Casement Social Club, Antrim JHC Group 3
Sarsfields 1-21-0-5 All Saints, Ballymena
Kevin Herron reports from the Bear Pit
Division 3 League Champions Sarsfields got their quest to land a domestic double off to a winning start after seeing off All Saint’s 1-21-0-5 at the Bear Pit on Sunday afternoon.
Being in the Group of 3, Sarsfields had to watch on as St Brigid’s defeated All Saints in the Championship opener 3 weeks previous and knew victory over their opponents from Ballymena would secure the second quarter final slot on offer with a game to spare.
They made a perfect start and had the game’s only goal within two minutes. Nicholas O’Mullane dropped a high ball into the square, All Saints keeper Ronan McAllister was unable to clear his lines and Niall McAlea swooped to touch the loose ball home.
Both sides were wasteful in possession as it took the game a while to settle down. The visitors struck successive frees courtesy of Damian Gillan to open their account, although those two points were all they were able to muster in the opening half as their shooting let them down.
Darren Delander struck Sarsfields first point of the contest and Daniel Smyth added a second just after the quarter hour mark following a flowing move from one side of the pitch to the other, with Fionn Jemfrey slipping the ball to Cormac Mulligan to in turn find Smyth.
It wasn’t until the final ten minutes in the half that Sarsfields began to stretch clear on the scoreboard.
Kevin McKernan landed the first of three scores of his own before the half was mark. The first coming from the placed ball, and two others from play – the last of which was a superb dig from range after Cormac Mulligan picked him out.
In between times, Mulligan was again involved in sending a cross-field pass into Kevin-Barry McArdle to pop over as the Stewartstown outfit led 1-6-0-2 at the interval.
The Paddies picked up where they left off and tagged on three quick points at the beginning of the second half.
Darren Delander doubled his personal tally, as did Daniel Smyth and Cormac Mulligan then opened his account.
All Saints replied through a Gillan free, but Mulligan hooked over his second in quick succession, back-to-back Kevin McKernan frees followed ahead of a further Gillan free that made it 1-12-0-4 by the 40th minute.
A third Daniel Smyth was followed by a third from the impressive Cormac Mulligan and a fourth McKernan free saw the hosts begin to open up real daylight with a quarter of an hour remaining.
The scores continued to flow, a quickly taken McKernan free caught All Saints napping and Darren Delander brought his tally to three, Cormac Mulligan increased his haul with a fine point from range and Fionn Jemfrey’s angled attempt dropped over to make it 1-18-0-4.
Substitute Ryan Carson almost had his side’s second goal, but he was denied by Ronan McAllister and Fionn Jemfrey turned the loose ball over.
An eighth score on the spin arrived through an angled Nicholas O’Mullane score, with All Saints talisman Gillan scoring his first from play and fifth in total.
There was still enough enough time for Darren Delander to add to his tally before the conclusion, for the second time in the half was the recipient of a quickly taken McKernan free and dropped the ball over to complete a comfortable afternoons work for the Paddies and send them into the quarter final along with St Brigid’s, as All Saint’s will drop into the Junior B Championship following the Groups conclusion in a fortnight.
SARSFIELDS: G McKernan, N McGivern, M McCavanagh, Darragh Coleman, J Ward, C McKernan, J Maguire, D Delander (0-4), N O’Mullane (0-1), D Smyth (0-3), K McKernan (0-6, 0-4f), C Mulligan (0-4), KB McArdle (0-1), N McAlea (1-0), F Jemfrey (0-2). SUBS:C Rea for KB McArdle (43), R Carson for C Mulligan (46), R McKenna for N McGivern (53), Daniel McKernan for D Smyth (55).
ALL SAINTS: R McAllister, K Brady, D McKee, F Connon, D Gray, R Crooks, L Mulholland, V Esler, H Connon, E McGuigan, D Kelly, L O’Rawe, J Magil, A McGreevy, D Gillan (0-5, 0-4f). SUBS: P Doherty for V Esler (35), J Mooney for K Brady (41), M Connolly for D Kelly (41), F Brady for H Connon (41), S O’Rawe for E McGuigan (44).
REFEREE: Terry Reilly (GORT NA MONA)
