O’Neill’s ACFL Division One
St Ergnats Moneyglass 0:11 v Glenravel 1:09
In the dying seconds of this encounter it was Eamon Fyfe who found the Moneyglass net to take the points on a sunkissed evening in Marrion Hill. There was never going to be much between these two in the chase for 2 valuable points at the bottom half of the table and it was exactly that, with the finest of margins separating them at the end. The result leaves Benny Marrons Moneyglass side at the foot of the table with just the one win to date, but all is not lost as the bottom four in this division enter a play-off to determine who makes the drop to Division 2 next season.
It was the visitors who started the brighter and raced into a 3 point lead with scores coming from Eamon Fyfe (2) and Daniel Mc Quillan. Fyfe looked lively in the opening quarter and was proving a handful for the Moneyglass defenders, however the home side opened their account with their first score of the game through Aidan Mc Erlain as a result of a minor slip in defence by Glenravel. The men in blue worked hard around the middle in the opening quarter with Seanchan Duffin, Paul Duffin and Kevin Mc Cann attempting to provide the ammunition to the forward line.
They did just that with 18mins gone when teenager Sean Boyd gathered a cleverly guided pass from Dermot Mc Erlain to call the “mark” just inside the 45 and duly converted to double their tally. The game was tied at 0-03 apiece when Boyd again cut through at pace and slotted over a fine individual effort. He raised the white flag minutes later with a good interchange of play involving Dermot Mc Erlain and Conor Boyd to take his tally to 0-3.
The home side were trying to stamp their authority on the game at this stage and with the ejection of Connor Mc Neill on 20mins for what the referee deemed a black card saw the visitors reduced to 14 for the remaining 10minutes. This didn’t seem to have the impact everyone had imagined as Glenravel rattled off three in a row through Daragh Donaghy (2) and Daniel Mc Quillan to leave the score at 0-05 v 0-06 at the end of the half.
The start of the second half saw the introduction of former Antrim minor Niall Hynds in the Glenravel forward line but it was his former teammate Sean Boyd who registered the first point to level the game. Con Magees nipped ahead with a converted 45 from Hynds after 36mins and that was cancelled out when Dermot McErlain found himself in on the end of the break ball to slot over his first of the game.
A Conleth O Loan point kept the scoreboard ticking for the visitors, but the home side upped the ante at this stage and through some creative passages of play saw scores come from Colm Duffin, Paul Duffin and Dermot Mc Erlain. The finish line was in sight for the home side with only minutes remaining, but Glenravel weren’t finished yet, they pressured the ball and surged forward and Fyfe was again out in front to claim control and convert from the right to pull one back 0-11 v 0-9.
Glenravel won the ball from the kick out well fielded from Callum Higgins only to be fouled on the way through. It was every man back for Moneyglass as normal time was up, the ball lobbed in by Daragh Donaghy and a scramble in around the goal mouth fell to Eamon Fyfe who’s shot somehow found its way past Jamie Mc Laughlin and into the Moneyglass net, sheer disappointment for the home side, but elation for the visitors. The final whistle was blown to leave it 0-11 v 1-09 and another result that could have gone either way.
St Ergnats: 1 Jamie Mc Laughlin, 2 C Mc Stocker, 3 Diarmuid Scullin, 4 James Mc Cormick, 23 Matthew Mullan, 6 Seanchan Duffin, 7 Paul Duffin (0-1), 8 Kevin Mc Cann, 9 Dermot Mc Erlain (0-1), 10 Connor O Kane, 11 Colm Duffin (Capt 0-3, 2f), 12 Conor Boyd, 13 Sean Boyd (0-5, 1m), 14 Aidan Mc Erlain (0-1), 15 Jimmy Mc Meel
Glenravel Scorers: Eamon Fyfe (1-3), Daniel Mc Quillan (0-2), Daragh Donaghy (0-2), Niall Hynds (0-1 “45”), Conleth O Loan (0-1)
Referee: Ray Matthews (Rossa)