O’Neills ACFL Division One
Lámh Dhearg 0-09-1-10 All Saint’s, Ballymena
Kevin Herron reports from Hannahstown
Ronan McKillop netted in added time to make sure that All Saint’s left Hannahstown with the spoils on Wednesday evening after a 1-10-0-09 victory over Lámh Dhearg.
A minute’s applause was poignantly held pre-throw in, in memory of the late Ryan Straney.
It took seven minutes for the opening score to arrive through Patrick McAleer’s point, though a foul on Ryan Diamond allowed Mark Finnegan to convert the resulting free and level.
Declan Lynch swept his side into the lead only for county team-mate McAleer to drop a high shot between the posts.
Further scores were traded between Michael McCarry (free) and Marc Jordan as the duo couldn’t be separated a quarter of an hour in.
All Saint’s had two glorious chances either side of the midway point, the first after Patrick McAleer seized on a defensive error and Gerard Smyth made a smart stop.
McAleer was then unable to turn the ball home at the back post after James McDonnell had slipped in Eoin Walsh and he opted to float a fist pass across to the back stick.
Patrick Ferris was proving a danger for the visitors, and he kicked a fantastic point from range, with Kavan Keenan bearing down and shooting another shortly afterwards to give his side a 0-05-0-03 lead.
A foul on Declan Lynch led to Mark Finnegan halving the deficit with his second free of the half and a goal was almost forthcoming when Ciaran Boyd floated a pass over the top which Terry McCrudden gathered, he headed for the target, but his shot was turned behind by Ryan Stewart in the All Saint’s goal.
Adam Murray levelled through a close range free and minutes later a foul on Marc Jordan saw Finnegan convert his third of the half to edge the Lámhs ahead at the interval.
The hosts survived a late goal chance before the break with a high fisted pass across the face of goal falling to Connell Lemon- whose shot was cleared off the line as his side trailed 0-06-0-05 at the break.
All Saint’s restored parity within four minutes of the restart through a Michael McCarry free and they had a further goal chance when Joe Rafferty charged through but was denied by Smyth.
The visitors hit the front for the fouth time in the contest through a fantastic Emmet Killough score, only for Mark Finnegan to swing over his first from play in response.
Substitute Sean McVeigh shot over on the turn to edge his side ahead for the last time as successive points followed through Kavan Keenan and Patrick McAleer (free) to open up a 0-10-0-08 lead with little over five minutes of normal time remaining.
Adam Murray dropped over his second free of the evening with 60-seconds of the 60 minutes remaining.
The Lámhs pushed for a goal that would have saw them edge ahead in injury-time, but they were caught out and substitute Ronan McKillop blasted to the net to all but seal the two-points.
Murray kicked a free in response, though it was little more than consolation with All Saint’s running out 1-10-0-09 winners at the conclusion.
Lámh Dhearg: G Smyth, R Murray, M McGarry, F Mervyn, D Smith, B Rice, D Murray, M Jordan (0-01), C Boyd, R Diamond, D Lynch (0-01), A Murray (0-02f), M Finnegan (0-04, 0-03f), J Quinn, T McCrudden. Subs: D Martin for R Diamond (41), M McElgunn for J Quinn (44), A McAufield for B Rice (48), C Fegan for M Finnegan (54).
All Saint’s: R Stewart, E Walsh, M Read, J Gillan, P Ferris (0-01), S O’Callaghan, J McDonnell, P McNichol, E Killough (0-01), C O’Brien, P McAleer (0-03, 0-01f), K Keenan (0-02), J Rafferty, M McCarry (0-02f), C Lemon. Subs: S McVeigh (0-01) for M McCarry (44), R McKillop (1-00) for J Rafferty (49).
Referee: Colm McDonald (St Galls)