ACFL Division 2

Sarsfields 4-17 Moneyglass 3-20

An Aidan McErlain 2 pointer in the third minute of time added on earned Moneyglass a share of the spoils in the battle of the top two at the Bear it on Wednesday night.

Sarsfields and Moneyglass went into this one with maximum points as they set the pace in the division so something had to give and with time almost up it seemed that the ‘Paddies’ had done enough.

McErlain kept his cool however as the travelling support held their breath to send his shot from distance over Michael Brady’s bar to earn his side a draw and keep them level with their hosts on 9 points from 5 starts.

It was Sarsfields who took an early lead with Se Ferris kicking a 2 pointer and adding another from close to goals before Colum Duffin and Tyler Cassidy replied for the visitors to close the gap to one after 6 minutes.

Sarsfields were enjoying the better of the opening exchanges however and Jay Maguire and Brian Healey 0-2, moved them four in front before Colum Duffin pointed from distance to raise the orange flag in the 13^th minute.

Duffin’s long range effort provided only temporary respite however as the excellent Brian Healy replied with a similar effort for the home side and added another before finishing to the net for the game’s opening goal to move Sarsfields 9 ahead after 18 minutes and St. Ergnat’s looked in a spot of bother.

They responded with three on the bounce from Kevin McCann, Oisin Hamill and Francis Duffin to close the gap to six but Sarsfield’s continued to edge the exchanges with a Gary Lennon double and another from Cormac Murray leaving them 1-13 to 0-9 to the good at the halfway stage, the visitors final score coming from a Conor Boyd 2 pointer.

It was looking ominous for Benny Marron’s side when Gary Lennon fired past Jamie McLauglin in the opening minute and the same player added a point, sandwiched between a Sean Boyd point and a goal for the visitors.

The Sarsfield’s corner men, Lennon and Healey continued to wreak havoc however as they shared the next three points to move their side into an 11 point lead and seemingly on their way to victory.

This Moneyglass side has resilience built into their DNA however and they finally found a response that would see them claw their way right back into contention.

Conor Boyd led the charge with two points before Conleth McCann forced the ball over the line in a goalmouth Scramble and two more points from Sean Boyd had it back to four with 18 minutes gone.

It all looked to have been for nothing however as Healey and Lennon responded with two quick fire goals at the other end to push the ‘Paddies’ lead out to ten again with ten minutes of normal time remaining.

It would be their final score however as the visitors quite simply refused to go away with Colum Duffin getting the Moneyglass revival underway with a 2 pointer and Paul Duffin following immediately with their second goal.

The bit was now firmly between the visitors teeth and Kevin McCann and Colum Duffin followed with points to leave two in it as the game edged into added time before McErlain became the Moneyglass hero as he raised that late orange flag.

A great comeback by St. Ergnat’s and a testament to their never-say-die spirit but Sarsfields will be kicking themselves and questions will surely be asked after letting a 10 point lead slip.

Sarsfields: 1 Michael Brady, 2 Kieran Carson, 30 Conor Laverty, 4 Martin McPolin, 5 Philip McPeake, 6 Joe McNally, 7 Christopher Loughran, 8 Caolan McKiernan, 9 Cormac Murray, 10 Fionn Jemfrey, 11 Se Ferris, 12 Jay Maguire, 13 Garry Lennon, 14 Conor Glenholmes, 15 Brian Healey

Moneyglass: 1 Jamie McLaughlin, 2 Matthew Mullen, 3 Francis Duffin, 4 Oisin Hamill, 5 Connor O’Kane, 6 Seanchan Duffin, 7 Paul Duffin, 8 Kevin McCann, 9 Colum Duffin, 10 Callum Murray, 11 Sean Boyd, 12 Fearghal Duffin, 13 Tyler Cassidy, 14 Conor Boyd, 15 Aidan McErlain, 19 Conleth McCann, 21 Tiernan McCormick

Referee: Colm McDonald

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ACFL Division 3

Ciceam Ard Eoin 2-7 Uí Dhonaill 2-14

A sun drenched Fennell Park witnessed a relatively tame first half in which Ciceam Ard Eoin held the upper hand. McGreevy opened the scoring for Ardoyne after 5 minutes when he slotted over a free. Walsh replied for O’Donnell’s shortly afterwards with a point from play. While O’Ds pressed the Ardoyne defence they were let down by a series of chances dropping short or into the hands of the Ardoyne keeper.

Corrigan lifted the tempo with a well-placed shot into the corner of the O’Ds net. Any thoughts of Ardoyne pushing ahead were thwarted by three successive points from O’Donnell’s to leave the sides level with 10 minutes left of the opening half.

A dangerous attack from O’Ds looked set to produce the second goal of the game, only to see Odhran Mullan save off the line. The resulting race up the field saw Barnes somehow rise to collect a ball that seemed to be heading high and wide. A pass into Corrigan along the by-line resulted in a further goal for Ardoyne.

