Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship Group 2
Lámh Dhearg 2-13-0-14 Portglenone
Kevin Herron reports from Toome
Lámh Dhearg registered their first victory over Portglenone in four years with a 2-13-0-14 win over the Bannsiders in Toome this afternoon.
Goals either side of the break from Declan Dunne and Pearse Fitzsimons ensured the Hannahstown side ran out winners.
Both sides were reduced to 14-men with Aidan McAleese departing before the break and Michael Hynes with little under a quarter of an hour remaining.
The duo headed into Sunday’s encounter with maximum points from their opening round victories on the road against Ahoghill and St Endas respectively.
Despite playing against the breeze in the opening half it was Lámh Dhearg who led on numerous occasions over the course of the first quarter of an hour.
Ben Rice got his side off and running with a fantastic, angled point and Paddy Kelly replied from his first placed ball of the afternoon from the 45’.
The Lámhs edged back ahead through a Marc Jordan point, only for Aidan McAleese to swing a fine leveller.
It was a familiar pattern of cat and mouse with the Hannahstown outfit taking the lead on two further occasions through points from Conor Murray and Shaun McManus (advanced mark).
Portglenone hit back each time though as Paddy Kelly dropped over his first from play and Francis Cassidy bent a shot over to tie things up at 0-04 apiece.
On the quarter hour mark the Bannsiders took the lead for the first time through a sensational long range Michael Hagan effort that sailed over.
Back-to-back Paddy Kelly free’s in the aftermath moved their side 0-07-0-04 to the good and momentum was now with the league champions.
A superb Marc Jordan point lifted the Lámhs, and Declan Lynch then sold two dummies and kicked over to bring things back to within a point.
The opening goal of the game arrived four minutes before the break. Declan Smyth slipped a pass into the path of Marc Jordan who cut inside and headed towards the target before popping the ball off to Declan Dunne- who swivelled and fired a ferocious shot high into the top corner past Ryan O’Neill to give his side a 1-06-0-07 lead.
Paddy Kelly (free) and Conor Murray traded scores in the aftermath, but Portglenone suffered a further set-back before the half time whistle as Aidan McAleese was cited for hitting out off the ball and was shown a red-card by referee Conal Roberts.
Despite their numerical deficiency, Portglenone were first off the mark in the second period through Paddy Kelly’s fourth converted free of the afternoon.
Ben Rice doubled his personal tally in response and a second goal was almost forthcoming for Dunne- who eventually tapped over at the second time of asking after Pearse Fitzsimons saw his effort blocked on the line.
Dunne would play a prominent role in the goal arriving 60-seconds later, Declan Lynch popped the ball off to Eoin McKeown and the pacy wing-half back set off on a trademark burst, found Dunne who slipped the ball off to Fitzsimons for a palm to the net past O’Neill to give their side a 2-09-0-09 lead.
Portglenone would half the deficit with three Paddy Kelly scores in succession. The Bannsiders talisman dropped over his second 45’ of the afternoon and expertly landed two further frees against the breeze.
In-between Kelly’s two frees, Conal Roberts was forced to issue his second red card of proceedings as Michael Hynds was adjudged to have struck out under the nose of the linesman who prompted Roberts to take action.
Lámh Dhearg were under the cosh, but evergreen Paddy Cunningham stepped up to the mark and curled an angled free between the posts.
Oisin Doherty would twice reduce arrears to back to three, the second of his points just about squeezing between the posts, but Paddy Cunningham kicked his second free in between times.
Cunningham would notch up a third free since his introduction and the insurance score arrived for Lámh Dhearg three minutes into added time when Conor Murray landed his third point of the afternoon- even having the luxury of affording to see a further scoring chance sail wide in the immediate aftermath.
Nonetheless, Murray and his team-mates were the happier at the final whistle as victory ensured that they take control of Group 2 ahead of hosting St Enda’s in their final group game in a fortnight.
Portglenone will look to dust themselves down and get back to winning ways when they take on Ahoghill at Kelly Park in two week’s time.
Lámh Dhearg: J Finucane, M Hynes, P Mervyn, M McGarry, E McKeown, D Lynch (0-01), B Rice (0-02), M Jordan (0-02), P Fitzsimons (1-00), D Smyth, S McManus (0-01m), E Matassa, T McCrudden, D Dunne (1-01), C Murray (0-03). Subs: P Cunningham (0-03f) for E Matassa (36), R Murray for B Rice (55), J Quinn for S McManus (58), C Maxwell for P Fitzsimons (60+2).
Portglenone: R O’Neill, R Delargy, S Delargy, J Convery, C Tierney, F Cassidy (0-01), C McGee, S Kelly, N McKeever, P Kelly (0-09, 0-02 45’, 0-06f), M Hagan (0-01), C McKenna, O Doherty (0-02), A McAleese (0-01), O McGarry. Subs: K O’Kane for J Convery (45), C Delargy for C McKenna (46), C McAleese for O McGarry (52), R Kelly for C Tierney (59), D McNicholl for M Hagan (59).
Referee: Conal Roberts (St Johns)
