Northern Switchgear Senior Football Championship Final
Dunloy 3-12 Cargin 2-7
Sunday 12 October
Brendan McTaggart reports from Corrigan Park, Belfast
It was always going to take something special to derail the Green Machine, on Sunday afternoon at Corrigan Park, but Dunloy did just that. Eight points the difference by the time Darren McKeown blew his whistle for full time after 60 plus minutes of a match that saw the Cuchullains outplay and outmanoeuvre Cargin.
This was a brilliant performance from the Cuchullains who were well worthy of their winning margin, on another day, they could have had more goals and they threatened to kick away any momentum they had in the first half with a series of bad wides but they were relentless. Even when Cargin looked to build pressure towards the end of the hour, Dunloy always found a way to break with pace, precision and power.
Captain Seaan Elliott took the man of the match accolade, it’s hard to argue given he scored 1-8 with 1-6 of that coming in the second half but he had plenty of support. Reece Cunning playing in his first year at senior was outstanding while Conor Kinsella, James Scally and Aaron Crawford all formed part of a tenacious defence.
Michael McCann lead the scoring charts for the Toome men with 1-3, his major coming from a penalty and while Conhuir Johnston finished with 1-2, the Dunloy defence had him well shackled for long periods of this game.
The first half saw Cargin have the lions share of possession for long periods but making little in-roads in a well organised Dunloy defence. The Cuchullains have been notorious for hitting two pointers this championship campaign and they landed two sucker punches to the Cargin challenge with Keelan Molloy and Seaan Elliott raising the orange flag in the opening 10 minutes.
Cargin’s opening score came from a Tomás McCann free in the 13th minute while Dunloy could have been further ahead by that point but a series of wides from the Cuchullains kept Cargin within touching distance.
The Toome men were gifted a golden opportunity when Tom Shivers was fouled inside the square and they were awarded a penalty. Tomás McCann was entrusted with the spot kick but he sent it to the left and wide as Cargin searched for some fluency.
Ryan McGarry and Michael McCann swapped scored before Luke McFerran scored the opening goal of the game in the 22nd minute. Reece Cunning with the break from the Dunloy defence and sending the ball into the path of Aodhan McGarry with a brilliant pass. McGarry found Luke McFerran and he made no mistake despite the best efforts of Cargin ‘keeper John McNabb.
That would be Dunloy’s last score of the half however as more missed chances gave Cargin the chance to reel in their six point advantage. Conhuir Johnston landed his first score of the final before a piece of brilliance brought about his goal on the stroke of half time. Gathering the ball from a deflection in the middle third, Conhuir Johnston stretched his legs to try and evade the Dunloy tackles. His shot was partially blocked by Aaron Crawford but the deflection looped over Chrissy McMahon in the Dunloy goals to leave the half time score 2-5 to 1-3.
When Conhuir Johnston opened the scoring after the restart to leave the minimum between the sides, it looked like the stage was set for Cargin to push home but they wouldn’t register another score for almost 20 minutes as Dunloy took control.
They scored their second goal after just two minutes of the second half, the Elliott brothers combining with Nigel applying the finish while Seaan split the uprights moments later to stretch the Dunloy lead to five points.
With the Cuchullains in the ascendancy, they created another goal chance with Luke McFerran putting Molloy through on goal but McNabb denied the Dunloy man from close range.
Seaan Elliott split the uprights with a free before Dunloy would score their third major in the 42nd minute. Nigel Elliott fouled inside the square with Seaan Elliott finding the back of the net and putting nine points between the sides. He would convert a huge free moments later to raise the orange flag and put 11 between the sides going into the final quarter.
Cargin went in search of goals and were awarded a penalty for a foul on substitute Pat Shivers. Michael McCann took the responsibility and made no mistake. The Dunloy response was match winning with Seaan Elliott landing another huge two point free, staving any thoughts of a Cargin comeback in the closing stages.
McCann brothers Michael and Tomás combined to land three points, Michael’s a two point effort, either side of a Tom McFerran point but Cargin never looked like reeling in the Dunloy lead.
When you consider that 14 of the Dunloy starting 15 were involved with the hurling squad defeated seven days ago in the semi final, to have the psychological strength and capacity to comeback from that is a testament to this group of players. To switch their focus to try and defeat a Cargin team who hadn’t tasted defeat within Antrim since the semi final of the 2021 championship, it adds to the Cinderella story of it all. They bridge an 89 year gap with the MacNamee Cup residing in The Village for 2025.
TEAMS
DUNLOY: Chrissy McMahon; Reece Cunning, Aaron Crawford, James Scally; Aodhan McGarry, Ryan McGarry, Conor Kinsella; Eoin McFerran, Deaglan Smith; Eoin O’Neill, Seaan Elliott, Tom McFerran; Luke McFerran, Keelan Molloy, Nigel Elliott
Subs: Conal Cunning for L McFerran (37); Kevin McQuillan for N Elliott (60+4); Barry McCloskey for S Smith (60+4)
Scorers: S Elliott 1-8 (1-00 pen, 2xTPF, 1xTP, 1F); L McFerran 1-00; N Elliott 1-00; K Molloy 0-2 (1xTP); T McFerran 0-1; R McGarry 0-1
CARGIN: John McNabb; Benen Kelly, Ronan Gribbin, Conan Johnston; James Laverty, Kevin McShane, Sean O’Neill; John Carron, Kevin O’Boyle; David Johnston, Conhuir Johnston, Paul McCann; Michael McCann, Tom Shivers, Tomás McCann
Subs: Jack O’Neill for R Gribbin (HT); Pat Shivers for T Shivers (40); Eunan Quinn for J Carron (45)
Scorers: M McCann 1-3 (1-00pen, 1xTP); C Johnston 1-2; T McCann 0-2 (1F)
Referee: Darren McKeown (Naomh Gall)
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