Ardoyne were by now dominating the game and a further point from McAuley left them 4 points ahead and looking comfortable at half-time

Half-Time Score: Ciceam Ard Eoin 2-03 Uí Dhonaill 0-05

Ardoyne did themselves no favours in the opening minutes of the second half as two technical fouls led to the ball being moved upfield with McKissock taking full advantage and slotting over two soft points for O’Donnell’s.  These avoidable mistakes gave a new lease of life to O’Donnell’s with McKissock slotting home a further goal and a point over the next 10 minutes.

O’Donnell’s shifted into a different gear as the game approached the mid-point of the second half and the scores kept coming for them. Five points were followed by a goal from McKernan that put the game out of the reach for the home side.

The final 5 minutes were exciting for the supporters as Ardoyne kept plugging away in an attempt to get back on track but it was too late, and the surge in the previous 15 minutes that saw O’Ds score 2-08 to Ardoyne’s 0-02 was too much of a mountain to climb.

Ciceam Ard Eoin: Tiernan Hughes, Ethan Magill, Conor Magee, Odhran Mullan, Daniel Moore, Pearse Marley, James Og McAuley (0-02,1f), Joe Gibson, Gary McKernan, Odhran McKee, Kealan McCallan, Eoghan Corrigan (2-03, 1f), Padraig McGreevy (0-02,1f), Fiontan Lagan, Cormac Barnes, Finnen Wall O’Brien, Ciaran O’Neill, Brendan Mailey, Diarmuid Martin

CLG Uí Dhonaill: Conor Murphy,  Matthew Sloan, Barra Corr, James Walsh, Gerard McKernan (1-0), Jonathan McKenna(0-02), Sean Lavery, Conall Carville, Pearse Rice (0-03,1f), Padraig McKissock (1-05, 1pen, 5f), Ciaran McKissock, Patrick Golden, Jason Dullaghan, Liam McCaffrey, Kevin Kennedy, Stephen Seawright (0-01), Cáilean Walsh (0-03)

Referee: Mark McDonald

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ACFL Division 3

Ardoyne 1-13 Eire Og 1-8

 Ardoyne and Eire Og met in a very entertaining Division 3 football league game at Fennell Park on Sunday afternoon. The first half was a very close affair with both teams enjoying periods of superiority, but it was the Northender’s who took the points after a dominant second half performance.

Ardoyne were first out of the blocks with Gary McKernan slotting over a point after 2 minutes followed by a second from Padraig McGreevy shortly afterwards. Fiontan Lagan was proving a thorn in the side of the Eire Og defence as the game unfolded, but they soon found their confidence and dominated the middle third of the first half. They could have gone ahead following a strong run through the Ardoyne defence, only to be thwarted by an in-form Tiernan Hughes in the Ardoyne nets.

It was only a matter of time before the points began to arrive for Eire Og with both Lorcan McIlroy and Stiofan Gallen knocking over two points apiece to take a one point lead with 20 minutes gone. It was nip and tuck as the first half moved into the final stages. Hughes kicked over a 45, followed by a point kicked from a difficult angle by Corrigan.

Eire Og again got a head of steam and exerted increasing pressure on the Ardoyne defence that eventually led to a penalty, duly converted by Gallan into the Ardoyne net. Just as it looked that Eire Og were taking the initiative, Ardoyne picked up the pace with a further 4 points in the closing minutes of the first half to leave one point between the sides at the short whistle..

Half-Time: Ciceam Ard Eoin 0-08 Eire Og 1-04

The second half told a different story as Ardoyne took the upper hand from the whistle with 4 points from play before McIlroy slotted over a free to leave 5 points between the sides at the end of the third quarter.

Ardoyne went further ahead as a high tackle on James McAuley resulted in McGreevy sending over another free. Eire Og continued to battle, and were never that far away from the Ardoyne men. As the final whistle was drawing near, Cormac Barnes in the Ardoyne attack was left frustrated when a great run through the Eire Og defence rebounded off the post. This was not to be Eire Og’s day and a resulting penalty from the rebound saw the game come to a conclusion with a 5 point win for Ardoyne.

