Antrim Footbll League – Division One
Cargin 0-13 St Pauls 1-08
Unbeaten in the league to date Cargin looked to be very short priced favourites to remain so when they played hosts to basement dwelling St Paul’s on Wednesday evening last but such a pre-ordained script was not the way the story was to unfold.
Despite starting as extreme outsiders without a positive result thus far this season the Shaws Road men were on the front foot from the outset and they gained early advantage and a two point lead when Barrie Burns despatched a two pointer about ten minutes into proceedings but they were to lose a player shortly after when one of their forwards received a black card.
The home side regained their composure for a time and Tomas McCann added a couple of points which brought Cargin level, but the visitors were never overawed and kept in close contact with their hosts. The home side missed a couple opportunities to find the net in the early stages as Kevin Mc Shane and Tom Shivers came close, and further scores to increase advantage were hard to come by.
The visitors, despite the loss of a man, never yielded an inch and as the home side struggled to gain their composure, their usual fluency in movement seemed absent at times as passes went astray.
Tomas Mc Cann did split the posts following a foul on his sibling Michael in the latter stages of the period and although a Tom Shivers delivery seemingly net bound was flicked over the bar by the visitors net minder in the last minute of the first half, the home side had gained a 0-06 to 0-04 advantage at the break.
Having failed to impress in the first period the Toome men improved somewhat in the second period and a point from Tomas Mc Cann increased their advantage a couple of minutes in.
Tom Shivers came close to finding the net in the 36th minute but his shot hit the crossbar and was cleared cleared but John Carron long range effort shortly after earned a couple of points and ensured a 0-09 to 0-04 advantage for the home side.
The city men were still in there fighting and back to back whites by Caomhinn Duffy and Conor Hughes ensured they were still in there with a shout.
The arrival of a few substitutes helped matters as Jamie Gribbin followed the example of his sibling Callum to split the posts.
Benen Kelly added a super point to the home side’s tally, with replacement Gribbin following suit, but the St Paul’s lads were not finished and they came back strongly with the Burns boys Barrie and Shea adding points apiece and when the pace laden corner forward Caomhin Duffy created a well laid counter attack to finish to the back of the Cargin net, the comeback and a major shock looked more than possible.
The end was in sight when Conor Hughes fired between the posts for a super long range strike to reduce the deficit to a single point, but that was as close as they would get and a Jamie Gribbin strike at the other end was enough to see his side over the line with a less than impressive 0-13 to 1-08 winning scoreline.
Overall a great effort by the Shaw’s Road side and one which will give them great encouragement as the league progresses.
Cargin: Shea Laverty, Sean og Quinn, Kevin O’Boyle, Niall Quinn, Benen Kelly (0-01), Kevin Mc Shane, James Laverty, Michael Mc Cann, John Carron( 2*)Tom Shivers (0-01), Tomas Mc Cann (0-04), David Johnston (0-01), Ben Mc Larnon, Callum Gribbin (0-01), PJ Quinn,
Subs
Jamie Gribbin (0-03)
Brendan Laverty
Hugh O’ Donnell
Pat Shivers
St Paul’s: Eman Mc Greevey, Nathan Cavanagh, Michael Duffy, Pearse Magee (1-00), James Farrell, Conor Hughes (0-02), Conal Duffy (0-02),( Barrie Burns (0-01),Shea Burns (0-01), Pat Crawford, Caomhinn Duffy (0-02)
Referee: Paul Burns (Naomh Comhghall)