St. Joseph’s Glenavy celebrate after clinching the Division 2 football league title at Rasharkin. 2) Alex Gallagher gets away from his marker.
ACFL DIVISION 2
While the race for the Division 1 went right down to the wire it was the battle for second place in division 2 between St. Enda’s and Moneyglass that was only decided on the final day of the season. St. Ergnat’s went into 2017 as some people’s tip as relegation candidate’s having lost a number of experienced players to emigration and retirement but the youngsters who were thrown into the breach really stepped up to the mark.
It was St. Joseph’s Glenavy who set the pace after a less than impressive start however and the Chapel Hill men received a severe shock on day one when Moneyglass visited and came away with an eyebrow raising 0-15 to 2-8 win.
On the same day St. Enda’s travelled to Musgrave Park and were immediately installed as one of the favourites for honours when they hammered St. Brigid’s by 2-16 to 1-9. There were wins on the opening day of the season for Dunloy, Gort na Mona and Tir na nOg while Rasharkin drew with All Saints.
Rasharkin were one of the surprise packets in the early part of the season and they travelled to Marrion Hill on day two to record an impressive victory over Moneyglass while Glenavy put their opening day defeat behind them when they proved too good for newly promoted St. Comgall’s in Antrim. It was St. Enda’s who continued to make the early season running however as they defeated Davitt’s while Dunloy remained on maximum points with a good win in Ballymena.
On day three of the league Glenavy and Moneyglass could only manage a share of the spoils against Tir na nOg and Rasharkin respectively but St. Enda’s were now setting the pace with a good win away to Gort na Mona with St. Brigid’s and Ballymena picking up both points on their travels to St. Comgall’s and Ardoyne.
St. Joseph’s Glenavy recorded their second win of the season when they travelled to Whitehill on day four but St. Enda’s continued to set the pace and a good win away to Dunloy marked them as potential league winners, even this early in the season while Moneyglass suffered a heavy defeat to St. Brigid’s and shipped seven goals at Musgrave Park.
That loss only seemed to confirm what many had predicted for St. Ergnat’s at the start of the season but things would improve dramatically as the season progressed. All Saints had been going reasonably well and they inflicted a first defeat of the season on St. Enda’s at Hightown with St. Joseph’s and St. Ergnat’s recording wins over St. Brigid’s and Gort na Mona.
Action from Tir na nOg v Moneyglass and All Saints v Davitt’s in the ACFL Division 2
At the other end of the table Davitt’s picked up their first points of the season when they defeated Kickham’s Ardoyne who with St. Comgall’s Antrim remained pointless after five rounds of fixtures. Davitt’s carried that good form into round six with an excellent win over Dunloy.
It was clear that division 2 was unlikely to have a runaway leader and St. Ergnat’s form began to gain momentum as they travelled to Dunloy and scored six goals in a 13 point win over the Cuchullain’s while St. Enda’s continued to lead the pack with victory over Ardoyne and St. Joseph’s kept in touch with a win over Gort na Mona at Enright Park.
In early June a pattern was beginning to emerge as St. Enda’s continued to amass the points with a facile victory over bottom club Ardoyne with St. Ergnat’s piping All Saints in a great game at Marrion Hill and St. Joseph’s Glenavy defeating Dunloy.
St. Enda’s, Glenavy and Moneyglass all won on day eight and these three with St. Brigid’s were now setting the pace and St. Comgall’s finally picked up their first points of the season when they defeated Davitt’s at Boucher Road.
There was little change in round 9 as a young Moneyglass side continued to improve with a home win over Davitt’s and St. Enda’s winning away to St. Comgall’s and St. Brigid’s and Tir na na nOg kept themselves in contention for a top six place at the league split which was fast approaching.
Left to right: Action from Rasharkin v Tir na nOg. 2) & 3) The Gallagher brothers, Paddy and Owen help Glenavy to a win over Dunloy. 4) Conor Hamill, Glenavy with the league cup at Rasharkin.
St. Enda’s good run ended when they were turned over in spectacular fashion in round 10 when St. Ergnat’s travelled to Hightown and recorded a 3-17 to 1-15 victory. Glenavy had another good win away to Davitt’s and were beginning to look like the team to beat and St. Brigid’s scored 5-9 at Slemish Park as All Saints indifferent form continued.
