Sunday 27th June 2010
Ulster Senior Hurling Championship
Casement Park, Belfast
Admission: £13.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 1000 (estimated)
After a half hour break, the main event of the day, the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship began, between the two heavyweights of Ulster hurling. Antrim are so dominant in Ulster hurling, that they are given automatic entry into the Final. Indeed, they have won the Liam Harvey Cup for the last eight years running. Down are generally considered to be the (distant) second strongest hurling county in Ulster, having reached seven of the last nine finals without lifting the cup, and ran Antrim close for the last two finals, and there was real hope that Down could cause a shock by lifting the Cup if everything went their way.
However, it very soon became clear that there would be no upset in this year’s Final, as Antrim raced into a seven point lead with just 10 minutes on the clock, and a 1-12 to 0-1 lead after twenty minutes. By half time, the gap was a massive 2-15 to 0-3, which was a fair reflection of proceedings, as Antrim looked completely dominant with some impressively accurate passes and points scoring, whilst Down were sloppy and utterly failed to impose themselves on the game.
The second half carried on in a similar vein…Down quickly pulled a point back, but Antrim quickly responded with two goals. The game did become a little more even as the second half wore on, which probably was more due to Antrim making substitutions and taking their foot off of the gas, but Down’s afternoon got worse when they had a player sent off for an ugly high tackle. Down did manage to score a consolation goal right at the end, capitalising on a poor puckout by the Antrim goalkeeper, but the final score reflected the comprehensively emphatic story of the game, to give Antrim their ninth consecutive Cup Final victory.
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