Ulster Master’s football league
Antrim 2-15 Armagh 1-13
Kieran Close proved the difference as Antrim outscored Armagh in an excellent Ulster Masters league game at a sunny Dunsilly on Saturday afternoon,
Close combined with his Erin’s Own club-mate, Tony Scullion as they produced a defence splitting exchange to open up the Armagh defence with Scullion applying the finish from close range to bring the home side level after 15 minutes.
The Cargin man was just one of a number of excellent performers in Frank Delargy’s side and the Portglenone man has added quite a number of players to last year’s lineout and they looked a much improved side to the one that lost to today’s opponents at the same venue last year.
Scullion’s goal came at a time when Antrim were trailing 0-4 to 0-1 and proved a turning point as they went on to lead 1-6 to 0-7 at the short whistle with Kieran Close 0-4, Niall Enright and Kevin McAllister the other first half scorers
The excellent Michael Herron set up Niall Sweeney to extend the Antrim lead to three within 30 seconds of the restart and the exchanges were pretty even after that with Armagh hanging in there with Conor Clarke, John McKeefry and Daras Edward prominent and Brian McGeary adding fresh legs to the Orchard cause.
The accuracy of Ciaran Close and Kevin McAllister kept the Antrim scoreboard ticking but they were struck with what looked a deadly blow when John McKeefry got on the end of an excellent move to find a way past Sean McGreevey with ten minutes remaining.
This score put the visitors ahead for the first time since the 11th minute and Antrim needed a response if they were turn the game around again.
And a response they got as Declan McLarnon raced through the heart of the Armagh defence to set up Close who made no mistake as he fired past Shane Donnelly and Kevin McAllister followed with a point as the momentum swung back in favour of the men in Black.
Clolse, Mark Dougan (f) and Ryan Boyd added points as the home side finished strongly with Armagh’s only response coming from a Paul O’Donnell point with time almost up.
This was Antrim’s third win in four games in the Masters league and with a number of players yet to join the panel they could be serious challengers for honours this season.
Antrim: Sean McGreevey, Tony Convery, Lawrence Higgins, Thomas Doherty, James McGreevey, Michael Herron, Adrian Scullion, Ken Golden, Brendan Etherson, Tony Scullion, Barry McMahon, Ryan Boyd, Kieran Close, Mark Dougan, Kevin McAllister.
Replacements: Mickey Donnelly, Niall Sweeney, Declan McLarnon, Deaghlan White, Niall Enright, Colin Brady, Declan Hasson, Ryan Daly, Carl O’Neill
