ACMFL Division 2A
Ardoyne 1-5 All Saints 1-9
Ballymena All Saints were relieved to come away from Fennell Park with the 2 points on offer after a hard-fought victory over Ardoyne.
The home team made an excellent start to the game when they found the net in the 1st minute with a great finish.
The Ardoyne boys continued on the front foot for the majority of the first half and missed a few good opportunities to extend their lead but eventually did with a pointed free.
Ballymena responded with a good point from play and on 20minutes a scramble in the Ballymena defence saw the ball half cleared and returned to the box where it was flicked to the net but the goal was rightly disallowed for square ball.
Ballymena were starting to gain more possession but were wayward in the final third. A pointed free from Bradley cut the deficit to 2 points but Kickham’s responded with a well worked point. A good team move resulted in a nice point for All Saints and another pointed free from a tight angle by Bradley saw the Ballymena sides go in at half time just a point behind the Ardoyne men.
A good second half start from the Ardoyne side saw them create a number of chances only for some good defensive work and some narrow wides keeping the scores the same. Eventually, the home side struck a good score from play to stretch their lead to two points.
Ballymena made a couple of changes and this seemed to work as they began to dominate possession and rattled off two points from McKeown and McDermott to level the scores.
McKeown was also unlucky as a rasping shot at goal rattled the post and when Ardoyne gathered the rebound they moved the ball quickly up the field to take a fine score to get themselves back in front.
Ardoyne were defending well and creating chances on the break, but a turnover saw Ballymena break and a shot by McDermott from out wide dropped short but the keeper was unlucky as he palmed the ball against the underside of his crossbar and into the net.
Ballymena were retaining possession better now and managed to find 2 more excellent scores from O’Brien and McDermott to stretch their lead to 4. Ardoyne piled on the pressure but some excellent blocks and turnovers by Murphy, Harry Connon and Laverty in defence kept the Belfast boys at bay and Ballymena held on for the win.
This win sees All Saints go top of the table with three wins from three starts where they are followed by Casement’s Portglenone who have two wins from two and these sides are due to meet in Ballymena on Sunday 19th May.
In the other game played in division 2A yesterday Rossa defeated Tir na nOg 0-13 to 1-7.