Leinster Under 16 Football Championship
Antrim 1-7 Kildare 6-17
A highly skilled and efficient Kildare team proved much too strong for Antrim in this Leinster Football Under16 Championship game which was played on Saturday at Feis na nGleann in Ballymena. The young Saffron did quite well in the opening half when backed by a strong wind but after the change of ends the Lillywhites were rampant. They added a further four goals and a series of outstanding points and indeed had it not been for Antrim goalkeeper Declan Breen, who made a series of outstanding saves, then the gap would have been much wider.
Kildare started with three quick points from their outstanding full forward Neill Ahearne before the high point of the game for Antrim, a brilliant solo goal from left half forward Odhran McDonald who soloed through from midfield to fire the ball home. The home team held on well for the next five minutes, thanks mainly to two top class saves from Breen but the Kildare pressure eventually told when corner forward Oisin Millman grabbed his team’s first gaol. Two fine points from Michael Blaney kept Antrim in the game but five minutes from half time Neill Ahearne grabbed his team’s second goal. Oisin Connolly hit two quick scores for the Saffrons to leave them trailing by four at the break.
When Antrim hit a point early in the second half you wondered if the breeze was as big a factor as suspected but it soon became clear that it was and three minutes later substitute Jack Keogh struck his team’s third goal with a top drawer finish. Campbell got the fourth while the fifth, sixth and seventh followed as the Kildare boys displayed their wide range of skills to cruise home in style.
Antrim – Declan Breen, Reuben Carlton, Cathal Hynds, Brendan Murray Lopez, Oisin Crawford, Oisin Connolly, Jack Broderick, Paudie McLaughlin, Jake White, Ethan Higgins, Adam Lamb, Odhran McDonald, Michael Blaney, Ryan McCarthy, Aidan Scullion.
Subs – Dylan Magee, Gearoid McKernan, Fionn Nagle, Louis McCormick, Jonathan Rodgers
Pics by Dylan McIlwaine