ACFL Division 3

St. Agnes 0-18 Laochra Loch Lao 1-11

St. Agnes claimed the ACFL Division 3 league title when they overcame the challenge of nearest rivals, Laochra Loch Lao at Pairc Naomh Una on Wednesday night.

With two games remaining going into Wednesday’s fixture the Aggies were in a strong position. Win and the title was theirs. Lose and they still had another bite at the cherry against Pearses in their final game.

They certainly didn’t get it all their own way against a robust and talented, Laochra Loch Lao who were determined to take the race for the title to the final day of the season.

The Irish language side got themselves off to the best possible start when PJ O’Prey cut in from the right and fired past Collum Carroll in the opening minute to serve notice of their intentions.

Conall Turley replied from two pointed frees for St. Agnes but a well struck 2 pointer free from Jack Mac Liomhair put the visitors three ahead again by the 12^th minute.

Once again the sweet striking Turley converted a free to take his total for the evening to three and then Ronan Carroll took advantage of a bad kick out to leave just one between the sides.

Both sides wasted opportunities as the intensity of the game increased and two converted frees from Caoilte MacGiolla Fhiondain for the Falls Road side and a late pointed reply by Mark Boyle for the Aggies left it 1-4 to 0-5 at half time in favour of the visitors.

Laochra Loch Lao were good value for that lead as they dominated the closing stages and could have been further ahead but it was a different story when both sides made the long trip back from the changing rooms after the half time break.

A fisted point from Shay Madden and another from play from Mark Boyle had the side’s level within three minutes before Rian McShane edged he visitors back ahead from a free in the 4^th minute.

It was nip and tuck for a spell after this with scores at one end finding a response at the other and for a spell these two well matched sides couldn’t be separated.

Points from Madden and Carroll for St. Agnes and a Jack MacLomhair respose for laochra had it all square again at the end of the 9^th minute before a superb Ryan Reilly point, another from Cormac McBride and one from Daithi McGaharan moved St. Agnes three ahead and for the first time they seemed to be gaining control.

The excellent Ryan Reilly came forward to fist another and the gap was out to four but Laochra Loch Lao replied through Tomas Tolan and Jack MacLomhair to leave just two in it with 11 minutes still remaining.

St. Agnes had the scent of victory and a first league title for quite a number of years in their sights and they were not going to give up that hard earned lead easily and again the responded.

Daithi MacGaharan, Mark Boyle, Ronan Carroll and Ronan Gilligan all added to their total going down the home straight with Laochra Loch Lao replying through Rian McShane and a late free from Caolan MacFhiondain.

There were scenes of celebration at the end as the faithful St. Aggies supporters joined their team at the end to congratulate their heroes and join in the victory photograph.

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ACFL Division 1

Tir Na nOg 1 – 15    Casements 4 – 13

With their preseason 5^th place league target attained and over a dozen players off to Gooch Kellys stag weekend in Albufeira, Casements scrambled a match day panel together to fulfil this penultimate league fixture and expected the worst, facing off against a Randalstown team who would greatly benefit from the availability of league points as they stare into the bottom of a division one league relegation battle.

If anything Casements were in carefree mode, with John McKeever and some of his management team off to the national feile in Wexford. This was a great opportunity for the Whitehill men, but when Seamus Shannon let the ball loose from the throw in it took less than fifteen minutes for the visitors to steal a march that would not be recovered. During that time Casements played some excellent free flowing football, Niall Delargy had the ball in the net twice and could have had his hat trick later had the ball not rebounded off both posts before remaining in play!

On the quarter mark Michael Hagan produced the third green flag of the evening, as Randalstown took longer than expected to settle into the contest, though an excellently struck two pointer from distance from the accurate feet of Aaron McNeilly and two individual points from Barry McCormick kept the blues in some kind of relative touch.

In between times, several vital and timely interceptions by excellent full back Shane Delargy, a point blank save from stand in keeper Daniel McNicholl, and two terrific turnovers from returnee Conor McGhee, which he ran the pitch and dispatched between the posts was enough to keep Casements ticking along nicely in the lead, either side of timely water breaks from the hot evening sun.

When the teams turned around at half time there was ten points between the sides, a gap which was more or less maintained right up until the very last play of the game when busy Aaron McNeilly eventually found a way to squeeze the ball past McNicholl and into Casements nets, just in time before Seamus Shannon brought proceedings to a close.

