Saturday saw the 8th annual Patrick Higgins Memorial Shield take place.Battling it out for the top prize this year were Craigbane,Glen, Kilrea, Slaughtneil, last years winners Lavey and the hosts ofcourse Desertmartin.
As always the teams arrived in high spirits on the day and none more notably than Kilrea who made the trip with enough competitors to make two teams. As things turned out this was ideal as following a couple of late pull outs the additional Kilrea team meant the days proceeding could continue without any loss of fixtures.
The Kilrea B team were soon into flow and paired in a group section along with Craigbane, Slaughtneil and the hosts they quickly showed they were as capable as any of the teams to progress from this section. However it was their fellow club men that were setting the early pace in section B, paired along with Glen, Lavey and a combined team making up the final team in this section.
In section B, Lavey who were aiming for a third success in a row were finding it tough against the physically bigger Glen and Kilrea teams and so their day ended at the group stages with Kilrea topping the group followed by Glen.
Back in section A it was the north Derry team of Craigbane who were setting the early pace and progressed to the semis with a full quota of points from their three games. Joining them in the semi's was former winners Slaughtneil.
The Semi-final pairing saw Glen take on Craigbane, with Kilrea facing Slaughtneil. Kilrea A, still showing good from continued to impress and brushed aside their opponents to book their place in the final. The other semi final was a closer affair with Glen finding their form to see off Craigbane to make it into the show piece final.
Following their group section win against Glen earlier in the day, Kilrea went into the final as hot favourites. This early morning form was not to dry up and Kilrea progressed to claim their second win in the tournament following their success in 2003. This win also eased the pain of their final defeat to Lavey last year.
The club would like to thank all teams that attended and everyone involved with any of the teams. They would also like to thank all who helped in any way to make the day the success it was
Pictures to follow….