IFC Final – Toome 4-00pm
All Saints v St. Teresa’s
All Saints, Ballymena are favourites to edge the battle of the Saints when they take on St. Teresa’s in the decider in Toome on Saturday. The Ballymena men have enjoyed a good season when they returned to division 1 for the first time in a decade and confounded the pundits by finishing third in the division.
Despite that they played their football in the Intermediate Football championship but have found it hard to bring their league form into championship on a consistent basis.
They opened their group 2 campaign with a home win over Gort na Mona where they had matters more or less wrapped up at half time but their second half performance against the Mona Bye-pass outfit was poor.
A visit to the Bear-Pit on day two saw the All Saints indifferent form continue and they went down by a point to a Sarsfield’s side who hit a late point to put themselves in the favourites spot to top the group.
Sarsfield’s subsequent defeat to Glenavy on day three meant that All Saints visit to Chapel Hill on the final day of the group fixtures was a must win for both sides and the Ballymena side produced a much improved performance to qualify with Sarsfield’s for the play-offs.
On the other side of the draw St. Teresa’s had carried the form they had shown in a good division 2 league campaign into the championship. The Glen Road side finished in second place to St. Paul’s in the league in a season where they have shown marked improvement from previous years.
St. Teresa’s went on to top Group 1 in the championship group qualifiers with wins over Kickham’s Ardoyne, St. Teresa’s and Naomh Padraig and a draw with St. Paul’s to qualify for a semi-final meeting with All Saints conquerors, Sarsfields.
St. Teresa’s withstood a late rally from Patrick Sarsfields at Davitt’s Park to advance to the final.
In a game played with real championship intensity with no quarter asked or given it was the Glen Road side who led 1-5 to 0-6 at half time despite having a penalty saved in the 4th minute.
Michael Bradley dived to his left to push away Francis Dugan’s spot kick but Anton Taylor climbed to get the final touch to an inviting delivery to beat Bradley for the game’s opening goal in the 9th minute.
Sarsfield’s came back with an excellent goal from Miceal Ferris entering the final quarter to level the contest at 1-8 apiece but two quick points in reply from Francis Dugan and Niall McCann steadied St. Teresa’s.
The Stewartstown Road side threw everything but the kitchen sink at their opponents in the closing stages but a Gary Lennon point would be as close as they got.
Ciaran Murtagh in goals, Paul Johnston, Ryan Mallon, Conor O’Rawe, Darren McCann, Pierce O’Rawe, Anton Taylor and Philip Maguire will spearhead the St. Teresa’s challenge and they will travel to Toome with confidence.
All Saints produced a solid performance to overcome the challenge of St. Paul’s at sunny Hightown on Saturday and progress to the final of the Intermediate Football Championship.
The Ballymena side were in control from early in the game where they raced into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead against a strangely subdued St, Paul’s side who looked a little overawed by the occasion.
It would be 18 minutes before the Shaw’s Road outfit would raise their first score but by that time they had kicked half a dozen wides, some of them well off target.
The Slemish Park outfit went on to win 0-13 to 0-6 but will have concerns about the number of chances they missed on the day and may need a better scoring return if they are to win on Saturday
Paddy McAleer, Conor Stewart, Kavan Keenan and James McDonnell have been involved with the Antrim county team over the last number of years and Peter McNicholl, Sean McVeigh and Michael McCarry bring a wealth of experience to the All Saints challenge.
Baker Bradley’s side will start Saturday’s encounter as slight favourites and if the Ballymena side can produce their best form then they might just have enough to collect their first Intermediate title since 2011.