Ulster Club JFC Quarter-Final

Naomh Padraig Uisce Chaoin v Naomh Comhghall Antrim

O’Donnell Park Letterkenny- Saturday 2-30pm

Antrim champions, Naomh Comhghall face a difficult opener when they travel to O’Donnell Park, Letterkeny on Saturday to face Donegal champions Naomh Padraig, Uisce Chaoin in the quarter-final of the Ulster Junior Football club championship.

The Inishowen men were mighty impressive in their win over Inishowen neighbours, Carndonagh in the Donegal final at Saturday’s venue, running out 2-12 to 0-8 winners to claim their first Junior title since 2016.

The Antrim town side will travel to Letterkenny with confidence however having enjoyed their best season for some time where they recorded a division 3 league and Junior Championship double.

Naomh Comhghall appointed Barry Burns as manager at the start of the 2024 campaign and under the guidance of the St. Paul’s man they have went through their league campaign with maximum points and carried that 100% record through their championship winning campaign.

Naomh Comhghall finished 8 points clear of Laochra Loch Lao in division 3 of the ACFL and carried that fine form into the championship where they recorded resounding wins over Eire Og, St. Malachy’s and Wolfe Tones before going on to defeat Pearses by 8 points in the semi-final.

St. Agnes had been setting the pace in Group 2 of the qualifiers and had 8 points to spare in their semi-final win over St. Malachy’s and were expected to provide St. Comgall’s with a stiff challenge in the final.

A prolonged hail shower created pools of water on the surface prior to throw-in at St. Enda’s and both sides were forced to try their upmost to adapt.

St Comgall’s dealt with the elements better and survived a late scare to lift the Antrim Junior Football Championship, defeating St Agnes 0-09-1-03 on a wintry Saturday afternoon in Hightown.

Pre-game favourites St Comgall’s hit the front after Tom Patchett’s free dropped short,  Miles Devine gathered and laid the ball to Patrick O’Connor to drop his shot over the bar.

St Agnes had one sole attempt on target in the opening half, though Ronan Carroll kicked his free wide.

It took Comgall’s until the 18^th minute to double their advantage in the form of a Miles Devine point and he would double his individual tally moments later after exchanging passes with Ryan Clarke and bending his shot inside the posts.

Devine added a converted free before the break as his side were 0-04-0-00 ahead at the interval.

St Comgall’s extended their lead with three converted frees inside of the first six minutes of the second half.

Tom Patchett’s trusty left foot guided the first two over with Ryan Clarke kicking the other from close-range.

It took St. Agnes 47 minutes to register their first score but the Antrim Town men seemed to lose their way at this stage and had a man dismissed following a second yellow card

St Agnes’ took advantage of their numerical advantage from the resulting free that Colin Clarke floated into the rectangle and substitute Patrick Mulgrew’s fisted attempt saw the ball tail through a crowded goalmouth and into the net.

Naomh Comhghall held on to claim their first title in three years and will hope for a better surface on Saturday as they aim to get back to the form that has made them a formidable opponent this season.

Barry Burns Interview

In the lead up to Saturday’s Ulster Junior Club championship meeting between St. Patrick’s of Donegal and Naomh Comhghall, Paddy McIlwaine of the Saffron Gael speaks to Naomh Comhghall manager, Barry Burns.

The St. Paul’s club man has transformed the Antrim town club since his appointment at the start of this year and Naomh Comhghall are unbeaten in League and championship as they recorded a famous League-Championship double this term.

Saffron Gael: Barry you have brought about a remarkable improvement in Naomh Comhghall this season culminating in a Division 3-JFC double. What do you put that improvement down to.

Barry Burns: The buy in from everyone, the players and people around the club too, the effort and commitment to train and develop was incredible from the start.

Saffron Gael: The last time Naomh Comhghall won the Junior Championship, they defeated Rasharkin in the final. I travelled to Clones on a Saturday night for the game against the Cavan Champions and was disappointed with the performance with Naomh Comhghall suffering a bad defeat. How confident are you that they can win Saturday’s game?

