Cross & Passion had a good win over St Pat’s Maghera in the Forester Cup at Allen Park, Antrim on Thursday afternoon, running out winners by 2-13 to 2-04.
JJ McGarry with the excellent breakthrough goal in the early stages put CPC in a strong position at half time they led by 1-06 to 0-02. When Matthew Donnelly showed great persistence in the box to score the Convent’s second goal they appeared to be home and hosed, but St Pat’s showed great fighting quality and two goals from right half back Owen O’Neill got them right back into the game. However CPC steadied the ship and some excellent point taking from midfielder Logan McConville and centre forward Charlie McAuley helped pull them clear again as they preserved their 100% record.
St Pat’s centre back Dan McEldowney in action against CPC’s Damian McMahon during their Foresters Cup round 2 game at Allen Park. Pic by John McIlwaine
To see more pics from this game click on the link below
Antrim travel to St. Joseph’s park, Ederney on Sunday hoping to build on their opening day win over Clare at Corrigan Park on Sunday past. On a day not conducive to good football the Saffron had three points to spare over a Clare side who would have been amongst the favourites for promotion this year.
Debutant Fionn Nagle marked his league debut with a goal and a point and looks to be a useful addition to an Antrim squad who have lost Declan Lynch and Paddy McAleer to retirement while team captain, Peter Healey and Colm McLarnon are missing through injury.
Overall, manager Andy McEntee will have been fairly satisfied with his side performance and the battling qualities and resilience they showed in some of the worst conditions witnessed on the Whiterock for some time.
Eunan Walsh, Joseph Finnegan and team captain, Dermot McAleese marshalled the Antrim defence at Corrigan while Conor Hand contributed 0-3 from mid-field and Conor Stewart was also on target from the Antrim engine room.
Marc Jordan worked tirelessly throughout the 70 plus minutes and Paddy McBride and the returning Ryan Murray were busy throughout in the Antrim attack.
While Antrim were winning in Belfast promotion favourites Kildare had set out a real marker of intent with a ruthless 2-24 to 1-12 destruction of Sunday’s opponents Fermanagh, a day earlier in St Conleth’s Park.
Title favourites Kildare ran out convincing winners against Kieran Donnelly’s Fermanagh and it is a defeat that the hosts will be keen to put behind them as they entertain an Antrim side who recorded a Tailteann Cup win over them last season.
The value of the two-pointer was illustrated in the few minutes before half-time as Fermanagh finally gained some traction, this time off Kildare goalie Didier Cordonnier’s kick-outs, and Darragh McGurn notched three points, including an orange flag, as they closed the gap to six points by the interval.
Fermanagh played better in the second half against the Lily Whites and a Shane McGullion goal in the 47th minute after calamitous defending gave them a glimmer of hope. Kildare’s response was very impressive and an excellent Darragh Kirwan goal gave them a 1-21 to 1-10 lead, ending it as a contest.
Kildare sauntered home from there with Ryan Sinkey putting the icing on a sweet tasting cake with a late goal.
Home advantage at St. Joseph’s Ederney will certainly help Fermanagh’s cause as a side still hurting from Saturday’s opening day defeat and relegation from division 2 last year aim to get back to winning ways but Antrim will take confidence from Sunday’s win over Clare and can gain the win that that would keep their promotion hopes alive even at this early stage of the season.
ANTRIM v CLARE: M Byrne, J Morgan, E Walsh, K Keenan, R Boyle, J Finnegan, D McAleese, C Stewart (0-2), C Hand (0-3), P Finnegan, M Jordan, P McBride (0-2, 0-1f), R Murray (0-1), F Nagle (1-1), D McEnhill. Subs: R McQuillan for D McEnhill (23), P Ferris for K Keenan (61), N Burns for R McQuillan (70+1).
Featured Image: Marc Jordan who had a good game against Clare and Dermott McAleese who will captain Antrim against Fermanagh in Ederney on Sunday
A excellent game in Crossmaglen on Tuesday, 28th January, saw Ulster University and Trinity battled it out in a fiercely contested game with the winners set to be crowned league winners. From the opening whistle, UU set the tempo, with early points coming from Cassie McArthur and Lara Devlin which gave them a good footing.
Their strong start, however, was met with an immediate response from Trinity, who launched a long ball into the square. UU goalkeeper Eimear McGivern managed to block the initial effort, but an unfortunate deflection saw the ball find its way into the net, giving Trinity an early goal.
Undeterred by the setback, UU quickly responded with two well-taken points to bring the game level once again. The momentum shifted significantly in their favour when captain Evanne Martin produced a moment of brilliance, the Creggan star embarking on a spectacular solo run before striking the ball off her stick and over the bar from 50m out.
This ignited UU’s attacking play, and they took firm control of the first half. Fionnuala Kelly and Lara Devlin both found the net, adding to UU’s growing tally. Despite a determined response from Trinity, the halftime score stood at UU 2:9, Trinity 2:3, giving UU a well-earned six point cushion.
UU carried their dominance into the second half, keeping the scoreboard ticking over with well-placed points from Cassie McArthur and Fionnuala Kelly. Their relentless pressure paid off in the third quarter when they netted their third goal of the game, further solidifying their advantage. However, Trinity refused to back down, responding immediately with a goal of their own to keep themselves in contention.
