Category / County

by thesaffrongael

Resurgent Antrim find their shooting boots

NFL Division 4

Leitrim 1-15 Antrim 2-20

A resurgent Antrim, showing a number of changes from the team named on Saturday night, found their shooting boots in Carrick on Shannon on Sunday as they swept aside the challenge of a fancied Leitrim.

A Paul Honeyford goal, three minutes into first half injury time handed Leitrim a lifeline as Antrim dominated in a wind assisted opening half to lead 1-11 to 1-3 at the interval at Pairc MacDiarmada.

It failed to materialise however as a hungry Antrim fired over the first five points of the second half as a team who have found scores hard to come by in recent weeks, scored at will.

Despite kicking seven wides early in the game the visitors recovered from a Mark Diffley 2 pointer with one of their own from Dominic McEnhill to finally get themselves on the scoreboard after 11 minutes.

Eoghan McCabe added a point to give Antrim the lead before McEnhill kicked his second of the game to move the Saffrons 0-5 to 0-2 ahead as they began to grow in confidence.

Marc Jordan drives forward to set up an Antrim attack

As the Antrim confidence grew Conor Hand struck the game’s opening goal for the visitors as he got on the end of a flowing move orchestrated by Marc Jordan but it appeared at this stage that it would take a substantial lead at half time, given the strength of the breeze favouring of the visitors.

Antrim continued to dominate possession as they won dirty ball around mid-field and Pat Shivers added a point before his Erin’s Own colleague, John McNabb came forward from goals to fire over and raise the Orange flag to move his side 8 ahead  by the 25th minute.

Leitrim, who had started the season well with 2 wins from three starts finally got their third point of the half when Paul Honeyford split the posts in the 26th minute but it provided only temporary relief for his side.

Antrim hit back over the next seven minutes with points each from Eunan Walsh, Joseph Finnegan and Paddy McAleer as a rejuvenated Antrim continued to turn the screw.

Exchanges were becoming increasingly fractious as frustration began to creep into the Leitrim play but the hosts finally breeched the visitors defence and Paul Honeford got in for a goal on the stroke of half time to give them some hope for the second half.

There was further hostility between the sides on the way to the dressing room at half time with Antrim’s Sean Og O’Neill and Leitrim’s Ryan O’Rourke shown Yellow prior to the second half throw-in.

The hosts needed a good start to the new half if they were to claw back the Antrim lead but for the first time this season fortune appeared to have favoured Mark Doran’s side when a heavy shower during the half time interval abated and the breeze died as a consequence.

Goal scorer, Conor Hand

Indeed it was Antrim who set down another marker on the restart as they kicked the first five points of the new half with Dominic McEnhill, John McNabb (2pt free) and two more from the on song McEnhill moving them 1-16 to 1-3 ahead by the 10th minute.

Ben Guckian and Paul Honeyford replied with 2 pointers to close the gap to 9 as the home support dared to believe and another Orange flag raised by the highly rated Barry McNulty had it back to seven with still 16 minutes of normal time remaining.

The visitors were in no mood to relinquish what they had earned however and another creative build up saw Ryan McQuillan’s shot on goal charged down with Paddy McAleer on hand to finish to the net.

Both keepers then pulled off saves as the intensity increased with Killian Gaffney denying Pat Shivers at one end and John McNabb performing similar heroics as Barry McNulty threatened.

A Ryan McQuillan point in the 24th minute got Antrim going again with Barry McNulty raising Orange again to keep Leitrim’s fading hopes alive with 7 minutes remaining.

Back came the visitors and Dominic McEnhill raced clear to fist over before his side received a setback when Joe Finnegan was shown straight Red following an overzealous challenge on Barry McNulty.

Dominic McEnhill who top scored for Antrim in Carrick on Shannon

McNulty punished the foul with a 2 pointer from the resulting free and he would exchange the game’s final points with Antrim’s Ryan McQuillan as Mark Doran’s side collected their first win of the season.

A great win for Antrim and while the promotion ship appears to have sailed it will hopefully set the Saffrons up for a strong finish to the season in preparation for the their Ulster championship opener against Derry.

Leitrim: Killian Gaffey; Eoin McLoughlin, Kieran Clancy, Conor Reynolds; Oisin McLoughlin, Mark Diffley (0-02p) , Éanna McNamara; Conor Quinn, Keith Keegan; Fergal McLoughlin, Riordan O’Rourke, Michael McKiernan; Ben Guckian (0-2 2p), Ryan O’Rourke, Paul Honeyman (1-03 2p).

