Month / February 2025

by thesaffrongael

Win for Antrim would keep promotion hopes alive

NFL Division 3

Laois v Antrim

Portlaoise- Saturday – 5.00pm

Antrim travel to Portlaoise on Saturday evening to face a Laois team who have been performing well this season and who proved too good for Andy McEntee’s Saffrons in the 2024 Tailteann Cup semi-final in Croke Park.

The sides last met in the league at Saturday’s venue back in 2022 and on that occasion a late Ryan Murray point earned Antrim a deserved share of the spoils and hopefully they can go one better at O’Moore Park on Saturday evening.

The Antrim team has undergone a lot of changes since that day back in February 2022 but Murray is one of the men still remaining. The Lamh Dhearg man has returned recently from a long term injury and is building his way back to full fitness and could be in line for a starting place.

Dermott McAleese was another who took part in that encounter back in 2022 and captains the side this year while Marc Jordan continues at the heart of the Antrim engine room and was excellent last week against Leitrim.

Despite losing to Fermanagh and Offaly, Antrim travel to Portlaoise on equal point to their hosts having recorded wins over Clare and Leitrim and a win for either side would see them handily placed for a push for promotion with two rounds remaining after Saturday’s fixture.

Antrim have been in decent form to date and that win over Clare at Corrigan on day one gave them a great start. They looked on their way to a second win away to Fermanagh but were eventually beaten by a point and the Antrim management will feel that that was one that got away from them.  

The harsh dismissal of Conor Stewart, two minutes into the second half in Tullamore proved a major blow at a time when Antrim had finished the first half strongly to put themselves back into contention and when his mid-field partner, Conor Hand suffered a similar fate the wheels came off the wagon.

Last week’s comprehensive win over lowly Leitrim looks to have got Antrim back on track with Marc Jordan moving back to mid-field to be partnered by Eunan Quinn and dominating in that sector.

Indeed the Leitrim game marked the return of a number of players for the first time this year with Eogan McCabe and Niall Burns making a healthy contribution while Jack Leneghan had solid debut at centre half and Eunan Quinn getting through a lot of work at mid-field.

Eoghan McCabe in action against Laois in Portlaoise in 2022

Conhuir Johnston was another to get some game time and looked dangerous when he was introduced, scoring a point and unlucky not to get a goal so the panel looks strong and will provide Andy McEntee with a welcome selection dilemma.

Laois will go into Saturday evening’s game smarting from a heavy defeat last weekend to Kildare where they were beaten by 12 points to the high flying Lily Whites.

Antrim shouldn’t read too much into that result however as Kildare have handed out similar defeats to all they have met this year and look certain to top the division.

Laois’ other defeat came at the hands of Offaly back on the 2nd February when they lost to Mickey Harte’s side by 5 points while their two win came against Leitrim and Sligo.

The Laois footballers picked up their second win of this season’s NFL Division 3 after a hugely impressive first-half performance back on the 16th February.

 Having lost to Offaly in their first outing and then blowing Leitrim away this, it was felt would provide a better barometer of where they stood.

Laois started like a train and they were 0-7 to 0-1 up after a quarter of an hour and it was 0-14 to 0-4 by half time.

In all they had nine different scorers in the first half. Mark Barry was Sligo’s chief tormentor with five points while James Kelly kicked a two-pointer and Damon Larkin, Danny O’Reilly, Padraig Kirwan, Kevin Swayne, Killian Roche, Brian Byrne and Ben Dempsey all pointed from play.

As the second half got underway, Sligo did up their performance for spells and four two-point scores – where Niall Murphy and Alan McLoughlin were impressive – helped close the gap. But Laois always had a response.

Ben Barry kicked 0-11 against Sligo and with O’Reilly, Kirwan, Swane, Roche and Byrne carry the Laois threat on Saturday evening but Antrim with Eunan Walsh, Marc Jordan, Paddy McBride, Fionn Nagle, Ruairi McCann, Ryan Murray and the returning Conor Stewart all in good form this season, can gain a vital win.

by thesaffrongael

St Dominic’s dominate in Year 9 Cup final

Gaelfast Antrim Cup Year 9 LGFA final 

 St Dominic’s Grammar School v St Killian’s College

St Dominic’s Grammar School won the Year 9 LGFA Gaelfast Cup when they proved too strong for St Killian’s in Wednesday evening’s final at Dunsilly. The Falls Road school put together a highly impressive performance and though St Killian’s battled hard throughout they just could not match the over strength of the winners.

St Dominic’s captain Caragh Flynn receives the Gaelfast Year 9 Cup

St Killians won the throw in and worked the ball well into a scoring position but couldn’t capitalise to take an early lead. St Dominics opened the scoring with a point from full forward Mia Scullion followed by a goal by Niamh Keenan. St Dominic’s continued to impress throughout the first half with their excellent team play all over the field and prolific scoring. St Killians had nice phases of play too with slick hand passing and kick passing but a strong St Dominic’s defensive display kept the north Antrim school scoreless.

