U21 Football Championship
Grading Round 2
All Saints 6-10 St. James Aldergrove 1-5
All Saints Ballymena produced a polished performance at Quinn Park tonight to overcome the challenge of a weakened St. James’ Aldergrove and qualify for the knockout stages of the U21 Football Championship.
The game was switched at the request of the Crumlin side who are preparing for a forthcoming Ulster Intermediate club championship game next weekend with St. James also conceding home advantage.
The early exchanges were even enough with both sides missing early scoring chances before James McDonnell opened the scoring for the home side with a point in the 6th minute. Two minutes later the home defence got into a bit of a tizzy with a defender misguiding a hand pass across goal but Martin Pollock’s shot from close range went wide of an upright.
It was Aldergrove’s only opportunity to take the lead though they did draw level through a Caoimhin McConnell pointed free in the 12th minute as the game took a while to get going. Up to this point the better chances had probably fell to the Crumlin side but a Shea O’Brien goal in the 18th minute changed all that.
Kavan Keenan intercepted Oisin McGarry’s kick-out and placed O’Brien who made no mistake from close range and this score brought All Saints to life as they began to get on top all over the field. Eoghan Daly and Brendan McDonnell added points as the home side started to push up on the Aldergrove kick-outs and when James McDonnell added a second goal they were in complete control.
Aldergroves Odhran Creaney carries the ball out of defence
A strong run from Conor Stewart saw the big mid-fielder’s shot come back of an upright and Ronan Laverty fed the ball back out to McDonnell who side stepped his marker before firing home. That left it 2-3 to 0-1 with 21 minutes gone to leave Aldergrove with a mountain to climb.
They replied with a pointed free from the impressive Caoimhin McConnell but Shea O’Brien responded immediately with a point at the other end and the same player added another as he fisted over a Kavan Keenan delivery.
James McDonnell hit a great point with two minutes remaining to half time and then Conor Stewart soloed through before striking a superb goal to leave his side in complete control at the half way stage.
It didn’t get any better for the visitors on the restart as Ronan Laverty fielded a long delivery from Shea O’Brien before firing home from close range in the fourth minute and Shea O’Brien followed with a point before Aldergrove got their name on the second half score card with a point from Adrian Mulholland.
The St. James’ side were playing some good football despite the scoreline but were finding it difficult to penetrate a tight home defence which was superbly marshalled by Padraig Magill, Cormac Lemon, Matthew Downey and Rhys O’Mullan and it was O’Mullan who stole forward to grab goal number five with eight minutes of the new half gone.
All Saints Conor Stewart soloes through the heart of the Aldergrove defence
The visitors refused to throw in the towel however and their efforts were rewarded when the superb Caoimhin McConnell got on the end of a good move to fire past Emmet McAllister from an acute angle in the 10th minute.
All Saints replied from the kickout as Brendan McDonnell fired over a point and Kavan Keenan followed with goal number six as space began to open up in a tiring Aldergrove defence.
Conor Stewart followed with another before Caoimhin McConnell brought his total for the night to 1-5 from another brace of frees. It was All Saints who finished on the offensive however and their team captain Brendan McDonnell fired over from play before concluding the scoring from a close range free with the last kick of the game.
A solid performance from All Saints who have looked useful in their two games to date and they were in control after those two early goals but they are likely to face much stronger opposition in the knock-out stages.
Aldergrove will feel they have bigger fish to fry with the Intermediate championship game against the Donegal champions just a week away but their management will be pleased at the effort put in by those on show tonight and in Caoimhin McConnell they had a player who really caught the eye.
All Saints: Emmet McAllister, Ronan Ward, Padraig Magill, C O’Neill, Eoghan Walsh, Cormac Lemon, Rhys O’Mullan, Kavan Keenan, Conor Stewart, Eoghan Daly, Brendan McDonnell, James McDonnell, Matthew Downey, Ronan Laverty, Shea O’Brien. Subs: Kevin Brady, Kieran O’Boyle,
Aldergrove: Oisin McGarry, Lorcan Rooney, Odhran Creaney, Ronan Wilkinson, Daniel Bell, Fearghal Hanna, Declan Gough, Fionn McDonagh, Oisin Graham, Eoin Masterson, Caoimhin McConnell, Adrian Mulholland, Martin Pollock, Conall Quinn, Conor Totten. Subs: Conor Morris
Referee: Patrick Tumelty