Subs: Barry McNulty 0 – 7 2pf (0 2p for O McLoughlin (HT); Tom Prior for F McLoughlin (43); Gavin Reynolds for McKiernan (51); Seán Harkin for Reynolds (58); Jack Kelly 0 – 1 for Honeyman (64).

Antrim: John McNabb (0-05 2p, 2pf f); Sean O’Neill, Joseph Finnegan, Kavan Keenan; Eoghan McCabe 0 – 1, Ronan Boyle, Mark Jordan; Paddy McAleer (1-01), Tomas McFerran; Conor Hand (1-00), Pat Shivers (0-1), Eunan Walsh (0 -01) Ryan McQuillan (0-02); Adam Loughran, Dominic McEnhill (0 –08)

Subs: Ryan Murray for Loughran (61); Cathal Hynds for Boyle (67); Tiernan McCormack for Walsh (69); James McAuley for Keenan (72).

Referee: Pat Clarke (Cavan).

by thesaffrongael

Antrim team to face Leitrim Announced

NFL; Division 4

Leitrim v Antrim

Pairc MacDiarmada – Sunday – 2.00pm

The Antrim team to play Leitrim on Sunday at Pairc MacDiarmada, Carrick on Shannon has been announced and is the same side that started against Longford last Sunday in Portgleone.

Hopefully Antrim can get their campaign up and running with their first win of the season but it will be a tough ask against a Leitrim side who have already recorded two wins this season.

by thesaffrongael

The only way is up as Antrim visit Leitrim

NFL Division 4

Leitrim v Antrim

Sunday 2.00pm

A season that has started badly for Antrim footballers sees the Saffrons face another stiff challenge when they make the journey to Pairc Sean MacDiarmada in Carrick on Shannon on Sunday to face Leitrim.

It has been a bad start to the season for an Antrim team who suffered relegation from division 3 last season and hopes of a quick return from the basement division have been quickly dashed as they suffered defeat in their first three games of the present division 4 campaign.

Antrim opened this year’s division 4 campaign against Carlow and after a bright opening, where they led by three, they were hit by two quick fire goals by the visitors and never really recovered, going down by four points in Portglenone.

Their poor early season form continued in round 2 when they travelled to Tipperary where they led by 0-5 to 0-4 at the break, but the loss of a player to a straight Red just before the interval saw them suffer another four point loss.

Despite those losses there were hopes that they could get their first points on board when Longford visited Portglenone last weekend but once again the Saffrons failed to deliver and suffered their heaviest defeat to date, going down to a heavy 15 point defeat.

Confidence is obviously low in the Antrim camp following these defeats and nothing is likely to fix that confidence but a win and normally a visit to Leitrim would have provided an opportunity to get a much needed win under their belts.

James McAuley of St. Enda’s lined out at right back for Antrim against Longford while (Featured Image) Jack Lenehan had his first start of the season.

However the Connacht minnows have been going well themselves this year and after losing by the minimum to Wicklow in their opening game they have recorded wins over Waterford at MacDiarmada Pairc and away to London last weekend.

London will have sleepless nights over this one however as a Barry McNulty inspired Leitrim produced an incredible display to overturn a 12-point deficit in a dramatic Allianz NFL Division 4 clash at McGovern Park on Sunday in Ruislip.  

McNulty was the name on everyone’s lips as he hit an incredible six two pointers in the second half after his introduction at the interval while another sub, Killian Gaffey, made a couple of decisive interventions, including clawing away a late London goal chance that might have snatched victory.

The home side had looked on course to extend their unbeaten run to five matches as they eased into a 1-14 to 1-2 lead with 33 minutes on the clock. Michael O’Reilly got the goal while Joe McGill raised three well-taken orange flags.

Barry McNulty was the Leitrim hero; introduced at half-time for his first action of the year, the Glencar Manorhamilton man proceeded to land six booming two-pointers. Five of those came from play including the 56th minute strike which saw the visitors hit the front for the first time in the game.

London pressed late in the game and might have snatched it at the death but were denied by some last ditch defending by the visitors and Leitrim now find themselves on 4 points along with Longford and Wicklow with Carlow leading the division with 3 wins from 3 starts.

