Month / January 2025

by thesaffrongael

Antrim hoping to build on their good start in Ederney

NFL Division 3

Fermanagh v Antrim

St. Joseph’s Ederney – Sunday 2-30pm

Antrim travel to St. Joseph’s park, Ederney on Sunday hoping to build on their opening day win over Clare at Corrigan Park on Sunday past. On a day not conducive to good football the Saffron had three points to spare over a Clare side who would have been amongst the favourites for promotion this year.

Debutant Fionn Nagle marked his league debut with a goal and a point and looks to be a useful addition to an Antrim squad who have lost Declan Lynch and Paddy McAleer to retirement while team captain, Peter Healey and Colm McLarnon are missing through injury.

Overall, manager Andy McEntee will have been fairly satisfied with his side performance and the battling qualities and resilience they showed in some of the worst conditions witnessed on the Whiterock for some time.

Eunan Walsh, Joseph Finnegan and team captain, Dermot McAleese marshalled the Antrim defence at Corrigan while Conor Hand contributed 0-3 from mid-field and Conor Stewart was also on target from the Antrim engine room.

Marc Jordan worked tirelessly throughout the 70 plus minutes and Paddy McBride and the returning Ryan Murray were busy throughout in the Antrim attack.

While Antrim were winning in Belfast promotion favourites Kildare had set out a real marker of intent with a ruthless 2-24 to 1-12 destruction of Sunday’s opponents Fermanagh, a day earlier in St Conleth’s Park.

Title favourites Kildare ran out convincing winners against Kieran Donnelly’s Fermanagh and it is a defeat that the hosts will be keen to put behind them as they entertain an Antrim side who recorded a Tailteann Cup win over them last season.

The value of the two-pointer was illustrated in the few minutes before half-time as Fermanagh finally gained some traction, this time off Kildare goalie Didier Cordonnier’s kick-outs, and Darragh McGurn notched three points, including an orange flag, as they closed the gap to six points by the interval.

Fermanagh played better in the second half against the Lily Whites and a Shane McGullion goal in the 47th minute after calamitous defending gave them a glimmer of hope. Kildare’s response was very impressive and an excellent Darragh Kirwan goal gave them a 1-21 to 1-10 lead, ending it as a contest.

Kildare sauntered home from there with Ryan Sinkey putting the icing on a sweet tasting cake with a late goal.

Home advantage at St. Joseph’s Ederney will certainly help Fermanagh’s cause as a side still hurting from Saturday’s opening day defeat and relegation from division 2 last year aim to get back to winning ways but Antrim will take confidence from Sunday’s win over Clare and can gain the win that that would keep their promotion hopes alive even at this early stage of the season.

ANTRIM v CLARE: M Byrne, J Morgan, E Walsh, K Keenan, R Boyle, J Finnegan, D McAleese, C Stewart (0-2), C Hand (0-3), P Finnegan, M Jordan, P McBride (0-2, 0-1f), R Murray (0-1), F Nagle (1-1), D McEnhill. Subs: R McQuillan for D McEnhill (23), P Ferris for K Keenan (61), N Burns for R McQuillan (70+1).

Featured Image: Marc Jordan who had a good game against Clare and Dermott McAleese who will captain Antrim against Fermanagh in Ederney on Sunday

by thesaffrongael

UU Camogs clinch the league title

Ulster Universiy 4-15 Trinity 4-05

A excellent game in Crossmaglen on Tuesday, 28th January, saw Ulster University and Trinity battled it out in a fiercely contested game with the winners set to be crowned league winners. From the opening whistle, UU set the tempo, with early points coming from Cassie McArthur and Lara Devlin which gave them a good footing.

 Their strong start, however, was met with an immediate response from Trinity, who launched a long ball into the square. UU goalkeeper Eimear McGivern managed to block the initial effort, but an unfortunate deflection saw the ball find its way into the net, giving Trinity an early goal.

Undeterred by the setback, UU quickly responded with two well-taken points to bring the game level once again. The momentum shifted significantly in their favour when captain Evanne Martin produced a moment of brilliance, the Creggan star embarking on a spectacular solo run before striking the ball off her stick and over the bar from 50m out.

