Minor B Football Championship Semi-Final
St James Aldergrove V’s St Comghall’s – Pairc Na Gael, Aghagallon – 01/10/2017
As this game entered its crucial final five minutes just a point separated two well-matched and committed sides both intent on make a final berth in this year’s minor B championship their own. However, it was St James who claimed the prize with their edge in quality in front of the posts the ultimate difference between the teams as they rattled off an unanswered 5-points to ease through with 6-points to spare.
It was Aldergrove who started the first half on the front foot with corner forward Caomhin McConnell winning then converting a free to edge his side ahead after 2 minutes. The sides were level three minutes later with centre-half forward Tom Patchett splitting the posts with a well taken point from 30 meters. St Comghall’s had adopted a defensive formation deploying 2 ‘sweepers’ meaning space was at a premium but McConnell’s smart footwork meant they again transgressed with 7-minutes gone and the same player once again punished them with an accurate conversion. When the quick-silver Conor Morris pointed from play a minute later, the St James boys seemed to be starting to get into their stride. However this well-drilled and physically imposing St Comghall’s side hadn’t read the script and undaunted, and after some clever approach play found corner forward Conor McAuley unmarked and he gratefully made the most of the space afforded to drill the ball into the net to push his side into the lead for the first time after 14 minutes. The Aldergrove boys didn’t take time to dwell on their defensive mix-up as Coamhin McConnell slotted his first from play from the next attack to even the scores as the first quarter ended. As the teams cancelled each other out, the stalemate lasted until the 22nd minute when Conor Morris broke clear to score his second point of the contest and ease the ‘Grove one point ahead. The sides were tied for the third time when St Comghall’s free-taker McAuley converted with 24 minutes elapsed. The Antrim town defence were being caused all sorts of problems by the movement and guile of Caomhin McConnell and a quick-fire brace, the first from a free, the second a quality finish from distance put a degree of daylight between the sides as the contest approached the half-time interval. When Patchett scored from play with 29 minutes on the clock it looked like the minimum would separate the sides at half time only for Aldergrove’s Mattie Donnelly to fire an audacious point from all of 40 meters in first half added-time to leave 2-points between the sides at the break.
H-T: St James Aldergrove 0-08 V’s St Comghall’s 1-03
St Comghall’s started the second half with a renewed intensity, drawing and converting 2 frees within 2-minutes of the restart to re-establish parity once again. It was that man McConnell who steadied the Aldergrove ship when scoring his 4th free of the game to push St James 1-point ahead after 36-minutes. When Conor Morris broke clear and finished to the St Comghall’s net 2 minutes later the large St James support started to believe that their side were final bound. The next two scores, both points from play by Tom Patchett then Michael McCabe, dampened any premature Aldergrove celebrations as St Comghall’s reduced their deficit to a mere 2-points as the game entered its crucial final quarter. As the pendulum swung again in Aldergrove’s favour, it was under-16 star Conor Morris who showed his quality as he led the St Comghall’s boys a merry dance banging over three fine points from play in as many minutes as St James pushed 5 points ahead with 49 minutes on the clock. The spirited St Comghall’s team dug deep to respond yet again and when a converted free after 53 minutes was trumped by an opportunist finish to the St James net by Rory McLarnon a minute later, the sides were only separated by the minimum margin once more. Indeed It could have gotten much worse for Aldergrove but for an acrobatic save by young ‘keeper Ryan McCarthy a minute later, gratefully turning a goal-bound effort just around the right side of the post, as far as his team-mates were concerned. The Aldergrove faithful breathed a huge and collective sigh of relief and their charges responded to their good fortune by forging forward to score an unanswered 5-points as the game approached its conclusion. Three superb long-range points from play firstly from Anthony Brown then a pair from substitute Eoin Masterson negated the St Comghall’s blanket defence. The irrepressible Coamhin McConnell added his 5th and 6th converted frees to finally break St Comghall’s hearts as the St James lads booked a final encounter with North Antrim rivals Dunloy.
F-T: St James Aldergrove 1-17 V’s St Comghall’s 2-08
Aldergrove Team
- Ryan McCarthy, 2. Ronan Wilkinson, 3. Emmett Irvine, 4. Corey Fogarty 5. Adrian Mulholland, 6. Odhran Creaney, 7. Declan Gough, 8. Fearghal Hanna, 9. Oisin Graham, 10. Matthew Donnelly (0-1), 11. Gary Duffy, 12. Michael Smart, 13. Caomhin McConnell (0-8, 6 frees), 14. Anthony Brown (0-1), 15. Conor Morris (1-5)
Substitutions: Aaron O’Connor for Gary Duffy (40 minutes), Eoin Masterson (0-2) for Michael Smart (45 minutes).
Subs Not Used: Michael Daly, Paudie Hanna, Niall Wilkinson, Brendan McGuiness, Sean Bradley
St Comghall’s Team
- Connor Brennan, 2. Eoin McLaughlin, 3. Paul Flannagan, 4. Gavin Asher, 5. Fionn Dunn-Clarke, 6.Ruairi Griffin, 7.John Brady, 8. Michael McCabe, 9. Callum McCabe, 10. Joseph Webb, 11. Tom Patchett, 12. Rory McLarnon, 13. Conor McAuley, 14. Conor Madden, 15. Sean Owens.
