ACFL Division 2 Reserve
All Saints 3-17 St. Mary’s Ahoghill 4-4
A virtuoso display by All Saints full-forward, Diarmuid ‘Mitch’ McNally helped All Saints to a deserved ten point victory over St. Mary’s Ahoghill in the opening game of the ACFL Division 2 Reserve league at Quinn Park tonight.
The number 14 was unplayable over the hour and finished the game with a personal total 0f 2-6 in a game where the home side always looked like winning after a cagey opening quarter where the visitors led by 1-2 to 1-1.
It was corner-back Shea Neeson who got forward for an early goal for the visitors but when Mitch McNally redirected an Enda Kennedy shot with a flick of his wrist to the net in the 10th minute to level matters at 1-1 apiece the Ballymena side never looked back.
Enda Kennedy, Diarmuid McNally, Niall Quinn, McNally again and Joe Rocks added unanswered points by the 23d minute to move the home side five ahead and the strong running and pace of the All Saints attack was stretching the Ahoghill men.
‘Mitch’ McNally took an astute pass from Owen Walsh to extend the home side’s lead with a good point on the restart and points from Niall Walsh and McNally again moved All Saints 8 in front and they were threatening to run away with it at this stage.
Ahoghill began to use the long ball into the danger area however and it paid dividends as Ryan Keenan and then Ryan McPeake capitalized on panic in the Ballymena defence with two quick goals that left them trailing by just two points at the end of the third quarter.
All Saints regained their composure and the initiative as McNally fired a daisy cutter to the corner of the net and when Niall Walsh got his side’s third major with ten minutes remaining it looked all over. Ciaran Campbell, McNally, Charlie Metrustry 0-2 and Aidan Scullion all added points to move their side out of site.
To their credit the Cloney men never gave up and were rewarded with a penalty after Shea Neeson was fouled in the small square and the corner back picked himself up to beat Daniel McCoy from the spot to conclude the scoring.
All Saints: 1 Daniel McCoy, 20 Jude Casey, 3 Jack Agnew, 4 Paddy O’Brien, 5 Michael Read 6 Dara Walsh, 7 Conal Killough, 8 Luke O’Rawe, 9 Joe Rocks, 10 Niall Walsh, 11 Eoin Walsh, 12 Darragh Mussen, 13 Charlie Metrustry, 14 Diarmuid McNally, 15 Enda Kennedy.
Subs Used: Reece O’Mullan, Ciaran Campbell, Aidan Scullion,
Ahoghill: 1 Joe Downey, 2 Finbar Graham, Niall Magee, 4 Shea Neeson, 5 Jerard Keenan, 6 Stephen O’Connell, 7 Ben Friel, 8 Dominic Neeson, 9 James Graham, 10 Callum Reynolds, 11 Sean McMahon, 12 Ryan Martin, 13 Ryan Keenan, 14 Aiden Graham, 15 Ryan McPeake, 16 Connor Scullion, 17 John Paul Neeson
Referee: Gerard Dougan (Creggan)
