Loughgiel and Ballycran triumph in hurling finals
Last updated on .From the section Northern Ireland
Loughgiel retained the Antrim Hurling Club Championship and Ballycran won the Down title for a 23rd time in Sunday's county finals.
Loughgiel finished strongly to beat Cushendall 1-14 to 0-14 at Casement Park in Belfast and secure back-to-back titles for the first time since 1971.
A Liam Watson penalty followed by three unanswered points sealed the win.
At Downpatrick, Ballycran just held on to beat Portaferry 1-11 to 0-13 after Kevin McGarry missed a late free.
McGarry, who scored eight points during the game, could have given Portaferry a draw but his effort went wide and the referee blew for full-time.
Portaferry had trailed 0-9 to 0-7 at half-time but hit back to lead 0-13 to 0-11 going into stoppage-time.
Then Ballycran grabbed a crucial goal through Scott Nicholson to win by one point.
Forward Nicholson scored 1-5 overall for the winners.
