By Shaun Casey

ST Mary’s, Rasharkin were handsome winners over Armagh’s Sean Treacy’s in the opening round of the Ulster JHC last weekend and captain Donagh Quigg says his side are embracing their voyage into the unknown.

The Antrim champions are competing in the provincial series for the first time since 2015, when they lost to Ballela after extra-time in the quarter-final, but last week’s victory sees them progress to the last four of the competition.

Rasharkin will now take on the challenge of East Cavan Gaels, who experienced an eye-catching first round win of their own against Omagh, St Enda’s and both sides will be keen to keep their winning run intact.

“We’re happy enough with it – any win in Ulster is a big one so it’s nice to get off on the front foot,” said Quigg after helping his side hammer Sean Treacy’s at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds last Saturday afternoon, 4-23 to 0-13.

“Now we have a big challenge against East Cavan Gaels. We’ll have a bit of a reset and get ready for that game. That’s the great thing about Ulster, you go into every game not knowing anything about the opposition and you just try to do your best in each game.”

He continued: “Ulster is a big step up from our own county. You never get anything easy. In Antrim, we’d know teams fairly well but in Ulster you’re playing different teams from different counties which is exciting and it’s the sort of challenge we cherish.

“This year, even compared to other years we won the championship, the lads are absolutely buzzing. Hopefully we can drive on now and have a good game against East Cavan Gaels at the weekend.”

Rasharkin, who beat Glen Rovers by two points in the Antrim final just over a month ago, were much too strong for Sean Treacy’s in the opening round and led the contest from start to finish.

Quigg was one of several attacking threats that Brendan McMullan’s men could call upon and he rattled the net inside the opening four minutes of the game. He raised another green flag shortly after the turnaround and finished the game with 2-3.

It’s certainly not a one-man band up front either, as Conor McKeever top scored for the Saffron County representatives with 1-10, full-forward Conor McKillop nailed 1-4 and midfielders Shane Hasson and Conor McFerran shared 0-4 evenly between them.

Quinn saw a hat-trick opportunity go a-begging in the second half, but he was able to laugh it off.

“I should have passed it maybe, but I saw it opening up. I’d have got given off to maybe if it was a closer game. But goals win games as the saying goes.

“We’re very direct and that is something that we’ve tried to bring in this year is that goals first, points second sort of attitude. That’s our motto, goals win games, and they helped us win last week, comfortably in the end up.”