In between times Darragh Fagan notched a couple of good scores for the hosts, but Fergal OKane, Conor McGhee, Dermot McAleese and Niall Delargy were well in control around the middle third, using their power and pace as a platform to supply hard running Ryan Convery  and the potent scoring threats upfront of Oisin Doherty and Michael Hagan who were superb all evening, ably assisted by Ciaran McKenna and Sean Byrne who also managed to grab a goal at the end of the second quarter.

Randalstown now meet league toppers Cargin in their final game and on this display it is hard to see a shock result that would offer Randalstown any current comfort. Meanwhile Portglenone will take a bit of a break before their own final league commitment of the season against Lamh Dhearg, and get down to the business of championship preparation.

Antrim Football League – Division 2

Raharkin 1-09 Rossa 1-11 Gor na Móna 2-12

It turned out to be a disappointing day for St Mary’s Rasharkin after defeat to Gort na Mona saw them relegated from Division 2 of the Antrim Football League. The Dreen men had to win their last two games to stand any chance of avoiding the drop but defeat today to the West Belfast side makes their last game irrelevant.

Rasharkin started the game really well and were a goal up after three minutes as Donagh Quigg cut through the middle and fired home and it looked like they were going to double that lead when Oran McMullan got through a minute later, only to be denied by a great block from Gorts full-back Ciaran Donnelly.

However Gort na Mona began to settle and after Tarlacht Enright got their opening point, Eamon Scannell added a 2pointer to level the game. Padraic Mulvenna had the chance to put them in front but pulled a penalty wide of the left upright but they didn’t have long to wait as full forward Patrick McConnell reacted quickest when a ball broke around the Rasharkin ‘square’ and poked the ball past the Rasharkin keeper a couple of minutes later. Ciaran MacGiolla cheara and Conhuir Clarke tagged on points to put them five ahead before the home team got their next score, and three in a row, two by Brian Og O’Neill and one by Caolan McGarrell got them right back into, only to concede a sloppy goal just on half time, Matthew McConnell rising high to take advantage of a defensive slip.

Leading by 2-06 to 1-05 at the start of the second half Enright pushed the gap out to five with an early point, but O’Neill came back with one for the home team a minute later. A 2pointer by Caoimhin Beck stretched the gap out to seven and it was at eight soon afterwards when Dessie McClean fired over.

Hard though they tried during the final quarter Rasharkin could make little progress in clawing back the deficit and though O’Neill and Quigg did find the target Enright was able to match them for the Gorts and they went on to win by six in the end.

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ACFL Division 1

All Saints 3-21  Glenravel 2-14

All Saints kept their league title chances alive with a comprehensive victory over rivals Glenravel in sun drenched Quinn Park on Saturday evening.  

Smarting from a surprise defeat mid-week to lowly Rossa, All Saints wanted to get back into winning ways and indeed the gap between the teams was larger than the score-line suggests. 

The timeless Sean McVeigh got All Saints off the mark after six minutes with a 2-pointer and whilst Ryan McQuillan pulled one back for Glenravel All Saints went on a scoring spree adding six more points from Conor Stewart, Ciaran Campbell, McVeigh again, Brendan McDonnell and two from Paidin Mitchell.

Glenravel’s only reply was an Eamon Fyfe free so with one quarter gone Glenravel trailed by six points but they redeemed themselves with 2-pointers from Eamon Fyfe and Ryan McQuillan and a single point from Fyfe closing the gap to two points after Brendan McDonnell pointed a free to leave the score 0-09 to 0-07 in the home side’s favour.

In truth Ballymena had squandered several goal chances in the opening period and may have started to rue them but in the closing four minutes of the half they recorded 1-03 as Conall Lemon, Kavan Keenan and James McDonnell all got on the score-sheet with points and finally Shaun O’Callaghan goaled with the final kick of the first half to leave Ballymena in a commanding lead 1-12 to 0-08.

All Saints brought on Patrick McAleer in the second half and he signalled his intentions for a starting berth next time out with a well taken point in the opening minute. Sean McKay pulled one back but the game was essentially ended as a contest when Ciaran Campbell found the net two minutes into the half and that was followed up by a brace from Conor Stewart to put Ballymena firmly in the driving seat leading g by 2-15 to 1-09.

Ryan McQuillan did convert some nice scores including an injury time goal but it was all too late and when full back Kavan Keenan netted with twenty minutes left the game was well and truly put to bed as a contest. Both teams exchanged points in the closing quarter but Ballymena were never really troubled. Game ended 3-21 to 2-14 to All Saints. 

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