By July it was still Glenavy, St. Enda’s, Moneyglass and St. Brigid’s who were leading the race but Glenavy put themselves into pole position when they entertained St. Enda’s at Chapel Hill and came out tops comfortably on a scoreline of 2-14 to 0-8 with St. Ergnat’s having a comfortable win over St. Comgall’s.
Glenavy continued their push at the top when they travelled to and defeated Moneyglass by three goals and the favourite’s tag had now been firmly clipped on St. Joseph’s and with St. Enda’s losing to an ever improving Tir na nOg and St. Brigid’s losing away to Rasharkin the race was now for second place, barring a Glenavy slip up.
St. Comgall’s who had been struggling for most of the season recorded a good win at home to Davitt’s and then travelled to Dunloy where they recorded the result of the round, beating the Cuchullain’s by nine points.
As July came to an end Moneyglass recorded another fine victory, piping St. Brigid’s by a point with St. Joseph’s defeating Tir na nOg and as we entered August St. Enda’s won away to Rasharkin and St. Joseph’s had a good win at Musgrave Park as St. Brigid’s began to slip down the table.
A week later St. Joseph’s Glenavy clinched the title with an excellent away win at St. Mary’s Rasharkin so all eyes were on St. Enda’s as they visited Moneyglass, a fixture that would go a long way in deciding second place.
Having lost to the same opposition at Hightown St. Enda’s were determined to avenge that defeat and in a tough contest it was the Glengormley side who put themselves in pole position when they ran out winners, 1-19 to 2-9.
Moneyglass led the Glengormley side by a point as the league reached conclusion but significantly St. Enda’s had a game in hand and when St. Ergnat’s travelled to Tir na nOg for their final fixture of the year they knew they had to win but were also depending on Glenavy winning at Hightown.
Despite victory over a depleted Tir na nOg it was not to be with St. Enda’s defeating Glenavy on the same night to claim the second spot and promotion to division 1 in 2018. At the other end of the table it was promoted sides from the previous season, St. Comgall’s and Ardoyne who make the drop back to division 3 but the Antrim town side were perhaps a bit unfortunate with Davitt’s edging them out by a single point.
Division 3 league winners, Sarsfield’s
DIVISION 3 ROUND UP
St. Comgall’s and Kickham’s Ardoyne will be replaced in division 2 in 2018 by Sarsfield’s and O’Donnell’s. The Stewartstown Road side cruised through division 3, losing only one game but for a good part of the season Con Magee’s, Glenravel looked like the side most likely to accompany them on the upward step.
Sarsfield’s only defeat came in round 2 of the league campaign when they conceded four goals to Pearses at Cliftonville but for the rest of the season they proved much too strong for nearly every side they met and the Pearses’ defeat proved only a slight blip.
Con Magee’s, Glenravel got off to a great start hitting five goals against St. Malachy’s and adding 14 against a hapless Mitchell’s and then recorded a fine win over O’Donnell’s at Fr. Maginn Park. Meanwhile Sarsfield’s had put that defeat to Pearses behind them and put a good run together as they chased the early season leaders, Glenravel.
They visited Fr. Maginn Park in early April to inflict a first defeat on the Con Magee’s while O’Donnell’s challenge started to gather pace with a good win over St. Patrick’s Lisburn. By the end of April the leading two could not be separated with Sarsfield’s recording a big win at Eire Og and Glenravel defeating St. Patrick’s Lisburn.
O’Donnell’s were also on a good unbeaten run as they kept pace with the top two and all three remained unbeaten through May but the meeting of O’Donnell’s and Glenravel at MacRory in early June was to prove significant with the home side recording a 4-10 to 2-9 victory.
Glenravel recovered to beat St. Malachy’s decisively in their next game as O’Donnell’s edged past an improving St. Patrick’s Lisburn by the minimum but at the end of June the Con Magee’s suffered their third defeat of the season away to league leaders Sarsfields.
As Sarsfield’s continued to set the pace and O’Donnell’s kept on the winning trail Con Magee’s suffered another serious setback when they travelled to Lisburn and lost to St. Patrick’s. Despite losing to Sarsfield’s at the Bear Pit, O’Donnell’s went on to edge out Glenravel for the second promotion spot, a single point separating the sides at the end of the season.
Sarsfield’s and O’Donnell’s will play their football in Division 2 next season and the Stewartstown Road men look more than capable of holding their own in the higher division while Glenravel will renew acquaintances with St. Comgall’s, Antrim and Kickham’s Ardoyne in division 3 in 2018