Antrim Under 21A Football Championship Quarter-Final)

Con Magees Glenravel 1-07 St Brigid’s Belfast 1-11

St Brigid’s booked their place in the semi-final of the Antrim U21 football championship when they travelled to Glenravel and beat the home side by 4 points, 1-11 to 1-07. These two sides met three years ago in the final of the minor championship at Creggan, with St Brigid’s edging out their rivals by a single point after extra time. Everything pointed to a close encounter in this outing and so it proved, but St Brigid’s ability to pick off their scores proved the difference in the end. Glenravel certainly had their chances. Twice in the second half, they were three on goal. On the first occasion, they were denied by a brilliant save from St Brigid’s goalkeeper, and on the other, a defender got in the way of a goalbound shot.

St Brigid’s were first to raise a flag in a low-scoring first half, building a 0-04 to 0-00 lead through an early free from Rory McErlean, a point from Joe Mellon, and two points from full-forward Joe Logan. Glenravel were slow to start and did not register their first score until the 24th minute when Fergus Donaghy pointed. A subsequent free converted by Shea O Broin allowed the Con Magees to close the gap to just two points (0-04 to 0-02) at the end of the half.

The Con Magees took the lead early in the second half when their star player Colla Ward fired a low shot to the St Brigid’s goal. However, the visitors hit back with a goal of their own through Joe Logan, and then went on to open up a five-point lead following another point from Logan and two more from McErlean.

Glenravel fought back well, stringing together three points from Shea O Broin and a free from Cormac McKeown to bring the gap down to a single point. Despite the momentum shift, a 2-pointer by St Brigid’s JJ Higgins all but ended the home side’s fightback. St Brigid’s grabbed another point late on, to seal the 1-11 to 1-07 win and set up a semi-final meeting withSt Brigid’s in Cargin on Tuesday evening’ in Toome.

St Brigid’s Belfast: 1 Luke Cullinan, 2 Conn Gilleece, 3 Sonny Doyle, 4 Daire Oglesby, 5 Thomas McKenna, 6 Conor O’Connell, 7 Jack Heatherington, 8 Isaac Robinson, 9 Donnacha McGurk, 10 Joe Mellon, 11 Dara Quinn, 12 Rory McErlean, 13 Matthew Lloyd, 14 Joe Logan, 15 JJ Higgins.

Con Magees Glenravel: 1 Sean McMullan, 2 Niall Dickson, 3 Conor McQuillan, 4 Conrad McIlhatton, 5 Niall Hynds, 6 Shea McAuley, 7 Colla Ward, 8 Luke McQuillan, 9 Eamon Ward 10 Cormac McKeown, 11 Shea O Broin, 12 Fergus Donaghy, 13 Peadar McDonnell, 14 Harry Fyfe, 15 Ronan McCormick.

Referee – Paul Burns

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