross and Passion: Cian O'Mullan: Archie McGarry, Conor Kiinney, Senan White: Ronan Campbell, Joseph McSparran, Shea O'Connell: Brendan Murtagh and Shaum ,cCambridge: Tom Quinn, Conal Devlin, Archie Neill: Eoghan McIntyre, Michael Johnson, Alphie Woodhouse.

Replacements; Shane Magee, Ronan McCamphill, Theo McHenry, Ethan Shannon, Caolan McGuckian, Eoin Black, Noah McGarry, Frank McHenry, Lucas Maynes, Keelan McCollum, Iollan McMahon