U21A Football Championship
All Saints 0-7 Creggan 3-7
Goals proved the difference between these two sides at Quinn Park in Ballymena on Sunday with All Saints trailing by two points at the break despite conceding two bad majors to Kickham’s Creggan during a first half where they failed to take advantage of their wind advantage.
It was the home side who were first on target when Paidin Mitchell pointed a 2nd minute free but that lead was short lived as Sean Daly advanced along the by-line through a porous home defence to set up Shea McCann for the game’s opening goal in the 5th minute.
Both sides were finding scores hard to come by though a Darrach Bradley pointed free for the Ballymena side reduced the gap to the minimum with 13 minutes gone but All Saints were defending too deep and inviting the opposition on.
Kickham’s were much more direct in their approach and Finn Connon in the All Saints goals pulled off a smart save to deny Sean Daly but was then forced to watch in despair as a Shea McCann ‘45’ sailed directly to his net.
The home side attempted to respond but Conan McKeown’s attempt at goal was wide of the target before Darrach Bradley pointed a couple of frees to leave it 2-0 to 0-4 for the visitors at the end of a low scoring opening half.
Bradley pointed within 30 seconds of the restart to leave just one between the sides but All Saints were punished for a breach of the 3-Up rule and McCann converted the resulting free.
A point from a free by Darrach Bradley and another converted free from the same player had it all square at 0-7 to 2-1 by the 6th minute and it looked like we were in for a tight second half but All Saints would not score for the remainder of the contest as the visitors took control.
Finn Connon came to his side’s rescue with a good save from Aidan McIlwee with the impressive Shea McCann pointing the resulting ‘45’ to give his side back the lead and it was a lead they would build on as he game progressed.
Eunan Johnston got in for a third goal for the visitors as the home defence got themselves in a tangle and McCann followed with a point before the home side lost a player to a second yellow card.
The Kickham’s pressed home their advantage going down the home straight with Fintan Close, Sean Daly and Shea McCann tagging on late points to see them safely through to a meeting with Dunloy in the quarter-finals next weekend.
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