Category / Football

by thesaffrongael

Saints hit Naomh Comhghall for seven

U18 Football League Division 2

All Saints 7-7 Naomh Comhghall 0-7

All Saints climbed to fourth place in division 2 of the U18 Football League division 2 with a convincing win over St. Comgall’s at Slemish Park on Sunday morning.

The Ballymena side ran out convincing winners against a youthful but talented St Comgall’s side. 

The early exchanges were tight with missed opportunities on both sides. Conall Boyd got Saints off the mark but Comgall’s responded with a nicely taken equaliser, and followed with a 2nd to take the lead. 

This seemed to prod the Saints’ boys into action with 2 well taken goals from the boot of Eddie Smith and a point from Sean O’Brien. 

The Saints defence were standing firm marshalled by Watt, Connon, Henry and Anderson, restricting the Antrim town lads to shots from distance. Torin Hodkinson fired over a superb 2 pointer with the outside of the boot to reduce the gap. 

A fine team move involving King, Patterson and Croskery sent Sean O’Brien through for a well taken goal and another point from Boyd stretched the lead further.

Antrim responded with a well taken point after a few near misses caused by some good defending by Devlin and Murphy. 

When they finally got in for a goal chance Alex Crawford made a fine double save.

Bradley and Patterson were working hard around the middle of the park and they combined for Bradley to point the final score of the 1st half. 

The 2nd half began with Comgall’s starting well and got an early point on the board. O’Brien got on the end of another swift move to fire over the crossbar. Aodhan McGarry then found himself free at the back post to round the keeper and fire to net. Comgalls responded with 2 well taken scores but were unable to breech the Saints defence for a goal. The young Antrim lads, a few of which had played Feile the day before, kept on battling with some great work form McAleer, Floyd and Hodkinson they were keeping the Saints defence honest. 

As the teams entered the final 15 minutes the Saints boys introduced Crooks and Mulholland who worked hard to create chances. A point from King and McGarry pounced to get his 2nd goal after a fine save by the Antrim keeper. In the final few minutes Smyth broke through for his 3rd goal and Balmer also got in on the act with a well taken finish. 

A convincing win for the Ballymena men, the final score perhaps flattered the home side a little but Comgall’s gave a good account of themselves.

The sides meet again in the Laverty shield in a few weeks.

Gort na Mona are in the driving seat at present with 12 points from 6 games while Sarsfields and Rossa have 12 from 8 games played with the Ballymena on 11from 8 played

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by thesaffrongael

Stop-over in Antrim for Hertfordshire GAA

English boys in Feile action in Swatragh

Hertfordshire GAA will be one of the sides taking part in Saturday’s Feile in Swatragh and Saffron Gael caught up with their team and management after an overnight stay in Co. Antrim.

The Hertfordshire side flew into Dublin on Friday night and made the trip to Antrim where they were greeted by Slemish Barn owner Maeve Bird and suitably catered for by local woman, Cecilia McDermott.

The Hertfordshire team chose Slemish Barn, in Aughafatten for their stopover prior to their pickup on Saturday morning and the relatively short journey to the Co. Derry venue where they will be taking part in division 5 of the football Feile.

The Hertfordshire side is made up of players from St. Vincent’s, St. Dympna’s, St. Colmcille’s and Eire Og and Keith Jackman, Community Development Officer for the county brought me up to date on the state of Gaelic games in the English County.

Hertfordshire GAA who took part in the Football Feile in Swatragh on Saturday

Keith visits schools in the county to coach Gaelic games and tells me that they have upwards on 350 children participating in the coaching sessions.

The panel who will be taking part in Saturday’s session at Swatragh are made up entirely of English born boys, an indication of the growth of our games across the sea.

Amongst the management party was Rebecca Carroll, the Hertfordshire Feile Co-ordinator who has been in the post for 16 years and her enthusiasm for her job and her knowledge has been a major factor in development in the county.

John Gaughan and Tony Crawley made up the backroom team accompanying Hertfordshire and they have promised to keep the saffron Gael updated on today’s Feile proceedings.

Maeve Bird, owner of the Slemish Barn in Aughafatten, Co. Antrim with Herttfordshire GAA’s Rebecca Carroll and Keith Jackman and local man, Seamus Dobbin
by thesaffrongael

Colin Schools 2025 Football League

Following on from the successful league format in 2024, the Colin Primary Schools League expanded in 2025 with the addition of Christ the Redeemer PS, Lagmore. Joining Holy Evangelists, St Kierans PS & Good Shepard PS with boys and Girls Gaelic Football teams from P6 &P7 years.

The 3G facilities at Sally Gardens in Poleglass host all matches over a 8 week period and continues to provide a strong identity for developing Gaelic Games in the area.

In the Boys section, Christ the Redeemer defeated both St Kierans and Holy Evangelists. In their final league game played on a day that produced all four seasons, Christ the Redeemer PS finished with a  win despite the difficult test in a well organised and determined Good Shepard PS. The game itself was fast flowing with some excellent passages of play and is a testament to the coaches at the school & the clubs from which the boys receive their weekly training. In their final league games, St Kierans PS battled despite having a depleted squad but doing enough to get the result v Holy Evangelists.  

