Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final
Lámh Dhearg 3-08-5-08 Portglenone
Kevin Herron reports from Dunsilly
Portglenone overturned a four-point deficit at half-time to claim a place in the semi-final of the Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship with a 5-08-3-08 win over Lámh Dhearg at Dunsilly this afternoon.
Michael Hagan’s second goal of the game had levelled for the Bannsiders midway through the second half and they kicked on with further strikes through Paddy Kelly and Aidan McAleese to return to the county semi-final for a third year running.
Today’s game was arguably the pick of the last eight ties in a repeat of the 2019 semi-final that took three games to decide.
There would be no prospect of that trilogy though with the game needing to be decided on the day.
Ronan Kelly nudged his side ahead early-on and the Ports built on that when Michael Hagan’s free dropped over Mark McIlvenny and over the line according to the umpires and the Bannsiders were 1-01-0-00 to the good.
Lámh Dhearg replied through a nice Paddy Cunningham point and Cunningham played the providers role in Kevin Quinn dropping another one over the bar to split the deficit.
On 11 minutes the Hannahstown men hit the front, Marc McGarry fisted the ball forward to Paddy Cunningham who held the ball up and slipped it into the path of Conor Murray, Murray showed determination and burst towards the target before arrowing a shot off the underside of the bar and past Ryan O’Neill to give his side a 1-02-1-01 lead.
Two minutes later and things got better for the Lámhs, winning a free in their defensive third- Ross Murray got things moving quickly with a pass to Declan Lynch who picked out Ryan Murray with a superb through ball. Like his brother, Murray tore towards goal but unselfishly slipped it across to Terry McCrudden – who palmed it in for a quickfire second.
Portglenone then lost Ronan Kelly for 10 minutes after chopping down Terry McCrudden off the ball.
A foul on Conor Murray a few minutes after the first-half water-break allowed Paddy Cunningham to convert his first free of the afternoon at the second time of asking.
Michael Hagan added to his early goal with a point in front of the posts in response and on 21 minutes his side came right back into proceedings.
Moving the ball through the hands at pace, Oisin Doherty found Niall Delargy and he moved the ball across before contact with Conal Delargy awaiting a defensive splitting pass and rounding Mark McIlvenny to slid home and make it 2-03-2-02.
Pearse Fitzsimons departed in the aftermath of the goal to make matters worse for the Lámhs, but they regrouped as Conor Murray won a long ball and converted the advanced mark.
Murray then provided his sides third goal of the half, controlling Kevin Quinn’s fist-pass; the full-forward slipped the ball across to Terry McCrudden who palmed in his second and made it 3-04-2-02 and re-establish his sides five-point lead.
Portglenone would reply before the break after Ronan Kelly marked his introduction with a second score, following a nice lay-off from namesake Stephen to ensure that their side trailed 3-04-2-03 at the interval.
Ronan Kelly began the second half as he started the first- clipping the ball between the posts to further reduce his sides arrears.
Another point followed courtesy of Ruairi Hagan before a quickly taken Paddy Cunningham free to Ryan Murray resulted in an impressive, angled point.
Conal Delargy converted a free- though Ryan Murray guided over his second point of the afternoon to make it a three-point game once again (3-06-2-06).
Casements sensed that Lámh Dhearg were to be got at and approaching the midway point of the second half they restored parity.
Again, the emphasis of the attack was through the hands as Niall McKeever picked out Michael Donnelly in the area, Donnelly tried to pull the trigger but his shot was blocked, and he simply steered a sidewards pass to Michael Hagan to blast to the net and level at 3-06 apiece.
Both sides were reduced to 14-men a few minutes later, Kevin Quinn was given his second yellow-card of the contest and was followed to the line by Niall Delargy- who was issued with a straight red-card.
Delargy’s side were in the ascendancy though fluffed two opportunities to take the lead, at the third time of asking they did hit the front through Dermot McAleese.
Lámh Dhearg levelled proceedings thanks to a Paddy Cunningham free, but they fell behind again to a converted Michael Hagan free.
Hagan played a big role in his side extending their lead and surely claiming a place in the last four when he floated a ball over the top for Paddy Kelly to get on the end of ahead of Aaron McAufield and Kelly took aim and shot low to the net to give his side a 4-08-3-07 lead with less than two minutes of normal time remaining.
Portglenone were reduced to 13-men as Ronan Delargy was dismissed for an off the ball incident a few minutes after Kelly’s goal.
The Lámhs were unable to make the most of their numerical advantage with Marc Jordan hitting a solitary point to put a goal between the sides with little time remaining.
In that time that was left Portglenone picked the Hannahstown side off and Aidan McAleese showed fantastic skill and composure to flick back a long pass and with Mark McIlvenny leaving his net unattended it was left to Ryan Diamond to try and keep McAleese at bay, despite Diamond’s best attempts McAleese blasted home the clincher and McIlvenny was black carded for an off the ball challenge to end a miserable half for his men.
The final whistle blew shortly after as Portglenone deservedly secured a semi-final meeting with Aghagallon next weekend.
Lámh Dhearg: M McIlvenny, R Murray, A McAufield, M McGarry, E Matassa, D Lynch, P Mervyn, M Jordan (0-01), P Fitzsimons, D Smyth, R Murray (0-02), K Quinn (0-01), P Cunningham (0-03, 0-02f), C Murray (1-01), T McCrudden (2-00). Subs: D Smith for P Fitzsimons (21), A Byrne for M Jordan (Blood sub) (43-46), R Diamond for D Smyth (55).
Portglenone: R O’Neill, J Convery, C McLaughlin, R Delargy, R Convery, R Hagan (0-01), D McAleese (0-01), N McKeever, M Donnelly, R Kelly (0-03), N Delargy, C Delargy (1-01, 0-01f), M Hagan (2-02, 1-01f), S Kelly, O Doherty. Subs: A McAleese (1-00) for O Doherty (42), P Kelly (1-00) for S Kelly (52), F O’Kane for C McLaughlin (58).
Referee: Conal Roberts (Naomh Eoin)