Barry: Hopefully they have learned a lot from that game but this is a different team from then with a different mind-set. We will give it everything and we hope that we can go and give a good performance, and if we play to our best you never know what can happen.

Saffron Gael: Who are the players within the Naomh Comhghall ranks who have been responsible for you success this season and can be leaders in Letterkenny on Saturday?

Barry: All of them, they have been pushing each other in every session. Some lads have come back after a few years away, and have performed like they have never been away.

Saffron Gael: What do you know about Saturday’s opponents and who are the players that you will have to keep an eye on if you are to overcome the challenge of the Donegal champions?

Barry: We have watched the county final and they are a serious team with a lot of talented players. We have good players too and we know what we need to do come Saturday, The boys just need to enjoy the game and play with no pressure and have fun doing it and see where that takes us.

Saffron Gael: Barry, tell me how the preparations have gone since the county final. Have you a clean bill of health.

Barry: Training is going well, the club have been very supportive in getting us the facilities to be ready. There is a good buzz about the club and town, and hopefully we’ll get a good support up with us in Letterkenny. Everyone is looking forward to the game and hopefully it goes our way.

Graham Tarmac Antrim Junior Football Championship Final

St Agnes 1-03-0-09 St Comgall’s

Kevin Herron reports from Hightown

St Comgall’s dealt with the elements better and survived a late scare to the lift the Antrim Junior Football Championship, defeating St Agnes 0-09-1-03 on a wintry Saturday afternoon in Hightown.

A prolonged hail shower created pools of water on the surface prior to throw-in and both sides were forced to try their upmost to adapt.

Pre-game favourites St Comgall’s hit the front after Tom Patchett’s free dropped short,  Miles Devine gathered and laid the ball to Patrick O’Connor to drop his shot over the bar.

St Agnes had one sole attempt on target in the opening half, though Ronan Carroll kicked his free wide.

It took Comgall’s until the 18^th minute to double their advantage in the form of Miles Devine point and he would double his individual tally moments later after exchanging passes with Ryan Clarke and bending his shot inside the posts.

Devine added a converted free before the break as his side were 0-04-0-00 ahead at the interval.

St Comgall’s extended their lead with three converted frees inside of the first six minutes of the second half.

Tom Patchett’s trusty left foot guided the first two over with Ryan Clarke kicking the other from close-range.

The occasion appeared to be getting the better of the Aggies with Anthony Watson easily gathering a scuffed Shay Madden attempt.

After 47 minutes the West-Belfast natives finally registered on the board after Conall Turley switched to David McGaharan to kick their opener.

It would be the first of three unanswered as Ronan Carroll dropped over a second and converted a free on the 51^st minute to reduce arrears to four (0-07-0-03).

St Comgall’s steadied things up with Miles Devine feeding Patchett to kick his first from play of the afternoon and Patchett notched up his third converted free on the stroke of full-time.

The Antrim town natives would see the game out with 14-men after James McCabe was shown a second yellow card and subsequent red for getting involved in an incident off the ball.

St Agnes’ took immediate advantage of their numerical advantage from the resulting free that Colin Clarke floated into the rectangle and substitute Patrick Mulgrew’s fisted attempt saw the ball tail through a ruck and into the net.

Time was against the Aggies though and their fightback was in vain as St Comgall’s held on to claim the Championship for the first time in 3-years.

St Agnes’: C Carroll, P Carool, R Reilly, K McCormick, R Gilligan, C Flannery, B McLarnon, C Turley, D Turley, C Clarke, R Carroll (0-2, 0-1f), J Campbell, D McGaharan (0-1), S Madden, C McBride. Subs: C Gregory for B McLarnon (40), P Mulgrew (1-0) for D Turley (45), D Crummey for D McGaharan (60).

St Comgall’s: A Watson, S Gribbon, C Donnelly, C McKeown, M McCabe, J McCabe, D O’Hara, J Henry, L Higgins, J Webb, P O’Connor (0-1), A McGaw, R Clarke (0-1), M Devine (0-3),T Patchett (0-4, 0-3f). Subs: E Lynott for D O’Hara (41), D Murdock for A McGaw (45), D Hanna for J Webb (52), C Griffin for R Clarke (60+1).

