ACHL Division 4

All Saints 7-19 Henry Joy’s 3-4

All Saints made it 8 wins from 8 starts when they proved too strong for new boys Anrai Seoighe at Quinn Park today. The Falls Road side arrived in Ballymena with only 15 men but shocked the home side when a long range free from Joe McQuillan travelled all the way to the All Saints net through a pack area.

All Saints had opened with the game’s opening point from James O’Boyle and replied through a Ciaran Neeson free and a ‘65’ from the same player to leave matters all square by the 7^th minute as the league leaders settled into the game.

The visitors hit the front once more when McQuillan pointed another free in the 8^th minute but when the excellent Damian Gillan replied with a goal at the other end the Quinn Park side started to dominate.

Damian Gillan and  Daniel Gray, added points before Ciaran Neeson rifled the sliotar to the Henry Joy’s net in the 14^th minute to move his side 25 to 1-12 ahead and the pace and movement of the home side was starting to open up a hard working visitors defence.

Joe McQuillan replied from a pointed free to bring his side’s total to 1-2 but All Saints finished strongly and points from Ciaran Neeson 0-2, Damian Gillan, John Magill and Cormac Lemon had them 3-11 to 1-3 ahead at the break, the visitors other point coming from the excellent McQuillan.

It didn’t get any better for the Belfast men on the restart with Neeson pointing in the 3d minute and Gillan adding a 4^th minute goal and when Neeson pointed a 50 meter free the All Saints lead had moved to 16 points and the result looked sewn up even at this early juncture.

Anrai Seoighe could have been forgiven for throwing in the towel but they continued to battle for every ball and received a boost when Joe McQuillan’s long range free ended in the home net with the towering Connor O’Neill possible getting the final touch.

Straight from the puck out play switched to the other end and Terence Diamond fired past Stiofen Murphy to restore the home side’s 16 point advantage as the flood gates opened with Ciaran Neeson hitting three points in succession and Vinny Esler and Kevin Brady adding further goals as the opposition began to tire.

To their credit Henry Joy’s kept battling to the end and were rewarded when Joe McQuillan got through for their third goal in the 26^th minute to add to an Eoin O’Neill point but the final score of the game fell to top scorer Neeson who netted with time almost up to bring his personal tally to 3-9.

This win keeps All Saints in top place, four points ahead of Loch Mor Dal gCais who recorded a fine 1-15 to 1-7 win over Latharna Og today and Kickham’s Ardoyne who sit in third place after their win over St. Gall’s but have a game in hand.

All Saints: Ciaran Cassley, 2 Dwayne McKee, 3 Chris McAffee, 4 Kevin Brady, 5 Cathaoir Cunning, 6 Colum Neeson, 7 Daniel Gray, 8 Cormac Magill, 9 Vinny Esler, 10 Cormac Lemon, 11 Damian Gillan, 12 Ciaran Neeson 13 James O’Boyle, 14 Jack Magill, 15 Terence Diamond.

Anrai Seoighe: 1 Stiofen Murphy, 2 Shane O’Reilly, 3 Matthew Carlin, 4 James Jacobson, 5 Kurtis Maguire, 6 Pol O’Hagan, 7 Rian McCreight, 8 Joe McQuillan, 9 Adam O’Rourke, 10 Raymond Burns, 11 Stephen McIlhatton, 12 Sean McIlhatton, 13 Colum Lowry, 26 Connor O’Neill, 15 Eoin O’Neill

Referee: Brendan Toland Lamh Dhearg