Category / Football

by thesaffrongael

We knew all along there could be no other way

A glimmer of common sense has finally emerged through the cloud that has hung over the Antrim v Armagh, Ulster Championship opener on the 12th April. Antrim emerged first from the draw and nominated Corrigan Park as their home venue.

Ulster Council deemed Corrigan unfit to host the game on safety and capacity grounds but Antrim footballers dug their heels in saying ‘Corrigan of nowhere’ The Gaelic Players Association has backed the Antrim stance.

There had been doubts over the fixture ever taking place after Antrim players said they wouldn’t play the game unless it was at the Belfast venue.

But negotiations in recent days have seemingly resolved the issues of contention and the game is now set to be played in west Belfast on 12 April, with the resolution expected to be rubberstamped by Ulster GAA later this week.

We at the Saffron Gael feel that it never should have been an issue and to be fair, the noises coming out of Armagh suggested that they felt Antrim were right to make their stand.

Health and safety issues, largely concerning the big demand for tickets from the very well supported All-Ireland champions, had led the provincial body to move the game to Newry’s Pairc Esler.

This only hardened the “Corrigan or nowhere” stance from the Antrim players and indeed the county’s GAA board which put the match in potential jeopardy.

That scenario could have led to Antrim’s removal from the remainder of the football championship, which would have involved them being thrown out of the second-tier Tailteann Cup. (Talk about kicking a man when he’s down)

It’s understood that Antrim GAA have been able to convince Ulster officials that the required health and Safety provisions will be in place for the provincial quarter-final.

Antrim were first out of the hat in the Ulster SFC draw last October which normally means home advantage for that team.

Even with home advantage, the Saffrons will go into the contest as massive underdogs having suffered relegated to Division Four of the Allianz Football League on Sunday.

by thesaffrongael

Davitt’s two pointers earns them a share of the spoils

Antrim Football League Division 2

Davitt’s 1-14 Glenavy 1-14

Davitt’s staged a late comeback to earn a share of the spoils against visitors Glenavy at Davitt Park on Sunday, hitting three two-pointers in the last ten minutes to bring them level at the final whistle.

The visitors appeared to have it all wrapped up when they hit 1-6 without reply in the second half to go six clear, but two sweetly struck two-pointers from Sean Ó Suilleabháin and one from goalkeeper Aaron Slane saw the Falls Road men claw their way back to earn a share of the spoils.

The home team had the better of things in the early stages with a Deaglan Mooney goal sandwiched between two points by McLoughlin. Fergal Henry got Glenavy on the scoreboard with a point from a free but Ó Suilleabháin restored Davitt’s five point lead when he got the first of his scores. Two more by Fergal Henry and one by centre back McKevitt closed the gap for the Crumlin side and when Henry added a two pointer and John Phillips added one from play they were back on terms. However Davitt’s pushed on and a pointed free by McLauglin and a two pointer by goalkeeper Aaron Slane helped the Belfast men to a 1-6 to 0-07 lead at the break.

Most games since the switch over to the new rules haves seen the two point scores from outside the new arc very much in the minority, but Davitt’s showed that it doesn’t have to be that way as they showed great skill from long range, especially in the second half. Slane’s two pointer before the break may have been their first double, but incredibly all their four scores in the second half were also two-pointers. Their first after the change of ends was from corner forward Ó Suilleabháin saw them increase their lead to three, but Glenavy hit back with a barrage of points, four of them from the evergreen Fergal Henry plus a goal from Darragh Doherty which put them six clear with just a few minutes left on the clock. The visting fans must have felt they were heading home with the points, but Davitts’ ability to hit two pointers saw them claw their way back to level and two more excellent strikes from man of the match Ó Suilleabháin and another from goakkeeper Slane, which tied things up in injury time and left Glenavy fans wondering just how did this happen!

TO SEE MORE OF BERT’S PICS FROM THIS GAME CLICK ON HTE LINK BELOW

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by thesaffrongael

Six of the best sees Lecale Trinity through

Treanor Cup

St. Mary’s CBGS 1-13 Lecale Trinity 6-9

Despite strong individual performances from Shea McGarry, Conall Dempsey, Padraig Kelly and Jack Kelly St. Mary’s had no answer to a powerful Red High from Downpatrick in this Treanor Cup encounter on Monday afternoon.

The old saying, goals win games was very much in evidence as the Co Down college hit six over the hour with Shea King, Darragh McAlinden, Ciaran Shields, Fionn Fennell, Daragh Convie and Darragh Morgan, rattling the St. Mary’s net.

St. Mary’s battled hard with Shea McGarry kicking their opening point and then seeing his well struck penalty go over instead of under the bar.

Shea King and Darragh Morgan formed a strong mid-field partnership for Lecale Trinity and were on top for long periods over the hour despite the best efforts of Shea mcGarry for the Glen Road side

Red High led 3-4 to 1-5 at half time with Padraig Kelly scoring the St. Mary’s goal and their points coming from McGarry, Conall Dempsey and Jack and Padraig Kelly.

The same quartet provided the majority of the Belfast side’s second half scores with Dempsey adding four to his first half total and Padraig Kelly 0-2 and Shea McGarry all adding points.

The ability of Lecale Trinity to hit hard and fast on the break and their ability to score goals proved the decisive difference in the end with McAlinden, Shea King, Darragh Morgan, Fionn Fennell and Ciaran Shields impressive for the Dowpatrick College.

TO VIEW MORE OF BERT’S PICS CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

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by thesaffrongael

Second half revival secures points for Aldergrove

ACFL Division 1

Tir na nOg 0-14 St. James’ 2-11

While planes may have been at a standstill at Heathrow, the men from Aldergrove were very much in business during the second-half of this opening game at Randalstown on Sunday afternoon.

