NORTHERN SWITCHGEAR SFC Group 3 Round 2
St. Ergnar’s Moneyglass 0-15 Erin’s own Cargin 3-18
Cargin booked their place in the knockout stages of the Northern Switchgear SFC when they recorded a 12 point victory over St. Ergnat’s in a feisty championship clash on the old Moneyglass pitch on Saturday afternoon.
In the end the victory was totally deserved but the margin of victory doesn’t do justice to a young St. Ergnat’s side who will look back in regret at the two first half goals they conceded when they were well in contention.
Both goals came as a result of turnovers in the home defence but they came as a result of an intensive press by their opponents, the second coming after St. Ergnat’s had just taken a two point lead.
Featured Image: Benen Kelly fires home Cargin’s opening goal and (Above) Jack O’Neill punches the air in celebration after forcing home their second.
Conhuir Johnston kicked Cargin into the lead with a point after 20 seconds and David Johnston added a second before Moneyglass replied through Tiernan McCormick and Callum Murray to draw level with only 6 minutes gone.
Pat Shivers and Colum Duffin exchanged further points and Ciaran Bradley fisted over to edge the visitors ahead before an intercepted clearance saw Benen Kelly take advantage to fire to the net and put the Toome side 1-4 to 0-3 ahead.
St. Ergnat’s looked in trouble but responded magnificently and the impressive Aidan McErlain looked to have turned the game on its head when he fired over three 2 pointers in quick succession to edge the hosts 0-9 to 1-4 ahead at the end of the opening quarter.
Back came Cargin and Benen Kelly kicked an excellent point to reduce the gap before another sustained press forced another error in the Moneyglass defence and Jack McCann, lying on the ground was first to react as he forced the ball home from close range.
Tomas McCann edged Cargin 2-6 to 0-9 ahead as the exchanges intensified and Fergal Duffin was shown Yellow after a strong collision with McCann which forced the Cargin number 11 out of the action.
Back came St. Ergnat’s and Sean Boyd raced through and might have had a goal but his well struck effort sailed over with Mick McCann and Conhuir Johnston responding at the other end to move the Toome side 2-9 to 0-10 ahead after 27 minutes.
St. Ergnat’s responded and Dermot McErlain looked in for a goal but John McNabb pushed his effort away for a ‘45’ with Tiernan McCormick stroking the resulting award between the uprights to leave 4 in it at the break.
Things began to heat up as the second half got underway before boiling over and Fergal Duffin for St. Ergnat’s and Pat Shivers and Mick McCann for Cargin were all shown Red with only six minutes gone and the question was, how would the extra man affect the game?
That question got a quick answer as keeper, John McNabb came forward to strike a great score from distance and raise an Orange flag and when Jack O’Neill raced clear to finish to the net for his second and his side’s third goal of the game, the tide had firmly swung in favour of the visitors.
They began to slow the game down and move the ball around confidently and Conhuir Johnston fired over a 20th minute free before Aidan McErlain replied for the home side with an excellent score from play.
Moneyglass continued to battle but were guilty of a number of bad misses while McNabb in the Cargin goals pulled of a good save to deny Caolan Boyd the goal that the home side desperately needed.
The scores dried up at this stage though substitute Fiontan Hardy got his name on the Cargin score card with a fine point and Mark Kelly made a similar statement as he added his name to the visitors total before Tiernan McCormick concluded the scoring with a consolation 2 pointer off the ground for Moneyglass.
This win guarantees Cargin a place in the play-offs and the Toome side appear to be finding their form just at the right time and are sure to be serious contenders for the title while defeat ends St. Ergnat’s interest for this season.
Their management will take a lot of heart however at the effort this young side put in and having evaded relegation with an excellent win over Tir na nOg, a couple of weeks ago, the future looks bright for the Moneyglass side.
Moneyglass: 1 Jamie McLaughlin, 2 Callum Murray, 3 Zach McCaughan, 4 Eunan McErlain, 5 Sean Boyd, 6 Fergal Duffin, 7 Conleth McCann, 8 Tiernan McCormick, 9 Seanchan Duffin, 10 Paul Duffin, 11 Aidan McErlain, 12 Caolan Boyd, 13 Ewan McGrath, 14 Colum Duffin, 15 Dermot McErlain
Subs: Odhran Duffin for Ewan McGrath
Cargin: 1 John McNabb, 2 Kevin O’Boyle, 3 Kevin McShane, 4 Cahir Donnelly, 5 Benen Kelly, 6 James Laverty, 7 David Johnston, 8 Conhuir Johnston, 10 Ciaran Bradley, 11 Tomas McCann, 12 Tom Shivers, 18 Jack O’Neill, 14 Mick McCann, 15 Pat Shivers, 19 Jamie Gribben
Subs: 9 John Carron, 24 Fiontan Hardy, 21 Gerard McCann, 22 Marty Kane, 27 Jack Harney, 31 Mark Kelly, 20 Eunan Quinn
Referee: Conall Roberts (St. John’s)
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