Referee: Ray Matthews (O’Donavan Rossa)

TO SEE MORE PICS FROM THE GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/mwD8hFtHnLwdx9

By Conor Caldwell

When life-long St Agnes clubman Conor Caldwell sent me this piece about Saturday’s Junior final between St Comgall’s and his beloved Aggies I was so impressed by his knowledge of both clubs I got back to him to get some background info. I ask him how he became so knowledgable about the club and he came back with the answer….

“The scars of many years on the field playing for the Aggies! “

Conor played for the Aggies senior team for 20 years but has had to retire to the reserve ranks in the last two or three seasons. He was involved in most of these matches that are mentioned in the main article.  He also worked for the GAA in Queen’s for many years too so always kept an eye out for players from the division up there which helps the memory!

“Yes, quite incredible we’ve never won an all county championship. The last Junior Final appearance before 2007 was 1991 when my dad was the captain. We’ve won the South Antrim JFC a few times (when that was probably harder to win than today’s JFC ironically!“)

Aggies seeking their first Junior title

When Naomh Una and St Comgall’s take the field on Saturday afternoon, the Aggies will be seeking to register a first ever All-County championship win, while Antrim will see a second junior crown in four seasons as firm evidence that they belong in the Intermediate ranks.

The two clubs have both been mainstays of  Antrim junior football in recent years. The roots of their current rivalry can be traced back to one of the last JFC games at Casement Park in 2011, when the Aggies eventually overcame a rapidly improving Antrim side to reach the semi-final of the competition.

That game would prove to be the last occasion on which the Aggies got one over on Antrim in championship football, as both teams experienced a significant turn-over of players. Antrim strengthened, bringing through the likes of Oisín Crilly and Myles Devine, while the Aggies rebuilt from the ground up, seeing club stalwarts such as Paul Jordan and Kevin Lynch retire.

In the preceding years, the clubs had rarely played in league football, with Antrim regularly residing in the old Division 6, with the Aggies plying their trade between Divisions 3 and 4. On the occasions when the clubs did meet, heavy victories for the city men were not uncommon. However, with second teams now barred from the All County Leagues, the two sides found themselves in regular competition with one another in Division 3 of the new structure. Teams like St Comgall’s and Lisburn quickly reaped the rewards of higher-quality games against established junior clubs, and soon became a force at the level.

Two memorable League encounters in 2012 reinforced how quickly the gap was closing, as Antrim tripped up the Aggies following a missed penalty and a sending off for the men in black and white. In the return leg in at Woodlands, the home side gave up a sizeable second-half lead and were saved by the finger tips of Ryan Reilly diving across the goal to push a last-gasp 14 yard free onto the bar.

The next big game between the two will be remembered as a controversial JFC semi-final in 2014 at Corrigan Park, which the Dunsilly men won by a single point. In a hard-fought battle, which saw Declan Crummey score a memorable side-line kick for the Aggies, a well-worked Antrim goal in the second half saw them reach the decider.  It was a sliding doors moment for both teams, with a generational group of Aggies players losing their last shot at JFC glory, while a hard-working Antrim team had their first big day out to look forward to. St Comgall’s would ultimately lose the final to St Malachy’s on the bizarre score line of 3-2 to 0-9.

It’s fair to say that the fall-out from that semi-final cemented the rivalry between the clubs and league matches were always tetchy and physical. However, when they met again two years later in a JFC quarter-final in Cargin, Antrim ran out easy winners. An ailing and disjointed Aggies’ side was unable to bridge the gap in physical conditioning that had grown between the two in this period. The teams began to see each other less frequently after this as Antrim began to find themselves more regularly playing their league football in Division 2.

In the 2020s, the development of Patrick O’Connor into one of the best all around players in the junior division, as well as the arrival of Tom Patchett into the St Comgall’s senior team, saw them take their game to a different level. A near miss against a well-fancied Ardoyne team in the first ever live-streamed JFC final in 2020 was perhaps the final piece of motivation needed. All the more agonising for Antrim that day was that they held Ardoyne scoreless for nearly the entire second half but just could not get the last few scores they needed.

