ACFL Division 1
St Paul’s 3-11 Aghagallon 1-9
ACFL Division 1 – Saturday, June 21st
Report and Pics: Brian Hamill
St Paul’s turned on the style under the Friday night lights as they swept aside Aghagallon with a powerful first-half performance that laid the groundwork for a convincing win in this Antrim ACFL Division 1 clash.
The Shaw’s Road men were out of the blocks like lightning, and within four minutes, they had rattled the net through a surging run and finish from Lorcan Phillips. That early goal set the tone for what would be a dominant opening half, with the hosts moving the ball with pace and precision.
A second green flag followed shortly after, this time from Caoimhin Duffy, who finished coolly after a mistake in the Aghagallon defence. Conall Duffy added a third goal before the break, and by the 20 minute mark, the home side had opened up a nine-point lead.
Aghagallon, to their credit, kept battling. Ruairi McCann, Eunan Walsh and Adam Loughran chipped in with points to keep the scoreboard ticking, but they struggled to gain a foothold in midfield where James Farrell and Conor Hughes were dominant.
The second half saw a brief rally from the visitors. Jonny Hannon, who had been their most dangerous outlet, found the net for Aghagallon, midway through the half to reduce the deficit to six and converted several frees on the day. Any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished as St Paul’s responded with a string of well-taken points from Ciaran Rogers-Duffy frees and from general play.
The majority of the second half was all about game management for the hosts, who controlled possession and picked off scores with relative ease. The result sees St Paul’s leapfrog the visitors in the division 1 league table.
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