This ignited UU’s attacking play, and they took firm control of the first half. Fionnuala Kelly and Lara Devlin both found the net, adding to UU’s growing tally. Despite a determined response from Trinity, the halftime score stood at UU 2:9, Trinity 2:3, giving UU a well-earned six point cushion.

UU carried their dominance into the second half, keeping the scoreboard ticking over with well-placed points from Cassie McArthur and Fionnuala Kelly. Their relentless pressure paid off in the third quarter when they netted their third goal of the game, further solidifying their advantage. However, Trinity refused to back down, responding immediately with a goal of their own to keep themselves in contention.

As the game entered its final stages, both teams battled fiercely, leading to frantic goalmouth scrambles at both ends. Despite Trinity’s best efforts to close the gap, UU continued to find their scores, ensuring their lead remained intact. The match concluded with UU emerging victorious on a scoreline of 4:14 to 4:05, capping off a fantastic performance from all their players.

This was a game marked by skill, determination, and teamwork, with every UU player contributing to a well-deserved win. Their ability to respond to Trinity’s challenges, maintain control, and convert crucial chances was instrumental in their success. With such a strong showing, UU will look to carry this momentum forward into their next fixture.

UU captain Yvanne Martin with the league trophy after her team’s win over Trinity
  1. Eimear McGivern
  2. Alex Healey
  3. Grace Daly
  4. Carla McEldowney
  5. Erin Coulter
  6. Evanne Martin
  7. Emily Fitzpartick
  8. Sophie McGrath
  9. Eimear Johnston
  10. Kaitlin Gallagher
  11. Aisling O’Donnell
  12. Lara Devlin
  13. Grace Cunningham
  14. Cassie McArthur
  15. Fionnuala Kelly

Replacements

Bronagh McCloskey for Lara Devlin (50mins)

Lia Kelly for Emily Fitzpatrick (50mins)

Nuala Devlin for Grace Cunningham (55mins) Aoibhinn Daly for Aisling O’Donnell (55mins

by thesaffrongael

St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass are delighted to launch our first ever Coaching Clinic

This event will see a top class lineup of coaches with several years experience coaching at the top level of Gaelic games. 

Our guest coaches will deliver sessions looking at several activities for coaches to apply to their own coaching. There will be an emphasis on applying the new rules to football and they will cover many facets of the modern day game. 

First up we will have Irish news columnist and former Antrim player and Derry & Tyrone Coach, Kevin Madden. 

After a playing career than spanned over 10 years at County Level, which includes 2 Railway Cup medals, Kevin has moved very quickly to proving himself equally adept at coaching and management.

After two years, as coach/manager of top Derry side Glenullin, he helped deliver a Senior Football Championship for the club, the first in 22 years, and a Division One League title for the first time in the club’s history.

Kevin was assitant manager and coach to the Derry Senior team in 2009 and 2010. In 2020 he took on a coaching role with Mickey Harte’ Tyrone. 

Our second guest Coach on the day needs no introduction to the people of Moneyglass. It is of course our long serving County footballer Kevin Brady. Kevin represented Antrim for the best part of 15 years winning an All Ireland ‘B’ in 2000 and then captained his county to the 2008 Tommy Murphy Cup, defeating Mick O’Dwyers Wicklow. He also played centre half forward for Antrim in the 2009 Ulster final. 

He is the proud owner of a MacRory cup medal at St. Pats Maghera, a Sigerson cup medal with the University of Ulster Jordantown & a Railway cup with Ulster under Brian McEniff. 

Since retiring from playing Kevin is creating a reputation as one of the best coaches in Ulster leading St. Marys Magherafelt to 2 MacRory cups and just last year he oversaw  a famous victory over All Ireland champions Glen Maghera to win the Derry Senior football championship with Sean O’Leary‘s Newbridge. 

Our final coach of the day will be none other than Donegals Maxi Curran. 

Maxi hails from the Downings club and has built up an impressive CV as one of the most sought-after coaches in Ireland.    

