Antrim Football League – Division 1
All Saints 0-10 St Enda’s 2-7
A goal in the second minute of the game by St Enda’s Fionn Nagle would turn out to be the score that separated his side and All Saints in Wednesday evening’s Division 1 League game at Quinn Park, Ballymena. The home team had attacked from the throw in but when the move broke down the ball was sent quickly up the field where Nagle made a good high catch on the edge of the ‘square’, and while the referee was blowing for the ‘mark,’ Nagle simply carried on and fired the ball across the All Saints keeper to the net.
In a brisk start to the game, played in a strong diagonal wind, All Saints hit back right away and following a strong run from right half back Patrick Ferris, Cal O’Brien fired over less than a minute later. Ferris’s runs were a feature of All Saints play in the opening half and he was a little unlucky to fire wide of the target following another great break soon afterwards.
St Enda’s went a goal clear again soon afterwards when Cormac Morgan sent over a free, but once again the home side reacted and a fine strike by James McDonnell had the gap back to two again on eight minutes. Two quick points by James McAuley and Sean McBride gave St Enda’s a bit o breathing space, but All Saints came back strongly and three points in a six minute spell of dominance brought two points from Michael McCarry frees and one from play from play by Conall Lemon to cut the gap back to the minimum.
Just when it seemed the Ballymena men were gaining the upper hand they were hit with another sucker punch as the visitors struck their second goal, and following good work on the right corner Eoghan O’Hare sent in a ball across the edge of the ‘square’ and Nagle cleverly palmed it over the Ballymena goalkeeper head to the net.
2-04 to 0-04 ahead at the break St Enda’s appeared to be in a strong position at they turned to play down towards the Woodside Road end of the ground, where the strong diagonal wind appeared to be an advantage. However it was the home side who dominated possession, and created a number of good chances, but they were off target on three occasion in the first ten minutes, though Ronan McKillop did manage a very good point from a narrow angle on the right. James McAuley opened St Enda’s second half account with a fine strike from 40 metres after ten minutes and Ronan O’Neill followed it up with another top class score six minute later.
As the All Saints wide count increased the game seemed as good as over when Donal Walsh pointed for the Glengormley men to stretch the gap to five by the 54th minute. However All Saints battled to the very end and McKillop and McCarry grabbed the last two scores of the game to leave just three between them at the end.
