IN THE ARCHIVES: Dark day for Antrim hurlers while Down u-21s edged in 10-goal thriller

10 YEARS AGO

A DARK day for Antrim in the Leinster SHC as they were destroyed by Westmeath, Michael Ryan’s side strolling to a 1-21 to 0-7 win.

The Saffrons travelled with confidence having dispatched Laois in their opener, but they were torn asunder in Mullingar with Kevin Ryan’s side losing by 17 in the end.

The opening minutes weren’t helped by Arron Graffin suffering a serious knee injury. Eoghan Campbell and Paul Shiels did land early points but they wouldn’t score for the rest of the half as Westmeath led 1-13 to 0-2 at the break.

The second half wasn’t much better with Neil McManus limping off late on.

There were better championship results for Ulster teams elsewhere though.

Chris Egan hit 1-4 to help Down to a comfortable Christy Ring Cup win over Wicklow, Gareth ‘Magic’ Johnston hitting five frees in the 1-19 to 0-13 success.

Armagh earned the bragging rights against Tyrone as former Gaelic Life columnist Cahal Carvill grabbed a brace of goals with Eoin McGuinness also raising a green flag in the 3-17 to 0-20 win.

Donegal hit a huge 4-21 tally as they dismantled Longford. Ciaran Matthewson finished with an incredible 1-16 while Ronan McDermott plundered two goals. Sean McVeigh was the other goal scorer.

In the Lory Meagher Cup, Fermanagh were pushed hard by Lancashire before winning out 2-16 to 3-9 – a brilliant goal from half-back Barry Duffy proving crucial.

In the Division Two final, young Aimee Mackin was the star of the show as Armagh defeated Donegal 4-18 to 4-6.

The Shane O’Neill’s player finished with 2-5 to secure a return to the top flight for the Orchard County at Parnell Park.

Yvonne McMonagle gave her a run for her money with a fabulous hat-trick but the Tir Chonaill County were always second best in the decider.

20 YEARS AGO

DOWN’S hopes of an All-Ireland U-21 title came crashing down following a ridiculous final against Galway with the Connacht side winning 6-5 to 4-6.

Galway’s terrible twins – Micheal Meehan and Sean Armstrong – ran riot as they shared the six goals between them.

The pair had scored 15 points between them in the semi-final, but it’s one thing knowing the threat and another actually stopping it with Meehan scoring the first of the 10 goals after just 22 seconds.

Paddy O’Rourke’s side showed admirable heart too with future Mourne boss Conor Laverty causing real problems. The Kilcoo man hit 1-2 with Niall McArdle, Aidan Carr and Joe Ireland also raising green flags.

Westmeath hurling was in disarray with rumours that Tom Ryan was about to step away from the post.

Ryan denied he had quit, but he did suspend senior training to deal with issues with the county board, including four players being injured for Westmeath but playing for their clubs two days later.

There were similar issues for the Waterford footballers with suggestions they would withdraw from the Munster Championship due to poor attendances at training.

John Kiely, not to be confused with the future Limerick hurling boss, said that they would not be pulling out but they did have to cancel a scheduled challenge game with Carlow to hold a crisis meeting.

30 YEARS AGO

DONEGAL were crowned Ulster U-21 champions following a 3-11 to 1-11 win over Cavan in Enniskillen.

All three Tir Chonaill majors came in the opening period with full-forward Donal Buggy bagging a brace before Barry Ward netted a third.

Rory Brennan did grab a Cavan goal to keep them in touch, but Donegal were always able to maintain a comfortable cushion to set up an All-Ireland semi-final date with Kerry.

Maghera’s reputation as a great dual school was obvious during 1995, but their hurlers saw their All-Ireland ended by Doon in the B final in Navan.

The Limerick outfit were much too strong, winning 5-11 to 0-4, against the Derry school who had claimed the Hogan Cup a week earlier.

Six of those Hogan heroes started this final and they were backed by 1000 fans who significantly outnumbered their opponents.

The loss of captain Danny McGrellis, who was the football team’s goalkeeper, to a knee injury didn’t help, but Maghera were outclassed.