ACFL Division 1
St. Gall’s 3-13 All Saints 3-20
A blistering opening five minutes provided the platform for another All Saints victory when they travelled to Milltown on Wednesday night and overcame the challenge of St. Galls.
The Ballymena side came racing out of the blocks with Sean McVeigh pointing after 20 seconds and Paddy McAleer and Ronan McKillop added two points before Peter McNicholl had his shot pushed over by Niall McCurdy in the St. Gall’s nets.
Harry Connon added the visitors 5th point as the one way traffic towards the home goals continued and when a flowing move from deep in their own half saw Sean McVeigh rattle the St. Gall’s net, it looked like being a tough evening for the Milltown Row side.
Colm Walsh finally got the hosts off the mark with a point in the 12th minute and from there until the end they would match the visitors score for score but the damage had already been done.
Conn Doherty 0-2, Marty Murray 0-2, Daniel Quinn 0-4 (3f’s) brought the St. Gall’s total to 0-9 by half time but the visitors always had a response as Cal O’Brien, Connell Lemon 0-2, Ronan McKillop, Peter McReynolds and Paddy McAleer raised white flags at the other end.
A goal from Conn Doherty, two minutes into the second half closed the gap to three and when Daniel Quinn pointed his 4th free of the evening it was back to two and the game appeared to be swinging St. Gall’s way.
It brought the desired response from Baker Bradley’s side however and McCurdy in the home goals brought off a good save but was helpless to stop Peter McReynolds finish to the net in the 4th minute.
Ronan McKillop and Paddy McAleer added points and normal service appeared to have been restored but Conn Doherty had other ideas as he fired past Ryan Stewart for his and his side’s second goal in the 10th minute.
Once again the visitors were able to find a response as McKillop and McAleer split the posts at the other end but the Milltown side now had a bit of wind in their sales and Marty Murray and Daniel Quinn replied before Stewart in the visitors goals pulled off a good save.
Cal O’Brien came forward from defence to raise an orange flag and put a bit more daylight between the sides with 13 minutes still remaining as Mickey Pollock replaced Michael Hopkins in the St. Gall’s attack.
The end to end sequence of the game continued as Ronan McKillop added a point for the visitors before the Slemish Park men were awarded a penalty with McCurdy receiving a Black card and Paddy McAleer confidently finishing to the net from the spot.
St. Gall’s battled to the end and were rewarded when Conall McCabe found a way past Ryan Stewart for their third goal of the evening with McAleer and Colm Walsh exchanging late points to conclude the scoring.
A great game of football and a good advert for the new rules with 6 goals and 33 points posted over the evening and both sides displaying all that is good in the game.
In the end that bright start for the men in black would prove the difference in the end and these sides will face each other again in Championship action later in the year in a game that will be eagerly anticipated.
St. Gall’s: 1 Niall McCurdy, 2 Gairtech MacAdhaimh, 3 Conor Burke, 4 Dubhaltach MacLiam, 5 Ruairi Wilson, 6 Conall McGirr, 7 Conall McCabe, 8 Aodhan Gallagher, 9 Conor Stinton, 10 Michael Hopkins, 11 Brendan Bradley, 12 Marty Murray, 13 Colm Walsh, 14 Conn Doherty, 15 Daniel Quinn
All Saints: 1 Ryan Stewart, 2 Matthew Downey, 3 Rian Tom, 4 Cal O’Brien, 5 Patrick Ferris, 6 Sean O’Callaghan, 7 Joe Rafferty, 8 Peter McReynolds, 9 Peter McNicholl, 10 Connell Lemon, 11 Paddy McAleer, 12 Harry Connon, 13 Coiaran Campbell, 14 Sean McVeigh, 15 Ronan McKillop
Referee: Ray Matthews
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