ACFL Division 1
Portglenone 4 – 20 Glenravel 0 – 09
Portglenone got off to a blistering start in this round seven division one league encounter when Oisin Doherty posted three individual white flags within two minutes of referee Paddy Tumeltys whistle, and the home side never looked back. It may have turned out a bit differently had Casements keeper Kevin Mullan not got a fingertip to turn a speculative lob wide of his post to deny Harry Fyfe a certain goal, as within a minute Michael Donnelly sent Oisin Doherty through for Portglenone’s fourth point.
Glenravel responded with a trio of their own from David Higgins, Declan Trainor and Joe Martin to reduce the deficit to the minimum.
The second quarter saw Casements hit a purple patch with Oisin Doherty adding another duo to bring his individual point tally to six, whilst also supplying a delightful layoff to impressive youngster Tom Duffin who made no mistake from close range.
Ryan Lennon and Eamon Ward raised white flags for the visitors but the gap at half time had stretched to eleven and it looked a long way back for the visitors.
The second half saw Portglenone open up on the scoreboard with three green flags which effectively ended the game as a contest. Michael Donnelly goaled within thirty seconds of the restart, and a few minutes later Tom Duffin added his second major to cap another fine display. When Aidan McAleese added another a few minutes later this game was over as a contest.
Glenravel were missing a number of their county contingent, but to their credit never gave up the fight. Declan McAuley and another batch from impressive Ryan Lennon kept their tally ticking over but on this occasion they were simply outclassed.
Aidan McAleese was the star performer on view, the lanky midfielder dominated midfield proceedings while still taking time to contribute a goal and six points over the hour. Stephen Kelly contributed four late points too as the game filtered out to its inevitable conclusion.
Glenravel will provide a test for most when their full contingent return, and on the night Ryan Lennon, Joe Martin, David Higgins and Sean Higgins posted fine individual displays, whilst full back Eoin McCusker can be happy that he eventually got to terms with Casements Oisin Doherty after a shaky start.
For Casements it was good to see them play fast direct football and in a good all round team performance Oisin Doherty looked sharp, getting himself back amongst the scores, whilst Tom Duffin, Dermot McAleese, Conor McGhee, Shane Delargy Johnny Convery and particularly Aidan McAleese looked solid on the night.
Casements scorers; Aidan McAleese 1 – 06, Oisin Doherty 0 – 06, Tom Duffin 2 – 00, Stephen Kelly 0 – 04, Michael Donnelly 1 – 00, Ronan Kelly 0 – 02, Odhran Doherty 0 – 02.
Glenravel scorers; Ryan Lennon 0 – 04, David Higgins 0 – 01, Joe Martin 0 – 01, Declan McAuley 0 – 01, Eamon Ward 0 – 01, Declan Trainor 0 – 01.
Referee: Paddy Tumelty (Lamh Dhearg)