ACFL Division1
Ahoghill 0 – 11 v 2 – 15 Casements
This local derby has produced some cracking fayre in recent years, but at well attended Cloney, on this occasion John McKeever’s Portglenone proved just too strong for Eamon Brady and Noel Crossey’s Ahoghill side who are finding it hard to pick up points at present.
Despite playing against a noticeable breeze the hosts St Marys were quickest out of the blocks. Two white flags, one each from James O’Connell and Ronan Graham the reward for an enterprising first twelve minutes, and to the large attendance it looked like this could be another highly contested local derby. Dan O Neill made numerous attempts at breaking down the Portglenone rear guard, a few eye catching solos in a well contested dual with Ruairi Hagan a feature of the game.
Casements had already spurned numerous scoring chances in the early stages but when Paddy Kelly landed an enormous double pointer at the end of the first quarter it seemed to settle the visitors who went on to register six of the next seven scores.
Crucially two of these were green flags, neatly dispatched by Sean Byrne and Niall Delargy who were on hand to put finishing touches to cohesive link up play. Oisin Doherty (2) , a resurgent Enda Lynn and points from the reliable feet of Aidan McAleese and Paddy Kelly putting the visitors well in the ascendency as the match veered towards the interval.
St Marys had no intention of throwing in the towel though, and in the three minute window before half time a superb long range effort from the deadly accurate James OConnell saw referee Ray Matthews raise both arms, either side of two superb individual scores from equally impressive Patrick Graham to reduce the score to seven and leave the red and blacks with a manageable target when they would have the wind at their back in the second half.
Conor Crossey narrowed the deficit yet further with the opening score after the restart, but this was as good as it would get for the hosts as Portglenone began to get a stranglehold on the match and tip away at adding to their own scoreboard tally. Two further points from lively Oisin Doherty was quickly followed by a brace (2) from the superb feet of Aidan McAleese, and the game was effectively over as a contest.
James OConnell did his best with another orange flag (two pointer) as the game entered its closing stages, but in truth the challenge had filtered out long before that, as Niall Delargy, Enda Lynn co-managed the game out to its inevitable conclusion. Final scores from Ruairi Hagan and Fergal OKane was the end result of some good fluent movements and periods of possession from the visitors who in the end secured another two points that keep them just on the tails of the top six as the league enters its mid-season phase.
St Marys worked hard but seemed to run out of steam, although Dan O’Neill, James O’Connell, Ronan Graham, Paddy Graham and the Crossey brothers all had good spells and caught the eye on occasions.
For Casements, the defence as a unit looked much more assured, with Paddy Graffin settling in well in recent games and a return to a welcome return to action of Ryan Convery who is getting back to his impressive self. Niall Delargy and Enda Lynn controlled the middle third whilst up front Aidan McAleese showed a lot of quality in his finishing, ably supported by Ronan Kelly and Oisin Doherty.
Scorers
St Marys; James OConnell 0 – 07, Paddy Graham 0 – 02, Conor Crossey 0 – 01, Ronan Graham 0 – 01.
Casements; Aidan McAleese 0 – 04, Oisin Doherty 0 – 04, Paddy Kelly 0 – 03, Niall Delargy 1 – 00, Sean Byrne 1 – 00, Ronan Kelly 0 -02, Fergal OKane 0 – 01, Ruairi Hagan 0 – 01,
