ACFL Division 1
Casements 2 – 10
Cargin 2 – 14
Pics: Colleen Webb
Casements welcomed county champions Erin’s Own to O’Kelly Park for a much anticipated re run of last year’s dramatic county final which on that occasion required overtime to separate the two teams. This time there was a bit less drama, Cargin doing what they do, coming from six points down with twenty minutes left, to find a way to win a game of football.
The pitch was in pristine condition and a large crowd was in attendance when referee Colin McDonald got the game underway. Cargin got out of the blocks a bit quicker, punishing Portglenone for several early contest lapses in front of goals in the opening minutes, Conan Johnston and Benen Kelly posting the minors.
Enda Lynn got the home support going with a superb point to get the Ports into the contest and followed up with an even more outrageous score a few minutes later. The fayre was full on and end to end, a fantastic fingertip save from Casements keeper Ryan ONeill from Conan Johnston preventing a certain Cargin goal. Either side of that Tomas McCann had raised both an orange and a white flag, to put Cargin up by three at the end of the first quarter.
Casements finally got their foothold in the game and in the space of a few minutes they had a goal and four, a fair reward for numerous spells of attractive and open football to edge ahead in the contest. Dermot Mc Aleese signalled his return to club duty with a trademark solo effort and it took two excellent points, one from Michael McCann and the other from his nephew Sean O’Neill to send the clubs in at the interval, Casements two points to the good.
Shooting into their favoured end, Casements started where they left off, opening up a six point gap thanks to an excellent point from Ronan Kelly and a superb solo goal from the imperious Enda Lynn who weaved and jinked his way through the Cargin defence to plant a pile driver past John McNabb in the Cargin goals.
The script was going nicely at this point for the hosts, and the more optimistic of their supporters may have been thinking that a rare league win over their South West rivals was just possibly on the cards.
That position was reinforced when a finger-tip save from a Cargin penalty dispatched by Michael McCann resulted in a white flag which Dermot McAleese returned at the other end almost immediately to maintain a six point gap in favour of the yellow and black.
Cargin never doubted themselves and in the space of a few minutes John McNabb dispatched two orange flags for a four point contribution, and Tomas Mcann tagged on another point to leave the minimum between the teams as the game entered the final quarter.
Then the game changed in the space of a minute. John Carron fielded highest and sent a delivery high into the Casements goal mouth. Daniel McNicholl rose highest and was bursting out with the ball when he believed he was fouled, waited on the accompanying whistle which didn’t come – the ball spilling to the on waiting Cargin predator David Johnston who made no mistake, drilling the ball into Casements net to put Cargin back in front.
The large crowd were getting more involved and with the contest full on, Casements put together their best move of the game. Niall Delargy and Dermot McAleese worked the ball the full length of the pitch, and found Casements sharpshooter Aidan Mc Aleese in a one on one opportunity, but on this occasion the normally reliable Aidan pulled his shot narrowly to the left and an inch wide of the post.
Casements came again though, and the superbly talented Enda Lynn narrowed the deficit once again to the minimum and the big question was could Casements find that crucial score. Try gallantly as they did though, and with the game entering its concluding stages, a well worked weave between McCann brothers Tomas and Michael set up Ben McLarnon for a score he will remember, finishing to the net past Ryan ONeill to give the visitors a clear advantage on the scoreboard.
Sean ONeill and Tomas McCann raised another two points in succession for the men in green, a late Sean Byrne point a consolation score for Casements right at the end.
Best on the night for the winners were McCann brothers Michael and Tomas, with John Carron, James Laverty and Gerard McCann also catching the eye. Sean ONeill also looked lively, his evenly matched dual with Niall Delargy a feature of the evening.
Portglenone have Enda Lynn to thank for keeping them in the contest, his individual scores from this particular game worthy of the entrance fee alone. Dermot McAleese, Niall Delargy, Ryan Convery and Kevin OKane all gave their lot to their teams cause.
Cargin were without the services of numerous anticipated championship starters, so Ronan Devlin will be relieved to get through this midsummer test, content that his men are nicely on schedule for the time of year.
Casements will finish the league more or less in a similar position to last year, and in due course will switch focus to their main seasonal objective, but while manager John McKeever will take some positives from his team’s performance, he will still be hoping to get more from first phase possession around the middle and see an improvement in breaking ball statistics.
For long periods of time there was little to separate these teams from open play, Cargin just that bit more clinical in front of goals, of course also possessing that crucial knack of finding a way to win. That’s why they remain the team to beat in Antrim football.
Scorers.
Casements; Enda Lynn 1 – 03, Ronan Kelly 1 – 01, Paddy Kellyb 0 – 02, Dermot McAleese 0 – 02, Michael Hagan 0 – 01, Sean Byrne 0 – 01.
Cargin; Tomas McCann 0 – 05, John McNabb 0 – 04, David Johnston 1 – 00, Ben McLarnon 1 – 00, Michael McCann 0 – 02, Sean ONeill 0 – 01, Benen Kelly 0 – 01, Conan Johnston 0 – 01,
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