Referee: Sean Toal

Ciceam Ard Eoin: Tiernan Hughes (0-2, 2f), Cormac Curran, Micheál McGreevy, Conor Magee, Daniel Moore (0-1), Pearse Marley, James Og McAuley (0-2), Gary McKernan (0-1), Joe Gibson, Ethan Magill, Kealan McCallan, Eoghan Corrigan (1-4), Padraig McGreevy (0-3, 1f), Fiontan Lagan, Cormac Barnes, Odhran Mullan, Aodhán Quigg, Finnen Wall O’Brien, Diarmuid Martin

Eire Og: Simon Harney, Ciarán Rice, Paddy Loughran, Barry McDaid, Karl McKenna, Conor McKenna, Jarlath Devlin, Conor Erskine, Conall Smyth, Christopher Carberry, Ronan Donnelly, Stephen Erskine (0-2), Lorcan McIlroy (0-3, 2f), Mark Graham, Stiofan Gallan (1-3,1f)

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Intermediate Football Championship

Ardoyne 0-10 Rasharkin 1-13

An afternoon of road blocks, traffic jams and a sense of unease saw a stop – start game between Ardoyne Kickhams and St Mary’s Rasharkin in the IFC at Fennell Park on Saturday.

Rasharkin will have been happy to leave with a six point victory, but the number of missed opportunities and wayward shooting will give them plenty to work on before their next game in the championship. Ardoyne, while losers on the day, will be encouraged by another spirited performance from a young and inexperienced team.

It was the Northenders who were first on the scoreboard with an opening 65 from Cormac Mullan. This was followed up by a strong run from Aran Stewart out of the heart of defence to slot the ball over the bar to give Ardoyne a two point lead.

Eamonn McNeill steadied the ship for Rasharkin with a strong drive through the Ardoyne defence and fired the ball over for the first of his six points of the afternoon.

Joe Gibson has been showing well for Ardoyne recently and he showed his potential with a beautiful point floated over from near the sideline. This saw a spirited response from Rasharkin with two points put on the scoreboard before a great piece of interplay saw them cut through the Ardoyne defence before man of the match Brian Og O’Neill found the net for the only goal of the game.

Ardoyne were more than holding their own despite falling behind and at the half-time whistle were only two points behind.

Half-time: Ardoyne 0-06 Rasharkin 1-05

The second half saw Rasharkin stamp their authority on the game with six points on the trot before Ardoyne managed to raise the white flag for their first point of the half.

Brian Og O’Neill was having a great afternoon in the forward line before a bad landing saw him being stretchered off after 20 minutes of the second half. His injury seemed to put a dampener on Rasharkin’s performance with Ardoyne putting up stiff resistance with 3 points in a row. Rasharkin eventually got their game together again and pulled away to secure a 6 point win.

Rasharkin will be hoping to improve on this performance as the championship progresses. Ardoyne, while still without a win this season, will be greatly encouraged by their recent improvement in form and the potential shown by the younger members of their team.

Ardoyne: Tiernan Hughes, Aran Stewart 0-1, Conor Magee, Oisin Hickey, Eoghan Corrigan 0-1, Pearse Marley, Joe Gibson 0-1, Gary McKernan 0-1, Keelan McCallan, Cormac Mullan 0-5 (4f), Odhran Mullan, Odhran McKee 0-1, Padraig McGreevey, Paddy Heaney, Fiontan Lagan, Ethan Magill, Daniel Moore, Padraig O’Deorain, Rian McGranaghan, Aodhan Quigg

Rasharkin: Cathair Henderson, Pearce Kelly, Emmet McFerran, Liam Quigg, Pearse McTeague 0-1, Seamus Ellis, Fergus Quigg, Ruairi O’Boyle 0-2(1f), Shane Hasson, Colm Kennedy, Eamonn O’Neill 0-6 (1f), Donagh Quigg, Tiernan O’Boyle 0-1, Brian Og O’Neill 1-3, Ferghal Kennedy, Killian O’Boyle, Ryan Lynch, Oisin Casey

Referee:

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ACFL Division 3

Naomh Comhghall 2-19 O’’Donnell’s 1-5

On Saturday evening Naomh Comhghall senior men took on O’Donnell’s hoping to continue their unbeaten run. The first half saw the men find their formation and pursue a sleek flow of points ticking over from Miles Devine, Tom Patchett, Ryan Clarke and Ruairí Griffin.

O’Donnell’s continued to put pressure on the St.Comgall’s men but couldn’t manage to get into the rhythm nor break through the iron back line.

HT St. Comgall’s 0-10 O’Donnell’s 0-00

Momentum with the men in white continued, however O’Donnell’s made a few changes which gave them a second wind. The visitors powered on and found the back of the net getting them a well-deserved break onto the scoreboard.

In retaliation, Aaron McGaw found his way to the forefront of the O’Donnells defence and buried the first goal for St. Comgall’s into the back of the net and this was swiftly followed by another goal from a very athletic Ruairí Griffin.

Both sides exchanged points in the closing stages with Naomh Comhghall running out convincing winners against a side who were tipped to be their greatest rivals for the title at the start of the season.

A memorable night for the Naomh Comhghall men with the win, securing the league title and gaining promotion to division 2.

On behalf of Naomh Comhghall the committee and supporters would like to thank Barry Burns and his team for the management and success we have had with our senior men this year. We are looking forward to the championship and going for the double.