ACFL Division 2
All Saints 3-9 Rasharkin 1-5
Pics: Mark Hasson
All Saints welcomed county players Paddy McAleer and Conor Stewart back into their starting lineout while Peter McNicholl made his first start of the season and it coincided with a much improved performance by the Ballymena side as they defeated St. Mary’s Rasharkin by 10 points at Slemish Park.
They certainly didn’t get it all their own way in the opening half but goals from Oisin Connolly and Eoin Campbell within a minute of each other at the start of the second quarter propelled them to a 2-3 to 1-3 half time lead.
The Rasharkin goal came from Ryan Lynch after 25 minutes and brought the visitors right back into contention with a just a goal separating the sides as the half time whistle sounded. It was the home side who found another gear on the restart however as they hit six second half points with the visitors only able to add two to their total and when Conor Stewart fired home a goal in the 30th minute it was already sewn up.
Eoin Campbell opened the scoring for All Saints with a point in the 3d minute but Rasharkin responded with points from Ryan Lynch and Eamon McNeill to edge ahead at the end of a low scoring opening quarter.
Matters swung dramatically in favour of the home side however with Conor Stewart and Eoin Campbell adding goals in the 16th minute and Stewart followed with a point before Ryan Lynch closed the gap with a goal for the visitors with 25 minutes gone.
Rasharkin keeper, Tiernan O’Boyle stepped up to convert a ‘45’ and close the gap to two with two minutes remaining to the break with Paddy McAleer concluding the first half scoring with a point for the Slemish Park side.
The game looked set for a tight second half as Brendan McDonnell from a free and Ryan Lynch from a similar award exchanged early scores but it was ‘Baker’ Bradley’s side who stepped up their game to another level.
Two more pointed frees from Brendan McDonnell and another from play by Rory McVeigh saw them move six clear by the 18th minute as the visitors struggled to put their game together and it was 23 minutes before Ryan Lynch scored their second point from another free.
Indeed it was to prove to be Rasharkin last score of the game as the home side finished with a flourish with Brendan McDonnell pointing his fourth free of the half and Conor Stewart showing just how much he has been missed this year as he pointed in the 30th minute and followed with a goal, 30 seconds later to conclude the scoring.
1 Niall Shannon, 2 Matthew Downey, 3 James McDonnell 4 James Gillan, 5 Joe Rafferty, 6 Peter McNicholl, 7 Paddy McAleer, 8 Emmet Killough, 9 Conor Stewart, 10 Shaun O’Callaghan, 11 Oisin Connolly, 12 Eoin Campbell, 13 Brendan McDonnell, 14 Shea O’Brien, 15 Diarmuid McNally,
Subs: Kavan Keenan on for Oisin Connolly Rory mcveigh on for diarmuid mcnally Cormac Lemon on for Eoin Campbell
Rasharkin: 1 – Tiernan O’Boyle, 2 – Daniel Doherty, 3 – Emmet McFerran, 4 – Pearse Kelly, 5 – Colm Kennedy, 6 – Seamus Ellis, 7 – Conor Doherty, 8 – Thomas McMullan, 9-
, 9 – Jack Quinn, 10 – Thomas Doherty, 11 – Eammon McNeill, 12 – Conor Hasson, 13 – Ruairi OBoyle, 14 – Ryan Lynch, 15 – Andrew Hasson.
SUBS:
off: Andrew Hasson on: Gerard O’Hagan
off: Thomas McMullan on: Conor Higgins
off: Thomas Doherty on: Odhran McGarrell
