ACFL Division 1
St. Enda’s 1-9 Ahoghill 1-12
St. Mary’s Ahoghill took another step away from the possibility of getting dragged into the relegation play-offs with a good win over st Enda’s in an excellent game of football at Hightown on Wednesday night.
The Clooney side held a slender 0-6 to 0-5 lead at the halfway stage but pushed on after the break thanks to a goal from Patrick Dougan, two minutes into the second half.
The Glengormley side came back with a goal of their own from Stephen O’Connor with three minutes remaining but it came too late to deny the visitors who now climb to 9th in the table after this win.
The opening exchanges were fairly even with the sides tied at 0-4 each after 22 minute with Dan O’Neill, Ronan Graham, O’Neill again and Donal Graham on target for Ahoghill and Stephen O’Connor 0-2, Donal Walsh and Cormac Morgan the St. Enda’s scorers.
Ronan Graham and Donal Graham added to the visitors total by the 24th minute with Sean McBride closing the gap to the minimum with the final score of the half for the home side.
The visitors started the second half on the front foot as Conor Crossey and James O’Connell tagged on early points and a goal from Patrick Dougan put them in a commanding position with only two minute of the second half gone.
Donal Graham added a point before Stephen O’Connor opened St. Enda’s second half account with a point in the 8th minute.
It5 failed to inspire his colleagues however as James O’Connell and Conor Crossey replied for the visitors who seemed to take their foot of the throttle at this stage.
St. Enda’s needed no further invitation as they came back strongly with Tomas Gilmore and a couple from Stephen O’Connor firing over points before Donal Graham eased the pressure with St. Mary’s final score of the game with three minutes remaining.
It looked all over at this stage but St. Enda’s staged a late rally and Conan Lyttle got in for a goal to cause the Ahoghill side a few anxious moments but the visitors kept their cool to run out winners in the end.
This win should ensure division 1 football for St. Mary’s for next season while St. Enda’s may need something from their final two games away to Rossa and at home to Glenravel to avoid getting dragged into a play-off situation if results elsewhere were to go against them.
