Antrim had to stage a strong fighting finish to stop Derry completing the double of senior and under-21 hurling titles when they came with a late goal and four points to snatch victory in a very entertaining and free-flowing game in Clones yesterday.
Derry led at half-time by 1-11 to 1-7 and continued to force the pace in the third quarter with the accuracy of Paul Hearty who scored 1-12 being their main source of scores.
Scorers: ANTRIM - L Watson 1-3; P Kelly 1-0; C Heron, G Bell, C McGourty 0-3 each; S Delargy 0-2; B Quinn, K Stewart 0-1 each. DERRY - P Hearty 1-12; K Hinphey, A McCloskey, P Doherty, C McKeever, S Kelly, F McEldowney 0-1 each.
Referee: G Devlin (Armagh).
Down under-16 hurlers beat Derry by 2-6 to 0-9 in the All-Ireland under-16 B HC in Corrigan Park on Saturday. In a game that produced some great hurling by both sides, Down held a slight edge at midfield where Artie McGuinness and Brendan McGourty got the better of their exchanges with Paul Gillen and Stephen McGuigan.