As the game entered its final stages, both teams battled fiercely, leading to frantic goalmouth scrambles at both ends. Despite Trinity’s best efforts to close the gap, UU continued to find their scores, ensuring their lead remained intact. The match concluded with UU emerging victorious on a scoreline of 4:14 to 4:05, capping off a fantastic performance from all their players.
This was a game marked by skill, determination, and teamwork, with every UU player contributing to a well-deserved win. Their ability to respond to Trinity’s challenges, maintain control, and convert crucial chances was instrumental in their success. With such a strong showing, UU will look to carry this momentum forward into their next fixture.
UU captain Yvanne Martin with the league trophy after her team’s win over Trinity
Eimear McGivern
Alex Healey
Grace Daly
Carla McEldowney
Erin Coulter
Evanne Martin
Emily Fitzpartick
Sophie McGrath
Eimear Johnston
Kaitlin Gallagher
Aisling O’Donnell
Lara Devlin
Grace Cunningham
Cassie McArthur
Fionnuala Kelly
Replacements
Bronagh McCloskey for Lara Devlin (50mins)
Lia Kelly for Emily Fitzpatrick (50mins)
Nuala Devlin for Grace Cunningham (55mins) Aoibhinn Daly for Aisling O’Donnell (55mins
This event will see a top class lineup of coaches with several years experience coaching at the top level of Gaelic games.
Our guest coaches will deliver sessions looking at several activities for coaches to apply to their own coaching. There will be an emphasis on applying the new rules to football and they will cover many facets of the modern day game.
First up we will have Irish news columnist and former Antrim player and Derry & Tyrone Coach, Kevin Madden.
After a playing career than spanned over 10 years at County Level, which includes 2 Railway Cup medals, Kevin has moved very quickly to proving himself equally adept at coaching and management.
After two years, as coach/manager of top Derry side Glenullin, he helped deliver a Senior Football Championship for the club, the first in 22 years, and a Division One League title for the first time in the club’s history.
Kevin was assitant manager and coach to the Derry Senior team in 2009 and 2010. In 2020 he took on a coaching role with Mickey Harte’ Tyrone.
Our second guest Coach on the day needs no introduction to the people of Moneyglass. It is of course our long serving County footballer Kevin Brady. Kevin represented Antrim for the best part of 15 years winning an All Ireland ‘B’ in 2000 and then captained his county to the 2008 Tommy Murphy Cup, defeating Mick O’Dwyers Wicklow. He also played centre half forward for Antrim in the 2009 Ulster final.
He is the proud owner of a MacRory cup medal at St. Pats Maghera, a Sigerson cup medal with the University of Ulster Jordantown & a Railway cup with Ulster under Brian McEniff.
Since retiring from playing Kevin is creating a reputation as one of the best coaches in Ulster leading St. Marys Magherafelt to 2 MacRory cups and just last year he oversaw a famous victory over All Ireland champions Glen Maghera to win the Derry Senior football championship with Sean O’Leary‘s Newbridge.
Our final coach of the day will be none other than Donegals Maxi Curran.
Maxi hails from the Downings club and has built up an impressive CV as one of the most sought-after coaches in Ireland.
He was famously part of Jim McGuinnesss‘s back room Team that won the Sam Maguire in 2012 and two years later led St. Eunan’s Letterkenny to the Donegal Senior championship. He was also assistant manager to Rory Gallagher during his tenure as Donegal senior football manager and has worked with their under 21s for several years. He managed Donegal Senior Ladies to 3 Ulster championships and is currently manager of Moneyglass senior Ladies and his own clubs senior men’s team.
To finish off our coaching clinic, we are delighted to have Eunan O’Kane to Deliver a talk on the behaviours associated with high-performance athletes. Eunan hails from the Banagher club in Derry and enjoyed a very successful underage career.
However, he soon turned his attention to a career in professional football playing for famous clubs such as Bournemouth, Leeds United, Torquay & Everton. He was also capped several times for the Republic of Ireland under the management of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane. It will be fascinating to hear firsthand what Gaelic footballers can apply from athletes at the highest level.
St Mary’s Portglenone are Allianz Ireland cumann na mbunscoil indoor camogie champions following a great day of camogie at Antrim Forum.
They overcame Mary Queen of Peace Glenravel in a thrilling final to take the title back in a repeat of last year’s final. The final highlighted all the skills of the game and those in attendance can be sure that the standard of Camogie is very high in South West Antrim.
Twelve teams started the day in search of silverware namely; Mary Queen of Peace, St Mary’s Portglenone, St Brigid’s Ballymena, St Colmcille’s Ballymena, Millquarter, Moneynick, St Paul’s Ahoghill, Creggan, St Patrick’s Rasharkin, St Joseph’s Crumlin, St Oliver Plunkett’s Toome and Mount St Michael’s Randalstown.
After fiercely competitive and enjoyable group games, the stage was set for cup and shield competitions.
Mary Queen of Peace and St Mary’s navigated their way to the cup final, whilst St Joseph’s Crumlin and Millquarter made the final of the shield.
Enthralling finals saw St Mary’s Portglenone and St Joseph’s Crumlin emerge as the respective victors, congratulations to them and to all who took part in a memorable day of camogie.