There will have been much for Antrim to reflect on after that heavy defeat to Longford at the weekend. The Antrim press when Longford attacked was disjointed as they afforded their opponents acres of space.

At the other end of the table Longford showed just how to press, denying Antrim space and turning them over or forcing them into hurried shooting options.

Individually some of the Antrim performances haven’t been bad and Mark Doran and his backroom staff will have been pleased by the return of Aghagallon’s Adam Loughran against Longford.

Loughran weighed in with a well taken goal and the return of Ryan Murray from a long term injury will have been another positive for the Antrim management with the Lamh Dhearg man kicking a couple of points and looking lively after being introduced.

Conor Hand, Jack Lenehan and Cathal Hynds made their first start of the season but Peter Healey remains a long term injury and it is not known when the Ballyboden St. Endas man might return and John Morgan and Ronan Boyle still remain on the injured list.

It will have been a cause for concern that the Saffrons didn’t raise their first Orange flag until Pat Shivers was introduced from the bench midway through the second half and the big Cargin man kicked their second as scoring remains to be a problem for Doran’s side.

Wholesale changes doesn’t appear to be the answer and I wouldn’t expect there to be many alterations from the team who played Longford last weekend for the visit to Carrick on Shannon.

An improved collective performance in both defence and attack is what Antrim will be hoping for at MacDiarmaida Pairc and if the visitors can attain that and put the dampeners on Barry McNulty, Tom Prior and Co then I feel they will be in with a fighting chance to break their duck.

The only way is up! 

by thesaffrongael

Antrim team to play Longford announced

The Antrim team to play Longford in the NFL Division 4 in Portglenone on Sunday has been announced and shows a number of changes to the one who lost to Tipperary last time out.

Aghagallon’s Jack Lenehan makes his first start of the season at centre-half while his St. Mary’s colleague, Adam Loughran comes into the side at full-forward.

Both Cathal Hynds of Glenravel and Conor hand of St. John’s, who both came on as substitutes last day out start at mid-field and right half forward respectively in a side hoping for their first win of the season.

by thesaffrongael

Saffron Gael gets update from Antrim manager

Mark Doran speaks to the Saffron Gael

By Paddy McIlwaine

In the build up to Sunday’s NFL game against Longford, Paddy McIlwaine of the Saffron Gael spoke to Antrim manager, Mark Doran.

I first asked Mark to confirm a rumour I had heard that both Paddy McBride and Conor Small had left the Antrim panel

He confirmed that Conor and Paddy were no longer part of the squad.

“To be fair to Conor, he had made it clear when he came into the squad that he had applied for a promotion in work and if he got it he would have to spend a bit of time in Dubai. Conor ended up getting his promotion and it’s just left it now impossible for him to make the commitment that is needed. 

As for Paddy, he and I had a good honest conversation last week and Paddy had informed me for personal reasons he was going to have to step away for the moment and you have to respect his decision” 

I then asked him how he felt about Antrim’s league performance to date:

“The League hasn’t started the way we would have liked and if you look back on both games. In the Carlow game we did a lot right but the 2 goals in a minute we conceded were real sucker punches. We wouldn’t be happy as a group how we defended both. We responded really well to both just before half time to close the gap to one.

At the start of second half we had a very poor 3 minutes where we conceded two 2 pointers and a 1 pointer. In a 4 minute spell that was 2-5 in total and that really hurt us. 

The Tipperary performance when you reflect on it was a really poor performance from us, riddled with far too many errors that were self- inflicted and a lack of discipline on our behalf really hurt us. We’ll look through that through the prism of our own eyes in terms of where we are. We will look to take the learnings from both games and progress from them. 

From last year we have lost Mick Bryne, Dermort McAleese, Ruiri McCann & Conor Stewart. 

Peter Healy, Ryan Murray, John Morgan, Ronan Boyle, Adam Loughran and Conor Hand all missed the first 2 games with injuries so in that regard it has been a new team. 

Over the first 2 league games I think 7 lads have made their debut so in that regard it’s been good to be able to expose them to that level of football but as I said before we wouldn’t have been happy with the level of performance against Tipperary and I would expect a big improvement this Sunday”

The Saffron Gel will be at Portglenone on Sunday to cover the Antrim v Longford game – throw in 2-00pm so let’s all get out there and get behind the Saffrons as they aim to get their first points of the season on board.