(Featured Image) Ruairi McCann who was in sparkling form for Creggan in their win over Casement’s on Sunday

ACFL Division 1

Portglenone 1 – 17 Creggan 4 – 16

Photographs: Colleen Webb

Creggan bounced back from a narrow defeat to league leaders Cargin during the week with a determined and polished display of football to ease out convincing winners against a lack lustre Portglenone in Kelly Park on Sunday.

Both clubs make no secret about harbouring aspirations of greater things later in the season, and on this occasion there is no doubt the men in green and gold looked every inch like a team that has kicked on since last year.

Casements looked a pale shadow of the team that brought intensity and physicality to a hugely entertaining county final eight months ago, and whilst their management will not panic about dropping two league points, they do have a very clear idea of the size of the task ahead of them in the next few months if they plan to get back to that level.

As a contest this one was almost as good as over after just twelve minutes. At that stage rampant Creggan had raised no less than four green flags, and from that point on their game was simply about management and containment.

Jamie McCann’s effort was the first mark on the scoreboard, evened out a minute later when a fine fetch and delivery by Stephen Kelly played in his cousin Ronan for the hosts equalising and opening score after four minutes. Then just as supporters of both clubs settled down for what many anticipated would be a competitive and even contest,  corner forward Small kicked off a seven minute goal fest for the visitors, jinking and weaving his way past a number of defenders to plant the ball past helpless Casements net minder Ryan O’Neill.

One minute later, a terrific point on the run off the boot of livewire Conor Johnstonextended the  gap to four, matched in its excellence by the first of numerous long range points from Casements Paddy Kelly to restore the balance.

The next five minutes completely changed the game and effectively killed it as a contest. A rampant Creggan, dominating all over the pitch ran in three superbly taken quickfire goals, finished off by Kevin Small, Conor Small and the lively foot ofConor Johnston, all the result of well cohesive team play across the pitch.

Ruairi McCann was having a great afternoon, looking like the county player he should still be, and when he knocked over a trademark free from all of 60 yards, it was up to Paddy Kelly to show that art is still firmly in his locker too with his second two pointer of the half. Paddy would go on to double this and bring his first half tally to four doubles, much to the appreciation of the large crowd. When Ray Matthews blew his short whistle at the break, Creggan were comfortably ahead by eight points.

Creggan were out earliest for the second period, as John McKeever attempted to rally his team, and they responded when Patrick Graffin worked harder than anyone to claim a hotly contested breaking ball in the square and laid it off to the waiting Ciaran McAleese who made no mistake.

Within a minute though Kevin Small pointed to maintain the eight point margin that had been established, and try as they could, led by the industrious Enda Lynn, Casements could not find a way of breaking down that deficit, due largely to Creggan’s physical strength and stranglehold on the game around the middle, allied to their much greater ability to win the scraps for breaking ball.

Casements had simply no answer in the ariel exchanges, and with Johnston brothers Ricky and Marty as well as Kevin Rice still waiting in the wings, Creggan have a lot of strength in depth in this department as well.

Casements battled hard to remain in contention, and did produce some excellent movements of their own, deserving credit for their contribution to a lively encounter, but Creggan soon moved into game management mode and were content to see out the contest without needing to overly extend themselves in the final quarter.

Portglenone had a number of players who grafted admirably for their cause, but the majority will know that both individually and collectively there is another few levels to find in six weeks. Paddy Kelly gave it his all, and Enda Lynn died with his boots on, and the returning Ryan O’Neill in goals did well at times under high balls, but truthfully the better performers on the day were on the visiting side who look like a team going in the right direction. Both Smalls gave it large, as did McCann brothers Keelin and Ruairi, whilst up front Matthew Rodgers was immense as a ball winning magnet. The eye catching performance of corner forward Conor Johnston was emphatic, a new CJ is in town!

Creggan won this fixture last year, if anything in even more emphatic fashion and its possible that both managements hold varying degrees of aspiration for the league. John McKeever may well be holding back on pressing his pre championship button, however the reality is that Joe Cassidy will have slept much easier on Sunday night, in the knowledge his systems are already working and his team are still firmly in the picture for a chance of taking home the Eddie Fitzsimons Cup in a month’s time.

Scorers;

Casements; Paddy Kelly 0 – 8 (4 x 2pts) Michael Hagan 1 – 00, Enda Lynn 0 – 02, Ciaran McAleese 0 – 02, Ronan Kelly  0 – 02, Oisin Doherty 0 – 02.

Creggan; Conor Johnston  1 – 03, Kevin Small 1 – 01, Conor Small 1 – 01, Jamie McCann 0 – 02, Ruairi McCann 0 – 03, Conor Small 1 – 01, Matthew Rodgers 0 – 02, Jamie McCann 0 – 01, Conor McCann 0 -01,  Fintan Close 0 – 01.