Con Magees sealed promotion to Division 2 on Sunday when they beat fellow contenders Ardoyne at Fr Maginn Park Glenravel. It has been a couple of good weeks for the Glenravel side, who after beating St Patrick’s Lisburn in the Junior Championship final on October 7th they went on to beat the two teams who were also in contention for league promotion St Comgall’s and Ardoyne to secure a place in Division 2 as champion. Their nearest rivals St Patrick’s have still a game to play this weekend but and will probably finish level on points but with just two teams finishing level the winner is decided on the head to head between the sides. Con Magees beat St Patrick’s by 5 points up in Lisburn but when they visited Fr Maginn Park later in the season St Patrick’s were victorious by four, meaning that the Glenravel men clinch the league title by a single point.
Sunday’s game saw the Fr Maginn Park side dominate the opening half to put themselves in a strong position at the break. Ardoyne actually took the lead in the second minute with a point from a free, but incredibly it was their only score of the half. Conor McNeill put the home side ahead in the fifth minute and Declan Traynor pointed them ahead a minute later but they really took control of the game in the ninth minute when Eamon Fyfe fired the ball to the Ardoyne net. Well on top at this stage they pressed home their advantage with further points from Conor McNeill, Kieran McKeown, Conor Carey and two from Josh McKeown to lead by 1-6 to 0-1 at the interval.
Despite facing the wind in the second half Glenravel stretched their advantage with points from Conor McNeill and Josh McKeown (2) to stretch the lead to eleven points. Ardoyne kept plugging away during the second period but each point the got was answered by one at the other end for the home side, and though the visitors grabbed a goal from an injury time penalty the destiny of the points had long since been decided.
As for Glenravel themselves they face Donegal champions Red Hughs on Sunday in Portglenone in the quarter-final of the Ulster Junior Football Championship.
Glenravel scorers – Josh McKeown 0-5; Eamon Fyfe 1-1; Conor McNeill 0-3; Declan Traynor 0-1; Conor Carey 0-1; Aidan O’Donnell 0-1.