By the following year, the seeds of an Aggies’ revival were firmly sewn under the guidance of Tiffy Quinn and both sides set their eyes on a final berth against competition favourites, Rasharkin. The Aggies were now led by Conall Turley Cormac Flannery and Ronan Carroll, all of whom had watched on from the Casement stands back in 2011. On a mucky day in Ahoghill, Antrim struck for two first-half goals and despite a valiant Aggies effort, they were unable to close the gap in the second half. Antrim went on to upset Rasharkin on penalties in the final and bring their long wait for the trophy to an end.

Antrim’s forays up the divisions have been seemingly met with many of the same challenges as other clubs in the past. Facing off against sides looking to head into Division 1 is an entirely different proposition to playing teams who have only been recently formed as is often the case in Junior football. The restructuring of the leagues and championship in 2024 has once again brought Antrim and the Aggies together. A routine win in the early rounds of the league this year in Dunsilly for Antrim belied the state of the two clubs at the time, but the Aggies’ rise under Martin Shortt saw that gap close significantly in the return fixture at Woodlands, with Antrim securing the league title on a 3-9 to 1-9 score line.

Naomh Una will be seeking to deliver a seismic upset against an Antrim side which has yet to be defeated in 2024 and to bring the cup back to Andersonstown for the first time. Five of the Naomh Una panel featured in their last final appearance in 2010, and even more remarkably, four of those players also contested the 2007 final.

St Comgall’s will have the benefit of their recent success fresh in the minds, as well as the experience of Intermediate football in the years since, but as 2014 and 2021 proved, finals are for winning and anything can happen. Whatever the result, Antrim junior football is all the stronger for this rivalry and both teams would represent the county well in Ulster

JFC Final 1-30pm Hightown

Naomh Comhghall v St. Agnes

Naomh Comhghall, Antrim will go into Saturday’s Junior Football Championship final as firm favourites, and rightly so but they should be weary of their opponents, St. Agnes.

The Antrim town side went through their 13 league games programme without dropping a point and under the guidance of former St. Paul’s player, Barry Burns they have been out ahead of the chasing pack all season.

On their way to the league title a free scoring St. Comgall’s scored 289 points for with 102 against to record a score difference of 187 points with 3-13 against Pearses and 3-10 against Eire Og in their opening two games.

They added 3-20 on day three and 2-19 on day four while their opponents on Saturday, St. Agnes were struggling in the early stages of the league, suffering some bad defeats including home and away defeats to the Antrim town side.

And so it was on to the championship with Naomh Comhghall continuing where they had left off in the league, winning all three group 2 games to top the group and qualify for a place in the semi-final where they defeated Pearses 2-7 to 0-5 at Dunsilly.

Naomh Una meanwhile, under the guidance of Tyrone man Martin Shortt began to gain a bit of momentum in the latter stages of the league and carried that good form into the championship.

They made a few sit up and take notice with a 1-15 to 0-12 win over Pearses in the opening game in Group 1 and followed with wins over Laochra Loch Lao and O’Donnell’s to top the group.

The ‘Aggies’ had eight points to spare over St. Malachy’s in the semi-final and have grown in confidence with their well organised brand of football making them an opponent that deserves the respect of the Antrim town side on Saturday.

Naomh Comhghall, as they have shown throughout the league and championship carry a serious scoring threat and it is a threat that the Woodlands side will have to contain if they are to cause an upset at St. Enda’s.

Ryan Clarke, Joseph Webb, James McCabe, Tom Patchett, Patrick O’Connor, Louis Higgins Miles Devine and Aaron McGraw are all capable finishers on their day for ‘the town’ while Eoin Lynett, Danaan O’Hara and Michael McCabe give little away in defence.

St. Agnes are a different animal to the one that Naomh Comhghall comfortably dealt with in the league and Martin Shortt has turned them into a side that deserves respect and are in the final on merit.

