ACFL Division 1
Casement’s Portglenone 0-8 St. Brigid’s 1-3
Casement’s collected their second brace of points in a game that won’t live long in the memory of the large crowd gathered at Kelly Park on Sunday, with the blustery conditions playing its part on a low scoring contest.
Within the first few minutes of the game St Brigid’s were reduced to 14 men with their full back being shown a straight red card.
Casement’s used their numerical advantage to move into the lead with a long range free from Paddy Kelly in the 8th minute and this was followed by points from Niall McKeever and a lovely Michael Hagan score in the 15th minute.
St Brigid’s got their first score of the game with centre forward Niall Lundy finding the target but Casements replied and Paddy Kelly converted another free followed by 2 quick fire points from Ciaran McKenna in 23rd and 24th minutes.
It was all Casements at this stage but in the dying minutes of the first half St Brigid’s got their 2nd point of the game through Conor McAleer to leave the half time score of Casement’s 0.6 St Brigid’s 0.2
The visitors visitors had it all to do in the 2nd half but the 14 man Belfast side got off to a dream start with corner forward Conor McAleer fisting an inviting ball into the Casement’s goalmouth to the net in the 3rd minute, making it a one point game.
The rest of the second half turned into a scrappy contest with both teams playing men behind the ball and retaining possession.
Casement’s extended their lead with another Paddy Kelly free in the 12 th minute with St Brigid’s full forward Peter Webb replying from a point from play in the 16th minutes.
Michael Hagan added to his tally in the 24th minute to make it a 2 point game again. and the last 5 minutes of the game played out with the home side happy to retain possession and earn a 2 point victory over a very determined St Brigid’s team who battled hard despite being a man down.
Casement’s: 1. Ryan O’Neill 2 Ronan Delargy 3 Shane Delargy 4 Johnny Convery 5 Ryan Convery 6 Ruairí Hagan 7 Caolan Tierney 8 Niall Delargy 9 Niall McKeever 10 Aidan McAleese 11 Ciaran McKenna 12 Michael Kelly 13 Oisín Doherty 14 Paddy Kelly 15 Michael Hagan
Subs Ronan Kelly, Conall Delargy, Mark Graham, Paddy Carey