It was a sweet 16th Antrim SHC title for Cushendall as the defending champions retained their crown in horrific conditions in Ballycastle.
On a horrible day for hurling, the eventual winners found themselves six adrift at the break, having played into the gale, but they managed to take over in the second period.
Storm Ashely made its presence felt as shots and passes proved extremely difficult, but both teams did what they could to make the best of it – and they served up an entertaining game, although it was scrappy in parts.
“We were happy being six points down as it is an atrocious day to try and play hurling in,” said Cushendall manager Brian Delargy.
“We had to dig hard in the first half, it wasn’t pretty, but we carried it and got some scores breaking up the field.”
Cushendall led 0-3 to 0-2 after 10 minutes with frees from Neil McManus and Dunloy’s Seán Elliott accounting for all the scores.
Dunloy did get into a flow with Keelan Molloy and Paul Shiels on target.
Joseph McLaughlin landed 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 to the net.
He could have had another but his whipped effort was saved for a 65 that Elliott converted, with Keelan Molloy then stretching the gap to seven.
It wasn’t a huge lead considering the wind and their goalkeeper Ryan Elliott made a stunning save from a Neil McManus penalty. McManus did land the resulting 65 and at the break there was 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 Conor McAlister bringing them to within one.
They hit the front as Ed McQuillan cracked home, but Dunloy hit back in kind soon after as Seán 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.
“The wind was so bad it is hard to know if it was an advantage, considering what we created in the second half,” admitted Dunloy manager Gregory O’Kane.
“Once you got by the wind, there were goal chances inside. We had something like 10 wides in the first half, including placed balls, but it was a bit of a lottery.
“You probably think, ‘should the game have been played?’, but it is a pity as you didn’t get to see both teams express themselves. It becomes a break of the ball here or there and that’s the difference.”
For Cushendall, there will be celebrations but then attention will turn to Ulster and a semi-final with the Derry champions, with that county final rescheduled for next week.
There is still satisfaction that Cushendall retained their crown and manager Delargy insists the hunger is as great as ever,
“We handed the cups back in May so we didn’t feel like we had a target on our backs – we were hunting everyone else,” he stressed.
“All the top performers want to get better and even though we won the championship last year, we still feel we are on that journey and are on the upward curve. We’ll have a few days to celebrate but then get back and get ready for the Derry champions.”
Scorers – Cushendall: N McManus 0-7 (5f, 2 65s); E McQuillan 1-0; J McLaughlin, F McCambridge 0-2 each; F McCurry, E Campbell, R McAteer, P McGill, C McAlister (f) 0-1 each. Dunloy: S Elliott 1-4 (1-0 pen, 0-2f, 0-2 65s); E O’Neill 1-1, Keelan Molloy, P Shiels (2f) 0-3 each; A McGarry 0-1.
CUSHENDALL: C McAlister; L Gillan, P Burke, M Burke; S Walsh, E Campbell, R McCollam; F McCurry, R McCambridge; R McAteer, N McManus, F McCambridge; E McQuillan, S McAfee, J McLaughlin. Subs: P McGill for S McAfee (40), Alex Delargy for F McCurry (53), C Neeson for E McQuillan (58), Andrew Delargy for R McCambridge (60+3)
DUNLOY: R Elliott; P Duffin, R McGarry, O Quinn; E McFerran, Kevin Molloy, N McKeague; P Shiels, T McFerran; S Elliott, A McGarry, Keelan Molloy; E O’Neill, A McGrath, N Elliott. Subs: C McMahon for A McGrath (44), G McTaggart for A McGarry (53), P Martin for T McFerran (55).
REF: C McCloskey (Loughgiel)