Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship
St Teresa’s 0-13-2-15 Aghagallon
From Kevin Herron at Corrigan Park
Aghagallon saw off a dogged St Teresa’s side with two goals inside of a minute; midway through the second-half – on the way to a 2-15-0-13 triumph at Corrigan Park this evening.
Relegated St Teresa’s began the game strongly but at half-time it was Aghagallon who held a 0-10-0-06 lead.
St Teresa’s remained in contention up until the midway point in the second-half when quick-fire goals from Eunan Walsh and Adam Loughran saw their side slip into the comfort zone and seal progression to the quarter-final and a meeting with St Galls.
Having accounted for St Enda’s in last weekends preliminary round clash Aghagallon were overwhelming favourites to progress against relegated St Teresa’s but it was the men from the Glen Road who ran into an early lead.
Philip Maguire laid the ball off to Colm McGoldrick who edged his side ahead after two minutes, a converted Jay Mallon free in the aftermath was followed by a fine Anton Taylor point as St Teresa’s built up an early 0-03-0-00 advantage .
Gareth Magee angled the ball over in response and Aghagallon were soon into their stride – hitting a further four unanswered points to swing the pendulum.
Eunan Walsh popped the ball over after some neat interchange with Ruairi McCann before Jamie Lamont drew the sides level – roaming up from wing-half back and firing between the posts.
Kevin Murray’s charges hit the front through a Ciaran Brady point and doubled their advantage through Ruairi Loughran – but a goal should really have arrived after McCann and Walsh linked up and Walsh fed corner-forward Loughran unmarked, under pressure Loughran shot high between the posts instead.
Liam Gault instantly halved the deficit after an ambitious burst and shot from the narrowest of angles, but three unanswered scores from Gareth Magee had Aghagallon 0-08-0-04 ahead approaching the midway point in proceedings.
Magee scored his first after latching onto a quickly taken free and splitting the posts, his other two scores came directly from the placed ball.
Aghagallon saw a second goal opportunity go abegging after Magee slipped in Caolan Farr whose low shot beat Matthew Mallon -but not the post.
The sides twice traded scores at the end of the opening half. Robert Gallagher’s point was cancelled out by a third converted free of the half from Magee and Jay Mallon kept the deficit at four-points after Adam Loughran had fisted his side into a 0-10-0-05 lead.
At the interval it was Aghagallon who were in control at 0-10-0-06 but St Teresa’s still remained a potent threat going into the second period.
Indeed it was the Super T’s that landed the first score of the second period, substitute Sean Maguire combined with Liam Gault for the wing-half forwards second point of the evening.
Aghagallon full-back Daniel Donnelly hit back at the other end and the sides traded further scores through Jay Mallon and Adam Loughran.
Paul Mulholland increased his sides lead after exchanging passes with Eunan Walsh and the next two scores would ultimately see off the challenge of a dogged and determined St Teresa’s side.
Midway through the second-half an Adam Loughran pass to Ruairi McCann set their side on the front foot and McCann picked out midfield partner Eunan Walsh who rifled past Matthew Mallon to give Aghagallon a 1-13-0-08 lead.
Things had gone from bad to worse by the time St Teresa’s had even plotted a response as Ciaran Brady popped the ball inside to Adam Loughran and the half-forward drilled in a quick-fire second to make it 2-13-0-08.
As the game had ran its course for St Teresa’s it was all about salvaging pride in the final quarter of an hour that remained and back to back Jay Mallon points brought his side into double figures for the evening.
Gareth Magee (free) and substitute Anthony Varndell traded points and Aghagallon’s final score of the evening arrived courtesy of substitute Oisin Lenahan.
Jay Mallon and Liam Gault’s late points were scant consolation as Aghagallon ran out convincing 2-15-0-13 winners thanks to Walsh and Loughran’s strikes.
The reward for Kevin Murray’s charges is a quarter-final clash with St Galls in two-weeks time – although it promises to be a difficult prospect in store, there is no doubt that the border-men have gathered momentum of late and will be chomping at the bit for a crack at the men from Milltown.
St Teresa’s: M Mallon, R Mallon, D McCann, P O’Rawe, C O’Rawe, P Maguire, C Mallon, N McCann, J Rainey, C McGoldrick (0-01), J Mallon (0-06, 0-04f) , L Gault (0-03), R Gallagher (0-01), A Taylor (0-01), P McGoldrick. Subs: E Connolly for C O’Rawe (22 mins); S Maguire for C McGoldrick (30 mins); A Varndell (0-01) for N McCann (38 mins); A Clarke for R Mallon (59 mins); P Glennon for J Rainey (59 mins).
Agahagallon: D O’Hagan, A Mulholland, D Donnelly (0-01), M McKenna, J Lamont (0-01), J Lenahan, P Mulholland (0-01), E Walsh (1-01), R McCann, C Brady (0-01), A Loughran (1-02), C Farr, R Loughran (0-01), G Magee (0-06, 0-04f), P Branagan. Subs: O Lenahan (0-01) for R Loughran (38 mins); M McAfee for M McKenna (50 mins); R O’Neill for A Mulholland (56 mins); F Bustard for C Farr (56 mins); S Donnelly for J Lamont (60 mins).
Referee: Brendan Toland (Lamh Dhearg)