St Killians did manage a well-deserved point via a free kick by their star midfielder Georgie Twigg, after a dominant 5 minutes for the ladies from Garron Tower. St Dominic’s replied with another goal and finished the first half the stronger side going in at half time with a comfortable lead.

St Killian’s came out in the second half with fire in their bellies and put in a very strong second half performance scoring 3.6. Although the ‘Tower’ girls impressed in the second half, St Dominic’s maintained their lead and saw out the remaining of the match to become winners of the Year 9 LGFA Antrim Cup 2025.

Stand out performances for St Dominic’s were corner forward Katie Clarke for outstanding ball carrying, Caragh Flynn in midfield for pin point kick passing, full forward Mia Scullion for prolific goal and point scoring, Cara McAuley at wing half forward for her link-up play and Lucia Murphy for being solid at centre half back.

St Killians midfield pairing of Eimear Black and Georgie Twigg gave battling performances in midfield showing a desire to drive forward in possession and workrate to win the ball back. Georgie had an outstanding game doing the majority of the teams scoring.  

Congratulations again to St Dominic’s on a real team performance and becoming Champions of the Year 9 LGFA Antrim Cup 2025.

To see more of Bert’s pics click on the link below

https://myalbum.com/album/9ASJoVDCXAJAmA/?invite=f2c3f4b8-5c19-4dc6-9694-8d1670aba621

by thesaffrongael

Murray’s magic eared Antrim a share of the spoils in Portlaoise

February 26, 2022 by thesaffrongael

NFL Division 3

Antrim travel to Portlaois on Saturday hoping to build on last week’s win over Leitrim and keep their promotion hopes alive.

The Saffrons started this year’s league campaign with a win over Clare but lost narrowly on day two when they travelled to Ederney to face Fermanagh.

A heavy defeat in Tullamore to Offaly put the Saffrons in further trouble but they got themselves back on winning form when Leitrim visited Corrigan last weekend and a win in Portlaois would keep them in touch with the chasing promotion pack.

The sides last met at Saturday’s venue on the 26th of February in 2022 when a late point from Ryan Murray secured Antrim a deserved draw and hopefully they can surpass that performance on Saturday night.

Marc Jordan in action against Laois back in 2022

NFL Division 3

Laois 1-8 Antrim 1-8

A point with the last kick of the game by Antrim travel to O’Moore Park ion Portlaois on Saturday evening Ryan Murray earned the Saffrons a draw in Saturday night’s Division 3 clash with Laois at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise. When Laois debutant Matthew Byron put his team in front deep in second half injury time it appeared that all the Antrim effort was going to go unrewarded, but the Saffron’s worked the ball up field from Oisin Kerr’s kick-out and Murray finished with a great score, under very difficult conditions to earn his team what could be a vital point in the Division 3 promotion race.

When they turned around to face the gale force wind in the second half, with just a two point cushion, it was clear Antrim had a mountain to climb. When Laois drew level inside eight second half minutes things looked grim for Enda McGinley’s men, and when the home side edged ahead five minutes later that mountain now looked like Everest. However they showed great fighting spirit to keep themselves in contention.

Their efforts were rewarded when Mick McCann broke through from midfield to send over the equalising point, but with fifteen minutes still to play at this stage, the chances of holding on appeared remote. They did really well to stay on terms as the game entered injury time and when goalkeeper, Matthew Byron put the O’Moore County back ahead the home fans were ecstatic. It was a real kick in the teeth for the Saffrons, but when the chips were down they dug deep again and Ryan Murray silenced the home fans with a great score, one that made that 200 mile journey home a little bit easier for the Antrim fans.

Odhran Eastwood got Antrim off to a good start when he pointed inside the first minute, but Gary Walsh had the home team back on terms a minute later when he sent over a point from a free. As both team’s battled with the conditons Antrim had a good spell and hit four scores on the trot to put themselves in a good position.  Paddy McAleer started it with a great point from distance and minutes later Odhran Eastwood found room on the edge of the square and finished brilliantly to the net.

Jamie Gribbin increased the Antrim lead to five when he split the Laois posts on twenty minutes and things looked really good for the Saffrons when Ruairi McCann picked off a point to put six between the sides on 21 minutes.

Ryan Murray’s late point earned Antrim a draw in Portlaois in 2022

Things looked really good for Antrim at this stage, but the game took a dramatic turn when Laois responded with two points from frees by Mark Barry and Gary Walsh, and when a high free by Walsh hung up in the wind on the edge of the square, full forward Evan O’Carroll rose to flick the ball to the Antrim net to cut the gap to a single point.

Full forward Ruairi McCann responded well with a point on the 30th minute to put two between the sides, but Antrim received another blow soon afterwards when full back Ricky Johnston received a black card and at half time they lead by just two points (1-6 to 1-4) a lead which at the time didn’t appear to be anywhere near enough.

That second half was traumatic as they battled against the odds, but their grit and determination, and a touch of class from Ryan Murray, sent them home with a share of the spoils.

