O’Neill Sportswear Antrim Football League – Division 1

St Galls 1 – 10 v 1- 12 Roger Casements

A sizeable crowd turned up at Milltown Row in anticipation to witness this scheduled clash of unbeaten clubs, resurgent St Galls, and current Eddie Fitzsimmons Cup hosts Portglenone.

The scene was perfectly set, sun shining and pitch in immaculate condition. Interestingly St Galls warm up routine included a full 8 a side, half pitch game, and when referee Conall Roberts got the game underway, it was straight into the action.

An excellent long range trademark point from Casements Ciaran McAleese put the visitors ahead after four minutes, but they wouldn’t add to this for at least a full quarter, as St Galls enjoyed a totally dominant purple patch in which they racked up seven of the next nine scores.

It was team veterans Aodhan Gallagher and Michael Pollock who led the charge, in no small way thanks to some telepathy from Chris Kerr who seemed to find this duo with ease with every kick out. Age being definitely just a number.

If St Galls game plan revolved around getting quality ball into big Conn Doherty on the edge of the Casement’s square, Shane Delargy was also in top form, thwarting numerous penetrating deliveries with perfectly timed interceptions.

Marcus Donnelly did drive right through Casements defence though but his thunderous shot at goal went narrowly over the bar for a minor. Michael Hopkins made no mistake though, finishing off a good team move to blast the ball past Portglenone custodian Kevin Mullan. Either side of this the unerring accuracy of Mickey Pollock had punished several misdemeanours as Les Blues kept the visitors at bay, playing football that was as is their norm, pleasing to the eye.

Casements were making many basic errors, too many passes going awry and final shot selections not making any difference to the scoreboard.

It took the busy and hardworking Enda Lynn to lift the siege, raising a much needed white flag though after a long mazy solo.  A few minutes later the subdued Oisin Doherty tapped over a free, offering just a minor glimpse of hope to the badly misfiring visitors.

As referee Roberts blew his short whistle, impressive newcomer to St Galls ranks Daniel Quinn cooly slotted over another for the hosts, leaving a well deserved six point margin between the sides at the break.

Portglenone had surrendered a similar lead to St Endas in their previous game and got through with a much improved second half, and if the hope amongst visiting supporters was that something similar might occur here, that theory took a knock though as big Marcus McCrossan pointed from distance to stretch the gap to seven. When Chris Kerr nonchalantly pinned from all of 55 yards from play – a score he will no doubt regale for quite some while, it looked all over, bar the shouting for the hosts to retain their one hundred per cent start to the season.

Aidan McAleese dissected the posts from all of sixty yards to offer the briefest of lifelines, cancelled out without fuss as imperious Pollock and corner man Quinn pointed to ensure it would take a comeback of massive proportions for the league champions to take any return from this end to end encounter.

The boundless energy of Enda Lynn opened a gate….a simple tap over at the end of a typical mazy run through the middle of St galls defence putting the first minion of doubt in St Galls minds.  Just one minute later long range point specialist Aidan McAleese dissected the points from all of sixty yards. A lifeline has opened up. From eight down, it was back to six.

Roger Casements were on trial… and it was time to stand up.

Suddenly Oisin Doherty was everywhere as into the contest with a bang arrived Michael Hagan, one of Casements best players this year to date. Moving ball a lot quicker and with much more purpose, Portglenone’s Hagan got on the end of a couple of fluent movements. In a brief five-minute spell Scotchy lit up, hitting a major past Kerr, topping that with two minors to boot.

Moving to engage with the legendary Aodhan Gallagher big Stephen Kelly broke numerous balls to stem the huge first phase possession stat that Gallagher had posted throughout this contest. Also turning the tide in favour of the visitors was Shane Delargy, a rock in defence throughout, his uncompromising brother Ronan never far from the action either. All of a sudden it was Casements seizing the initiative, this game was up for grabs.

Another monster effort from somewhere deep in the middle third from Aidan McAleese brought the large rallying visiting crowd into action. Suddenly only one down and with momentum, the peerless Enda Lynn, who had kick started this resurgence, drove himself, ball on toe, deep into finishing territory. His end result levelled up the contest with only a minute remaining.

Could St Galls find one more wind or would the more recent pedigree of their visitors stand up to the closest scrutiny.

In the end it was John McKeever’s men who found the way. Oisin Doherty pointed a hard won free after Aidan Mc Aleese had been brought down to put current Eddie Fitz holders in front, and when returning from injury Conall Delargy casually stroked over the last kick of the game from distance, the visitors were able to put another character-building comeback in the bank.

St Galls are moving well, the return of McCabe and Burns will be of significant benefit when the action hots up later in the year and will pose a considerable threat to all in this division. With Marcus Doherty and Manus McCrossan adding their weight to an impressive middle third, and with Gallagher and Pollock in this kind of form, no one will take them lightly.

Casements, having broken their duck in terms of silverware in this grade last season, are ticking over nicely, John McKeevers immediate priority is rotating players, keeping key players fresh and building squad numbers.

Best in action on the night were the ageless trio of Kerr, Gallagher and Pollock for St Galls, and for the visitors Shane Delargy, Michael Hagan and of course, Enda Lynn.

Scorers.

St Galls; Jack Hopkins 1 – 00, Michael Pollock 0 – 03, Daniel Quinn 0 – 02, Marcus Donnelly 0 – 01, Manus McCrossan 0 – 01, Chris Kerr 0 -0 1. (NUMBER 2 one point. Number 10 one point.

Casements; Michael Hagan 1 – 03, Enda Lynn 0 – 03, Oisin Doherty 0 – 02, Aidan McAleese 0 – 02, Conall Delargy 0 – 01, Ciaran McAleese 0 – 01.