The girls sectioned delivered further evidence of the continuing growth of ladies Gaelic football in the Colin Area with clubs such as Colin Gaels, St Paul’s GAC, Sarsfields & Lamh Dhearg all having a strong identity within the school teams. The high standard of football produced by all schools in the girls section is a testament to the schools & GAA clubs coaching. Christ the Redeemer PS on the final league day had too much to see off Good Shepard and needed this victory as defeat could have left the door open for St Kierans PS to mirror their successful 2024 season. In the final league fixture St Kierans and Holy Evangelists played out to a draw. 

Unfortunately on the last day the weather prohibited the outdoor awards ceremony taking place. Thanks to the teachers and parents / guardians who facilitated the running of the league programme and to Christ the Redeemer for facilitating the awards ceremony.

Final thanks to CLG NAOMH PÓL / ST PAULS GAC & ST KIERANS PS Poleglass for their ongoing support in delivering another excellent Colin Primary Schools League & also to the staff at Sally Gardens for their logistical support & Belfast Crystal for their fantastic league winners awards.  

Boys league Winners                                                       Girls league Winners

2024 Holy Evangelist (Twinbrook)                                  2024 St Kierans PS (Poleglass)

2025 Christ the Redeemer  (Lagmore)                          2025 Christ the Redeemer (Lagmore)

by thesaffrongael

Antrim Masters travel to Clones for tough league clash.

Round 4 GMA league

Antrim Masters hope to get their season back on track this weekend when they travel to Clones to face a Monaghan side that has always proved a tough adversary in the past. Both sides will be keen to add to their points tally, with Antrim 13th in the current league standings, just one place ahead of Monaghan.

Antrim boss Frank Delargy rues the lost opportunities in the games against Armagh and Derry where points were dropped on the back of a narrow two point defeat and a draw.

“Those points were definitely there for the taking.  Antrim are creating more than enough chances to win these matches, just a lack of composure up front has been our downfall. We need to finish off our moves a bit more clinically, that’s our downfall at the minute. Apart from that the rest of the machine is ticking over quite well”.

Antrim have a relatively strong panel travelling to Clones, despite the unavailability of players of the quality of Sean Kelly, Adrian Scullion, Colin Brady, Brendan Herron, David McAlernon and sharpshooter Paddy Cunningham due to holidays or injury.

Delargy remains optimistic though that there is sufficient quality travelling to get the job done, and with Louth next up the following Saturday, is hopeful that four points in six days can get his squad back on track and into a loftier league position. For now the focus is entirely on Sundays encounter and what is expected to be a genuine test of Antrims credentials at this level.

Antrim Masters Squad.

Conor Crilly, Michael Donnelly, Ryan Daly, Damien Kelly, Stephen Harbinson, Liam Magee, Kevin McAllister, Michael Mc Carry, Declan McLarnon, Brendan Etherson, Darren Craig, Laurence Higgins, Ryan Boyd, Michael McCann, Mark Graham, Kieran Close, Michael Herron, Barry McMahon, Kevin Gallagher, Phelim McCluskey, Sean McGreevy, Thomas Doherty, Colly Connolly, Declan McErlean.

by thesaffrongael

Glenavy build on win over Naomh Padraig

ACFL Division 2

Moneyglass 3-10 Glenavy 1-23

Glenavy travelled on Sunday looking to build on their win last time out against St Patricks, Lisburn, to play Moneyglass who have only suffered one defeat in the league all year. That defeat saw Sarsfields pip Moneyglass to secure the league and the automatic promotion spot meant that this game carried less importance in the league standing. However, that didn’t stop both sides serving up an exciting and entertaining hour of football, where Glenavy’s cutting edge made the difference and earned them the win.

With both sides starting line ups missing a number of regular players, there was a few last minute positional adjustments before the referee threw the ball in to start the game. It was Glenavy that started the better and raced into a 1-3 to no score lead in the first quarter. At this point, Glenavy’s retention of the ball and dominance around the middle and half back line was causing the home team problems and when Glenavy cut through the Moneyglass defence for Patrick Gallagher to finish the move palming the ball into the net, the home supporters could have been forgiven for thinking that the game was already up. However, the young Moneyglass side got to grip around midfield and were soon back in the game with two, 2 pointers and a goal to turn the game around in their favour. The second quarter was end to end with both sides trading scores. Glenavy’s full forward line and quick ball was causing problems, while at the other end, Moneyglass’s running from deep and overlaps was creating space which Glenavy found difficult to pick up.

At half time it was game on with Glenavy holding a narrow 1-9 to 1-8 lead.

The second period started slowly with both sides looking to gain control of the football, however it was a Glenavy mistake forced by the Moneyglass press that presented a clear opening to the Moneyglass attacker who made no mistake and finished to the net.

Glenavy to their credit didn’t panic however they were struggling to make the ball stick in the full forward line and the Moneyglass pressure forced several turnovers. Despite their defence being on top, Moneyglass failed to capitalise in the forward line and Glenavy eventually punished them with a number of impressive 2 point scores. At this stage the Glenavy midfield had gain control again and were putting huge pressure on the Moneyglass kick outs and created several scoring opportunities which their impressive full forward line took to open up a lead going into the last quarter.

Both teams made several substitutions and with the game entering the final stages, Moneyglass struck back with a tally of 1-2 in the closing stages to narrow the gap. However, Glenavy saw the game out and finished with a final score to win on a total of 1-23 to 3-10.

Both teams will take positives from the game and no doubt will have their sights firmly fixed on the forth coming Intermediate championship.

Referee: Cathal McDermott