Treacy’s reach their third county final in a row

The two sides previously faced off in the 2013 final with the Camlough men winning by a one point margin.

Seán Treacy’s manager, Mark Magee, was in a bullish mood before the game and was determined to guide his team through this semi-final. He has guided his team through a rigorous training regime which he has formulated in order that the Treacy men will peak in their championship campaign.

The game got off to a high intensity start with some fine hurling being played in the early exchanges, with some great scores being taken by both teams; Danny Magee was causing havoc in the Camlough defence with his pace and direct running leading to some fine scores.

Declan Maher got himself on the scoresheet after some hard work in corner forward which from saw him strike the ball from a tight angle between the sticks to propel the Treacy men forward.

Camlough were not to be out-played and produced some impressive passages of play.

The Lurgan defence held firm and dealt with Camlough’s physical style of play remarkably well with some great defending from Barry McDonald and Ryan Sands.

The Treacy goalkeeper, Paul Hand, was in great form and pulled off some top quality saves to confirm himself as one of the top goal minders in the county; his accurate puck outs were finding their target in the Treacy half forward line with Patrick Devine benefiting. An absorbing first half encounter saw the Treacys ahead 2-9 to 1-7.

The second half got under way with the Treacys dominating across midfield and half back which was driving the team forward and saw the Lurgan men pull away from their opponents and open a ten point gap within the first fifteen minutes of the second half.

Treacy’s centre half back, Raymond Daly, caught a high Camlough puck out and fed a great pass into Micheal Doran who rounded the Camlough keeper to drive the ball into the their net to further ram home their second half dominance. The Treacy game plan was clearly well thought out; the tactical battle on the touch-line being won by Mark Magee.

Brendan Coleman was deployed in a defensive sweeper role and won some great breaking ball which led to the score of the match with Brendan winning a ball and feeding Treacy’s full back Anthony Carville who drove the ball over from 90 yards. Reece Magee has to be commended for a man marking role on Fiachra Bradley who is an Armagh county player.The Treacy’s player dominated and held him scoreless. The Treacy’s men will strive for the same level of performance in the final and will hope to go one better than the previous two finals which they narrowly lost by one point.

Team: Paul Hand, Barry McDonald,Anthony Carville, Ryan Sands, Declan Cusack, Raymond Daly, Neil Corey, Joe McKeever, Reece Magee, Danny Magee, Patrick Devine, Michael Doran, Declan Maher, Fiontán Coleman, Brendan Coleman.

Scorers: Danny Magee 2-7, Micheal Doran 1-2, Patrick Devine 0-4, Reece Magee 0-1, Patrick lyness 0-1, Neil Corey 0-1, Declan Maher 0-1, Anthony Carville 0-1.