Northern Switchgear SFC Group 3
Tir na nOg 0-15 Aghagallon 4-13
St. Mary’s Aghagallon topped Group 3 of the Northern Switchgear SFC Group 3 following this comprehensive victory over Tir na nOg at Whitehill on Sunday, eliminating Seunday’s opponents in the process with Gort na Mona joining Sunday’s winners with a superior score difference to the Randalstown side
Before the game a minutes silence was observed for Seamus Walsh, father of South West committee member Colum Walsh and grandfather of Eunan Walsh and a lifelong Aghagallon man and it was fitting that Eunan got his side off to a flier with a goal after 30 seconds.
The visitors to Whitehill dominated the opening quarter and struck with a second goal from Niall McShane after 11 minutes with Paul Mulholland Gareth Magee and McShane all to the fore with some fine points.
Tir na nOg recovered from a slow start and came back with points of their own through the impressive Darragh Fagan 0-5, Aaron McNeilly, Christy Sherrin and Aodhan Tolan but it was Aghagallon who led by 2-5 to 0-8 at the break with all still to play for in the second half.
Ruairi McCann increased the visitors lead with a point on the restart before Damien O’Hagan in the Aghagallon goals brought off as great save as Tir na nOg attempted to make a quick response.
McCann moved the visitors five ahead by the 6th minute but Tir na nOg came back strongly with points from Sean Duffin, Darragh Fagan and a great long range effort from Aodhan Tolan to bring themselves right back into it with 16 minutes gone.
The visitors replied with a goal from Ruairi McShane to put themselves back in control and when Adam Loughran got through for their third goal in the 14th minute it looked a long way back for the Whitehill side.
The home side pulled one back through Aaron McNeilly but the momentum was now very much with the visitors as Sean Paul McAtamney got his fist to a Gareth Magee rasper at the expense of a point and Ruairi McCann added another following a mark.
It was starting to go wrong for the home side as Enda McCartan punished a bad kick out to add another point for the Aghagallon men and a long range free from Gareth Magee and Loughran’s second goal of the game put it out of reach with seven minutes still remaining.
Ciaran Dobbin, Barry McCormick with a great long range effort and Aaron McNeilly 0-2 added consolation points for the home side with Magee and Jonathan Hannon concluding the scoring for St. Mary’s.
St. Mary’s now advance to the quarter-finals, a remarkable comeback for last year’s beaten finalists who have struggled throughout this year’s league campaign and indeed face a relegation play-off with All Saints, who finished second in division 2, later in the year.
A long list of injuries and absentees was a contributing factor to that poor league form and on the evidence of Sunday they are a side no one will be looking forward to meeting with most of the missing now back in action.
Tir na nOg: 1 Sean Paul McAtamney, 2 Oliver McAtamey, 3 Brandon McLarnon, 4 Peter Cullan, 5 Ciaran O’Neill, 6 Barry McCormick, 7 Aaron McNeilly, 8 Christy Sheerin, 9 Joshua Higgins, 10 Sean Duffin, 11 Eamon Og McAllister, 12 Darragh Fagan, 13 Aodhan Tolan, 14 Kevin Sheerin, 15 Ciaran Dobbin, 24 Daniel Martin, 21 Conor Mckenna, 20 Conor Hastings, 23 Ryan Crilly, 19 Kevin Kerr, 18 Caopimhin Duffin, 22 Deek O’Kane 17 Ethan Higgins.
Aghagallon: 1 Damien O’Hagan, 2 Paddy Brannigan, 3 Aidan Mulholland, 4 Daniel Donnelly, 5 Eunan Walsh, 7 Ciaran McGinnis, 8 David McAlernon, 10 Jonathan Hannon, 11 Padraig Gowdy, 12 Paul Mulholland, 13 Gareth Magee, 14 Ruairi McCann, 15 Niall McShane, 16 Gavin Baine, 17 Seanan Donnelly, 18 Stephen Devlin, 19 Jack Hannon, 20 Aaron Doherty, 21 Puric Maginnins, 22 Enda McCartan, 23 Adam Loughran, 24 Ruairi McShane, 25 Marc McAfee, 26 Daryl McAlernon, 27 Michael McStravick, 28 Jonathan Harbison, 29 Jack Nelson
Referee: Brendan Toland (Lamh Dhearg)
