Homefit Antrim Football Division 1
St Johns 1-9 Portglenone 1-12
Paul McIntyre was at Corrigan Park.
It was a tale of two penalties at Corrigan Park on Wednesday evening as Portglenone came away with the points following a three-point victory over the hosts.
Conal Delargy converted his strike in the 15th minute to his give the Casements a lead that they held to the end, while early in the second half Ryan O’Neill got down to his left to deny Darren Bellew for St John’s. And to rub salt into the wounds, O’Neill also saved Bellew’s follow up attempt.
It was a bright opening to the contest and when Andy McGowan landed a point from 40 metres in the 12th minute, it levelled proceedings at 0-3 each before Delargy dispatched his penalty after a foul on Oisin Doherty.
It remained nip and tuck for the remainder of the half and Stephen Tierney’s point just before the break for the hosts left the scoreboard reading St Johns 0-8 Portglenone 1-7.
Bary Dillion’s chargers sped out of the blocks at the start of the second half and Conal Delargy brought his tally to 1-4 from a free before half back Ryan Convery registered a score when maybe an off load to Doherty was the better option.
Following their penalty miss, St Johns were dealt a further blow when they lost defender Aaron Douglas to injury, while at the other end, they had still to trouble the scoreboard operator.
Portglenone were happy to tag on the points and opened up a six-point lead when Paddy Kelly pointed a free in the 46th minute.
St Johns received a lifeline on 51 minutes when Darren Bellew found himself in acers of space to drive the ball into the roof of the Portglenone net after a great forceful run from Pearse Donnelly, however any hopes of a comeback were quickly put to bed when Ryan McNulty was sent off on a second yellow card just three minutes later.
Portglenone happily saw out the remaining minutes of the contest and Kelly claimed his second of the night with an expertly struck 45 to seal a first win of the new league season.
Team & Scorers:
St Johns: Padraig Nugent, Michael Dudley (0-1), Connor Carson, Aaron Douglas, Oisin Donnelly, Pearse Donnelly (0-1), Paul Gribben, Jack Bohill, Ronan McCafferty (0-1), Ryan McNulty, Stephen Tierney (0-1), Darren Bellew (1-3 2f), Conall Quinn, Andy McGowan (0-2), Fra McCrudden.
Subs: Simon McDonagh for C. Carson (HT), Ross Hannigan for A. Douglas (37), Connor Hand for F. McCrudden (46), Joe Garland for P. Donnelly (58).
Portglenone: Ryan O’Neill, Connor McGee, Shane Delargy, Ronan Delargy, Ryan Convery (0-1), Ruairi Hagan, Caolan Tierney, Ronan Kelly (0-1), Paddy Kelly (0-2 1f, 1’45’), Conal Delargy (1-5 1-0 pen, 4f), Aidan McAleese, Fergal O’Kane, Michael Kelly, Michael Hagan (0-3), Oisin Doherty.
Sub: Ciaran McKenna for R. Hagan (57).
Referee: Brendan Toland (Lamh Dhearg)