ACFL Division 2

Davitt’s 2-10 St. Teresa’s 0-5 

St. Teresa’s remain top of division 2 despite this comprehensive defeat to Michael Davitt’s, their second in two outings. The home side took control at the end of the opening quarter with a goal from Gerard Slane and never looked back.

It was St. Teresa’s who opened the scoring at Davitt’s Park on Wednesday evening when John Mallon pointed them ahead from a free but an excellent long range point from Padraig McParland and another from Sean Og O’Neill saw the home side ahead for the first time.

Anton Taylor tied the contest for the second time and further exchanges from Nathan Maginn and Conor McCann left it 0-3 each and at this point there was little between the sides.

Paul McLaughlin edged Davitt’s ahead once more with a fine point and the game then swung decisively in favour of the home side when they turned over a St. Teresa’s kickout and Gerard Slane finished clinically to the net to put them four ahead.

Slane was having a fine game for the Davitt’s Park side and he finished the half with a point to leave his side leading 1-5 to 0-3 at the short whistle and good value for that lead.

Half Time Davitt’s 1-5 St. Teresa’s 0-3

Davitt’s started the second half as they had finished the first, on the front foot and Sean Og O’Neill increased their lead with an early point as Daniel Wallace replaced Padraig McParland in the home defence.

St. Teresa’s tried to respond but with no success and the home side put themselves in a strong position when the ball was worked the length of the field from a kick-out and Conor John Sullivan got on the end of a lob over the top of the visiting defence to fire past Ciaran Murtagh in the visitor’s goal.

The home side were in complete control as Anthony Rowntree got his name on the score-sheet with a point before Eoghan Hamill finally opened the visitors second half account with a point with ten minutes remaining.

Back came Davitt’s as Sean Og O’Neill made it 0-3 for the evening before John mallon replied with St. Teresa’s 5^th and final point of the night with Gerard Slane and Conor John Sullivan concluding the scoring with late Davitt’s points.

Following a great start to the season, the wheels seemed to have come off the St. Teresa’s wagon in the last two games but they shouldn’t panic as they still hold top spot in the table.

Thery have a home game on Sunday where they entertain an improving St. Mary’s Rasharkin and can expect nothing easy there but a win would go some way to restoring their confidence.

Davitt’s have made Davitt’s Park something of a fortress in recent times and this win moves them onto 10 points, only two behind the league leaders and on this form they are capable of making a serious challenge for honours this year.

Davitt’s: 1 Aaron Slane, 2 Caoimhin Rainey, 3 Paul McKinney, 5 Nathan Maginn, 6 Padraig McParland, 7 Odhran O’Kane, 8 Niall McParland, 9 Deaglan Mooney, 10 Anthony Hargan, 11 Gerard Slane, 12 Paul McLaughlin, 13 Conor John Sullivan, 14 Anthony Rowntree, 15 Sean Og O’Neill, 16 Jay Maguire, 17 Camhan Slane, 19 James Lindsay, 22 Brendan McKenna, 23 Daniel Wallace, 24 Ryan Park, 25 Michael Connolly

St. Teresas: 1 Ciaran Murtagh, 2 Eoin Connolly, 3 Paul Johnston, 4 Aodhan Dugan, 5 Colm McGoldrick, 6 Conor O’Rawe, 7 Conor Mallon, 8 Darren McCann, 9 Stephen Carey, 10 Eoghan Hamill, 11 John Mallon, 12 Paul McGoldrick, 13 Mark Small, 14 Conor McCann, 15 Anton Taylor

Referee: Sean Elliott (Lamh Dhearg)

ACFL Division 2

St. Mary’s Rasharkin 1-17 Kickham’s Ardoyne 1-4

St. Mary’s Rasharkin took advantage of the strong breeze in the opening half to put this game at Dreen out of reach of visitors Ardoyne by half-time.  With Eamonn McNeill on fire St. Mary’s led by 1-11 to 0-1 at the break and it was as good as over.

The North Belfast side performed a bit better after the break and managed to match the home side’s second half total but Brtendan O’Neill’s goal after 20 minutes came too late to have any bearing on the final result.

During the opening half it was Rasharkin who got off to a flier with Eamonn McNeill leading the way and the excellent number 15 would contribute 1-7 of his side’s first half total as he proved virtually unmarkable.

Conor McFerran made a sizeable contribution with 0-3 and Daniel Doherty, Fearghal Kennedy and Oran McMullan were all on target with Ardoyne’s only point of the opening half coming from Joe Gibson.

Half time Rasharkin 1-11 Ardoyne 0-01

With the wind behind them the visitors needed a good start to the second half but it was Rasharkin who started the 2^nd half against the breeze brightly with 3 early points through Conor McFerran and Eamon McNeill 0-2 and to open up a 16 point gap but despite plenty of possession the scores dried up.

It was visitors Ardoyne who began to enjoy a wee bit of success as Joe Gibson kicked his and his side’s second point from a free in the 6^th minute with Cormac Mullan adding two more by the end of the third quarter.

These scores seemed to give the visitors some encouragement and Brendan McNeill finished to the net in the 20^th minute to bring their total to the evening to 1-4 but that would be as good as it got with the home defence closing shop.

Once again it was Eamonn McNeill who led the Rasharkin charge as they climb clear of the bottom two with their third win of the present campaign.

Indeed their point total could have been much great but they suffered one point defeats to St. Paul’s and Naomh Padraig but they seem to be heading in the right direction and will test any side in the division on their day.

Ardoyne seem to be going through a bit of a crisis at present with a number of regulars missing but if they can get those players back on board then they are capable of much better than they showed in this one.

Rasharkin: Cathair Henderson, Pearce Kelly, Emmet McFerran, Liam Quigg, Colm Kennedy, Fergus Quigg, Conan McMullan, Ruairi O’Boyle, Oran McMullan 0-01, Killian O’Boyle, Fearghal Kennedy 0-02, Daniel Doherty 0-01, Jack Quinn, Conor McFerran 0-04, Eamonn McNeill 1-09

Subs: 

Donagh Quigg for Jack Quinn

Caolan Maria for Eamonn McNeill

Daniel McGurk for Conor McFerran

Ardoyne:  Dan Watson,  Ethan Magill,  Mico mcAuley,  Oisin Hickey, Aron Stewart,  Pearse Marley, Brendan Marley,  Dan Moore,  Rinnian O’Brien,  Conor Magee,  Joe Gibson,  Brendan O’Neill,  Odhran McKee,  Owen Corrigan, Brian McAree,  James McAuley,  Ciaran O’Neill,  Cormac Mullan, Gary McKeown.

Referee: Paul Burns (St. Comgall’s)

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 54^th 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.