Odhran Eastwood (1-1), Ryan Murray (0-2), Ruairi McCann (0-2), Paddy McAleer (0-1), Jamie Gribbin (0-1), and Mick McCann (0-1) were the scorers for Antrim.

Evan O’Carroll (1-0), Gary Walsh (4 frees), Mark Barry (0-2), Eoin Lowry (0-1) and Matthew Byron (0-1) were Laois’s scorers.

by thesaffrongael

Edmund Rice College win the Year 9 LGFA Gaelfast Shield

Edmund Rice College 6-3 v St Colm’s High School 3-3

Edmund Rice College won the Year 9 LGFA Shield when they came from behind at half time to beat Colum’s High School, Dunmurry in a highly entertaining final at Dunsilly on Wednesday evening. St Colum’s made the early running and went in at the break with a goal advantage (2-2 to 1-2). However the Glengormley girls turned things around in the second half and despite the heroics of St Colm’s goalkeeper Cassia Bailey, fought their way back to seal a well deserved win

St Colum’s captain Mia Grace Ferris receives the Year 9 Shield

St Colm’s started off scoring an early goal by their number 10 Cliodhna Kearney but Edmund Rice responded shortly after with a point from their midfielder Mae McKinley, after a great save from the St Colms goalkeeper Cassia Bailey. Cassia had to pull out another fantastic save which turned out to be one of many on the night for the St Colms goalkeeper who was becoming the talk on the sideline for an amazing performance with save after save.

Cliodhna Kearney rewarded her goalkeepers saves with a well worked team point but not to be outshone, the Edmund Rice goalkeeper, Brooke McGuinness made an excellent save at the other end after a super solo effort by St Colms stand out player Cliodhna Kearney.

St Colm’s extended their lead with a well taken point by wing half forward Sophia Bunting, but they needed another outstanding save by Cassia Bailey from point blank range to maintain that advantage.  Edmund Rice kept the pressure on and from long range Mae McKinley scored her second point of the match to close the gap to 3 points and the Glengormley girls Edmund Rice drew level after constant pressure with a goal from full forward, Emer Casey.

St Colm’s produced a quick reply working the ball up the pitch from their kickout which resulted in a goal by Cliodhna Kearney which gave her team a three point advantage at the break.

 HT scoreline. St Colm’s 2.2 v Edmund Rice 1.2

St Colm’s started the second half with another point from Cliodhna Kearney to increase their lead to four, but Edmund Rice showed great belief to keep the pressure on, thought St Colms defending was resilient, their tackling, blocking and fight was a joy to watch.

However the Edmund Rice pressure was starting to play off and Mae McKinley got her third point of the evening to close the gap to three again. The Glengormley school continued to apply the pressure and their hard work was rewarded when Emer Casey scored a second goal to bring her side level going into the final stages.

Edmund Rice were now controlling matters e with their excellent team play and never say die attitude, and their resilience was rewarded with another goal to put them three points ahead.

Bailey’s heroics in the St Colm’s goal was keeping the Edmund Rice girls at bay. With only minutes left for play Edmund Rice were awarded a penalty, and even though the excellent Bailey saved the initial shot, the Edmund Rice centre forward Maeve McMenamin reacted well and slotted home the rebound to seal a nine point win.

St Colm’s goalkeeper Cassia Bailey who made a series of outstanding saves

To see more of Bert’s photos from the game click on the link below

https://myalbum.com/album/npqV8N2mhfxnmz/?invite=230763d7-a46f-4556-bd5d-b74379bc1dfe

by thesaffrongael

New Ball Wall at Erin’s Own, Cargin

With the new 2025 season almost underway, Erin’s Own Cargin have been on the front foot over the winter, seeking to enhance further the already excellent facilities they provide to their members with the installation of their new ‘Ball Wall’. This is a tremendous boost to not only the Juvenile and Senior Camogs, but also the youth LGFA and GAA footballers.

Cargin camogs training on the new Ball Wall

It will allow practice to take place regardless of time of the year or weather conditions and huge thanks are due to the work conducted by the Club Executive and the Cargin Youth Working Group, but especially the involvement of clubman Brendan McGowan and Chaiman Aidan Johnston, who were critical to the success and planning of the project alongside their expertise, guidance and determination.

The Ball Wall is sited in their Astroturf playing area meaning it can be easily used as a safe and accessible training aid for players to get more touches of the ball, develop technique and hone in on the key skills of catching, first touch, controlling, handling and striking of the ball.   Crucially it also allows for players and members to practice on their own or with friends, outside of organised training sessions and encouraging the social aspect of our games.

Aidan Johnston and Brendan McGowan at the new Ball Wall
Cargin U14 Camogs with Aidan Johnston and Brendan McGowan

Already in the 3 weeks since installation, the ‘Balla Laochra’ has been in almost constant use with Juvenile and Senior Camogs testing its robustness, and the local primary schools of St Oliver Plunketts Toome PS and Moneynick PS giving it a firm thumbs up also.

Clann na hEireann have always been a club looking to explore and identify new ways to assist their games and through this addition they hope to continue in that vein, promoting healthy lifestyles and giving their members every assistance possible.