The Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard cups both got underway on Saturday, while one Joe McDonagh Cup game was played.
The most eye-catching clash took place in Corrigan Park, with Carlow and Antrim, both fresh from first round victories against Kerry and Meath respectively, going head to head in West Belfast in Round Two of the Joe McDonagh Cup.
The Saffrons went into Saturday’s clash as marginal favourites and they proved the depth of the bookmaker’s knowledge, as the home side went on to edge a tight, tit-for-tat thriller.
Eoghan Campbell received a straight red card in the first half for the home side, and that would set the tone for a busy day for the man in the middle O’Brien from Tipperary.
Diarmuid Bryne red pic.twitter.com/lw3D6yU029
— Antrim GAA (@AontroimGAA) May 12, 2018
The action was hard hitting up north, with three Carlow men, including Mark Kavanagh and Diarmuid Byrne going on to receive straight red cards for Colm Bonnar’s men. The numerical disadvantage would toughen the task at hand and they went onto lose by three points on a final scoreline of 2-16 to 0-19.
That final score was only sure thing after a 46 minute second half, with the cards, frustrations and stoppages in play culminating in a whopping 11 minutes of time being added on. When the norm is somewhere between two and five minutes, the referee certainly earned his salt up in West Belfast.
It’s good to see that the tempers had cooled by the game’s end, with the players shaking ends after the battle.
Saffron victory! @AontroimGAA 2-16 @Carlow_GAA 0-19 pic.twitter.com/JgvShmy1I8
— Antrim GAA (@AontroimGAA) May 12, 2018
Meanwhile, there were wins for London, Wicklow, Down and Kildare in the Christy Ring Cup. London eked out an important victory over Derry in Derry while Wicklow, inspired by former Wexford senior PJ Nolan comfortably outclassed Mayo.
Carlow weren’t the only side made to rue their own indiscipline with 14-man Armagh getting hockeyed by Down in Ballycran. The Orchard County went down by a whopping 28 points, with 6-21 to 0-11 the final score there.
Kildare were comfortable victors over Roscommon, the Lilywhites winning by 21 points.
Joe McDonagh
Antrim 2-16 Carlow 0-19
Christy Ring
Derry 1-18 London 1-20
Wicklow 1-20 Mayo 2-11
Down 6-21 Armagh 0-11
Kildare 4-26 Roscommon 1-9
Nicky Rackard Cup
Louth 1-16 Warwickshire 3-19
Tyrone 1-12 Donegal 1-26
