Setanta are Ulster Junior Hurling Champions after a storming final quarter in Celtic Park, Derry early this afternoon. Shane Uí Néill, the Antrim Champions, lived up to their billing having cruised through their quarter- and semi-finals as they were first off the mark and never lost their lead throughout the first half. Setanta trailed by two points 0-10 to 0-8 at the break.
Five minutes into the second period and Davin Flynn had levelled the game at 0-11 each. The Antrim men rallied and within minutes the gap was back to two points. Three in a row from Declan Coulter and as the game entered the seventeenth minute and Setanta led for the first time, 0-14 to 0-13. They never looked back from there.
Two more Coulter points and and one from Bernard Lafferty left it 0-17 to 0-14 with five minutes plus added time to play. A Davin Flynn goal left Shane Uí Neill with a mountain to climb. They never got to base camp as Setanta hit another five points – scoring 1-10 in the final quarter – to run out comfortable 1-22 to 0-15 winners, a margin that did nor reflect how competitive the game had been until the last few minutes.
Well done Setanta.
By Sinéad Breen Donegal PRO Sun 27th Nov