Ronan Carroll, Colin Clarke, Conal Turley and Cormac McBride have all scored freely throughout the championship in a side that has tightened up considerably at the back and Naomh Una will go into Saturday’s decider with confidence.

Naomh Comhghall will start this final as firm favourites and have earned the favourites tag following a consistent and impressive season but they should be weary of the ‘Aggie’s.

THREE YEARS AGO ST COMGALL’S BEAT RASHARKIN ON PENALITES IN THE JUNIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL IN AHOGHILL. AS PART OF THE BUILD-UP TO SUNDAY’S FINAL WE REPRODUCE BRENDAN McTAGGART’S REPORT ON THAT GAME

GYMCO Junior Football Championship Final

St Comgalls, Antrim 0–18 Rasharkin 0-18 (aet)

St Comgalls win 3-2 on penalties

Sunday October 31

Brendan McTaggart reports from Ahoghill

St Comgall’s and Rasharkin played out a classic final on Sunday afternoon with the junior crown on the line. In the end, it was the men from Antrim town who held their nerve form the penalty spot, substitute Peter McAuley with the decisive spot kick.

It was an epic final between two evenly matched sides with momentum swinging like the proverbial gate and both sides looking like they had it won at the end of the hour.  The sides were tied incredibly on 10 occasions over the 80 minutes with two points the biggest lead either side held at any stage.  The fate of the junior championship was decided by the lottery of penalties but that will matter little to the St Comgall’s.

Dylan Murdock fired over the first of his two points for the opening score of the match after barely 30 seconds.  A delightful score with the outside of his boot to get the Antrim men up and running.  Rasharkin started the final brightly as well with Eamon McNeill’s instinctive point in the second minute opening the scoring for the men from Dreen.  Early ball into the Rasharkin marksman and a classy finish we’ve seen plenty of over the years. 

A free from Shane Hasson and point from Conor McFerran opened a two point lead for Rasharkin by the seventh minute.  St Comgall’s began to find their way into the final with Miles Devine the man with the answers as they turned a two point deficit into a two point lead in the space of 10 minutes.  A brace of frees from Devine preceded Murdock’s second score of the game and the score of the first half from Tom Pratchett.  The St Comgall’s centre half forward finishing off a fine move involving James McCabe and Joseph Webb.

St Comgalls had set up to stop Rasharkin from delivering quick ball into McNeill and Conor McFerran and a mix of patience and guile, they had the upperhand for most of the opening quarter.

A free from distance from Andrew Hasson and composed finish by Fearghal Kennedy restored parity to the score once more but Devine was punishing any discretions by the Rahsarkin defence with an exhibition of free taking to open a two point lead for his side once more.

Andrew Hasson’s second and third free’s of the game came either side of a score from Conor McAuley to give St Comgall’s a one point lead at the half time whistle.

Half time score, St Comgall’s 0-8 Rasharkin 0-7.

Like the start of the game, St Comgall’s opened the scoring after the restart with their first attack.  Patrick O’Connor with the finish but Rahsarkin began the second half with more urgency and noticeably delivering the ball into their forward line more quickly.

A trio of points from Andrew Hasson (one free) gave the men from Dreen a one point lead by the seventh minute of the second half before a superb score from Conor McAuley from wide on the left brought St Comgall’s level.  It was brief respite for the Antrim men however as Rasharkin were flying in the third quarter.  A fisted point from Gerard O’Hagan fired them into the lead once more before McNeill’s second of the match in the 42^nd minute brought the Rasharkin crowd to life at Ahoghill.

St Comgall’s threatened at the other end of the pitch and but for the brilliance of Tiernan O’Boyle, they could have scored the opening goal of the final.  Conor McAuley seeing his effort bravely saved from point blank range by the Rasharkin shot stopper.  Murdock fired over with the outside of his boot to leave the sides tied on 12 points each at the second half water break.

An instinctive finish from Tom Patchett gave St Comgall’s the lead once more but Andrew Hasson was proving any free inside of 50 yards was being punished as a further brace of frees gave Rasharkin a two point lead with five minutes of the hour remaining.