He was famously part of Jim McGuinnesss‘s back room Team that won the Sam Maguire in 2012 and two years later led St. Eunan’s Letterkenny to the Donegal Senior championship. He was also assistant manager to Rory Gallagher during his tenure  as Donegal senior football manager and has worked with their under 21s for several years. He managed Donegal Senior Ladies to 3 Ulster championships and is currently manager of Moneyglass senior Ladies and his own clubs senior men’s team. 

To finish off our coaching clinic, we are delighted to have Eunan O’Kane to Deliver a talk on the behaviours associated with high-performance athletes. Eunan hails from the Banagher club in Derry and enjoyed a very successful underage career. 

However, he soon turned his attention to a career in professional football playing for famous clubs such as Bournemouth, Leeds United, Torquay & Everton. He was also capped several times for the Republic of Ireland under the management of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane. It will be fascinating to hear firsthand what Gaelic footballers can apply from athletes at the highest level.

The link for the tickets https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moneyglass-coach-education-clinic-tickets-1216550829279?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=&utm-share-source=mobile-search-results

Register on Eventbrite
by thesaffrongael

St Mary’s Portglenone take Camogie Crown

Cumann namBunscoil Indoor Camogie

St Mary’s Portglenone are Allianz Ireland cumann na mbunscoil indoor camogie champions following a great day of camogie at Antrim Forum.

They overcame Mary Queen of Peace Glenravel in a thrilling final to take the title back in a repeat of last year’s final. The final highlighted all the skills of the game and those in attendance can be sure that the standard of Camogie is very high in South West Antrim.

Twelve teams started the day in search of silverware namely; Mary Queen of Peace, St Mary’s Portglenone, St Brigid’s Ballymena, St Colmcille’s Ballymena, Millquarter, Moneynick, St Paul’s Ahoghill, Creggan, St Patrick’s Rasharkin, St Joseph’s Crumlin, St Oliver Plunkett’s Toome and Mount St Michael’s Randalstown.

After fiercely competitive and enjoyable group games, the stage was set for cup and shield competitions.

Mary Queen of Peace and St Mary’s navigated their way to the cup final, whilst St Joseph’s Crumlin and Millquarter made the final of the shield.

Enthralling finals saw St Mary’s Portglenone and St Joseph’s Crumlin emerge as the respective victors, congratulations to them and to all who took part in a memorable day of camogie.

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by thesaffrongael

Two out of two for high scoring Antrim

LGFA NFL Division 4

 Antrim 5-7 (22) – Sligo 2-8 (14) 

Antrim senior ladies made the long journey to Enniscrone-Kilglass on Sunday to play Sligo and came home with maximum points. 

In absolutely terrible conditions this group worked tirelessly and we’re thoroughly deserving winners on the day.

Antrim showed intent from the off and early scores from Lara Dahunsi and Maria o Neill set the tone for what was to come. 

Sligo then hit back with scores of their own but majors from Theresa Mellon and Sarah O’Neill put the visitors firmly in the driving seat. 

Just before the break a great block at one end of the pitch from Maeve Blaney turned defence into attack before Nicole Jones finished to the net at the other end as the visitors moved further ahead.

The last score of the half came from Aiobheann Monaghan who hammered the ball over the bar. Aiobheann who is still a minor and making her senior debut can certainly be proud of her senior debut. 

The second half was a tense affair with contrasting fortunes with Aine Devlin saving a penalty and Nicole Jones hammering a penalty to the Sligo net at the other end.

Sligo continued to battle and came within 3 points of Antrim at one stage but up stepped Maria O’Neill with a goal and Bronagh Devlin with a point to put the gloss on a personal performance from the captain who was inspirational from start to finish.

All in all a hard fought victory against a strong Sligo side who were very fit and well organised… 

Team mangers, Micky Devlin and Chris Scullion were delighted with their side’s performance, “Those girls showed unbelievable character out there today. Their work ethic from first to last whistle was top class. We introduced 7 subs today with every one of them making a massive contribution. 

That was a performance based on togetherness and energy and they managed the Conditions really well.” 

They continued “We are still working hard on the foundations here and this new look Antrim panel will keep digging deep and build week by week”

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