St Comgall’s and Devine hit back however with three points from their star player (one free) giving them a one point lead in the third minute of injury time.

Rasharkin pushed for another equaliser and St Comgall’s were reduced to 14 men when Conor McAuley saw red for an overzealous tackle on Pearce Kelly.  The men from Dreen rolled the dice and brought ‘keeper O’Boyle up to take a free from close to 55 yards only to see his effort dropping short and a goal bound effort was deflected wide.  Tiernan O’Boyle stood over the resulting ’45 in the sixth minute of injury time and celebrated as soon as he made contact with the ball.  The rest of the crowd watched on as the ball sailed over the bar with effectively the last touch of the hour with the sides tied on 15 points apiece.

With cramp hitting both teams in extra time and bodies falling everywhere, it was a survival of the fittest in the additional 20 minutes but again, neither side could pull away decisively.  James McCabe and Devine (free) fired over either side of Shane Hasson’s free for Rasharkin in the opening 10 minutes but the men from Dreen edged ahead with five minutes remaining once again.  Andrew Hasson and Fearghal Kennedy raising the white flag to give their side hope of taking the crown but St Comgall’s and Devine had other ideas.  His ninth point of the game, seventh free of the match from 45 yards out brought the sides level for the tenth time and neither side could find a winner in the time that remained.

Penalties to decide who would be junior champions and it was St Comgall’s who blinked first.  James McCabe’s penalty was saved superbly from Tiarnan O’Boyle after Andrew Hasson fired the opening penalty.  Ruairi O’Boyle’s penalty fired wide of the left post as Miles Devine’s penalty made sure it was ‘as you were’ on the score line after two penalties each.  Shane Hasson’s spot kick cannoned back off the cross bar before Caolan O’Loan’s converted his spot kick to make it advantage to St Comgall’s.  Tiarnan O’Boyle found the top corner with his spot kick before Tom Pratchett’s penalty sailed over the bar to leave the sides tied on two successful spot kicks each after four penalties.

Anto Watson saved Seamus Ellis’ diving to his right hand side paving the way for Peter McAuley to fire the winning spot kick and send the St Comgall’s faithful into delirium.  A cruel way to end a final but Rasharkin more than played their part in a hugely entertaining final.  Scant consolation for the men from Dreen who will ply their trade in Division 2 in 2022.  For St Comgall’s, the season rolls on with a journey in Ulster to look forward to.

TEAMS

St Comgalls: Anto Watson; Kian Walker, Ryan McAuley, Caolan O’Loan; Dylan Murdock, Michael McCabe, Ruairi Graffin; Danaan O’Hara, Miles Devine; James McCabe, Tom Patchett, Patrick O’Connor; Conor McAuley, Joseph Webb, Paddy Quinn

Subs: Louis Higgins for D O’Hara (41); Aaron McGaw for K Walker (48); Peter McAuley for J Webb (59); Rory McLarnon for R Graffin (ET 5)

Scorers: Miles Devine 0-9 (7 f’s); Dyland Murdock 0-2; Conor McAuley 0-2; Tom Patchett 0-2; James McCabe 0-1; Patrick O’Connor 0-1

Rasharkin: Tiernan O’Boyle; Pearce Kelly, Emmett McFerran, Conor Doherty; Gerard O’Hagan, Conor Hasson, Fearghal Kennedy; Jack Quinn, Ruairi O’Boyle; Andrew Hasson, Donagh Quigg, Seamus Ellis; Shane Hasson, Eamon McNeill, Conor McFerran

Subs: Odhran McGarrell for G O’Hagan (46); Oran McFerran for E McNeill (59); Callum Montgomery for C Doherty (ET 13)

Scorers: Andrew Hasson 0-9 (7 f’s); Eamon McNeill 0-2; Shane Hasson 0-2 (2 f’s); Gerard O’Hagan 0-1; Fearghal Kennedy 0-1; Conor McFerran 0-1; Tiernan O’Boyle 0-1 (’45); Odhran McGarrell 0-1

Referee: Brendan Toland (Lamh Dhearg)