 The first half of this game played in blustery conditions was dominated by the home side. After an opening exchange of points, the Randalstown men outscored Aldergrove over the next 20 minutes by 9 points to 2. O’Donnell sparked this period of dominance with a point scored from a very tight angle at the dressing room end. Higgins also got into the act when, despite the best efforts of the Aldergrove defence, he swung a beautiful point over the bar.

Tir na nóG were soon well settled into their groove, highlighted when McCormick sent over a 2 pointer with just over 20 minutes gone. Aldergrove chipped away at the scoreboard but were unable to contain the home side. A high ball from the men in blue into Fagan at full forward led to a penalty, but McGarry in the Aldergrove net produced one of many fine saves during the afternoon.

 The chances were coming to Aldergrove but too many dropped balls and loose passes frustrated their attempts to get a foothold on this game as the first half came to an end.

 Half-time: Tír na nOg 0-10 Naomh Séamus 0-5

 Whatever John Rafferty said to his men at half time, a rejuvenated Aldergrove stamped their authority on the second-half from the throw in. Brian McQuillan cut through the Randalstown defence and, although his shot went wide, it was a very clear statement that Aldergrove were determined to make their mark on this game.

 It took a while for the game plan to come together but with a defence growing in confidence and forwards starting to find their shooting feet it was clear that Aldergrove were gaining dominance as the second-half unfolded. Cormac McGarry was first to put the ball in the net for Aldergrove, and when McAtamney then produced a great save to frustrate a follow up Aldergrove attack, it was clear that this was not Randalstown’s day as McGarry hit the roof of the net again after collecting the rebound.

The majority of the play in the second-half saw Aldergrove on the attack, with Randalstown finding it difficult to get out of their own half. The last 10 minutes of play saw Randalstown go point for point with Aldergrove but they were unable to stem the red tide.

 As the final whistle drew near, McGarry in the Aldergrove nets produced a save to cap off a great display. The save resulted in Aldergrove powering down the pitch, but a resulting penalty taken by S McGarry rebounded off the crossbar. He would not have been too annoyed though, as the final whistle blew and Aldergrove hit the road with both points in the bag.

 Tír na nOg 1 Sean-Paul McAtamney 2 Sean McKeown 3 Ciaran McGrellis 4 Brandon McLarnon 5 Paul McCloskey 6 Barry McCormick (0-3) 7 Ciaran Logan 8 Ryan O’Neill 9 Ciarán O’Neill (0-1) 10 Aaron McNeilly (0-5, 0-2f) 11 Joshua Higgins (0-1) 12 Ryan Crilly 13 Dylan McLarnon 14 Darragh Fagan (0-2) 15 Alex O’Donnell (0-1)

Naomh Séamas 1 Oisin McGarry 2 Cayden Lagan 3 Emmett Irvine 4 Aiden Irvine 5 Corey Fogarty 6 Chris McVeigh 7 Eoin Gough 8 Brian McQuillan 9 Conor Browning 10 Sean Patrick Fogarty 11 Oisin Graham (0-1) 12 Christopher McSteen 13 Ryan McCarthy 14 Ronan Hanna (0-3,0-2f) 15 Seamus McGarry (1-6, 0-1f) 16 Anthony Brown 18 Conleith O’Toole 19 Ronan Aiken 20 Michael Smart (1-1) 21 Declan Gough 23 Fergal Hanna

Referee: Darren McKeown

TO VIEW MORE OF BRIAN MC KEE’S PICS CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

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by thesaffrongael

Antrim’s fate confirmed in Newbridge

NFL Division 3

Kildare 1-26 Antrim 1-15

Antrim’s fate was confirmed in Newbridge on Sunday when they lost to now promoted Kildare but the game was far more eventful than the 11-point margin at the final whistle might suggest.

Brian Flanagan’s team knew coming into the game that they would be promoted if they could overcome an Antrim side who already had one foot in division 4 following their defeat to Sligo the previous weekend and the visitors got off to a bad start when Niall Kelly, Callum Bolton and Alex Beirne kicked two points each as Kildare scored the first six points of the game inside the opening 14 minutes.

However, Antrim came storming back into the game with the wind at their backs and Conor Stewart kicked their first point of the game in the 15th minute from outside the two point arc and they would go on to kick a further five 2 pointers before the half time whistle.

Dominic McEnhill was excellent from distance as he kicked three two-pointers, including two from frees after Kildare didn’t leave the required number of players up the field.

From Stewart’s first two-pointer, Antrim outscored Kildare by 0-14 to 0-3 in the last 20 minutes of the half and led by 0-14 to 0-9 at the break and were good value for their lead in St. Ternach’s Park

Paddy McBride who scored 0-2 in Kildare
Ryan McQuillan who was on target for the Saffrons

Kildare looked in a bit of trouble with their promotion ambitions depending on the result from Sunday’s game but the windy conditions aided their cause and there was a different intensity from Kildare after the break.

The introduction of Ben McCormack at half time and then later in the half of Paddy McDermott and Darragh Kirwan hugely helped the Kildare cause and in total their bench contributed 10 second-half points.

Kildare scored the first 1-8 of the second half, including a well taken Niall Kelly goal in the 44th minute before Ryan McQuillan finally got the Saffrons going again with a good point.

The home team were six points ahead with seven minutes to play but a battling Antrim never gave up and they pulled a goal back through Fionn Nagle and the fat was back in the fire.

Antrim suffered a blow when Eoghan McCabe was shown a red card in the 70th minute after picking up a second yellow card and that certainly didn’t help the Saffron cause but they can take some consolation from another descent performance.

Not for the first time this season Antrim showed in spells that they are as good as most of the teams in the division but have been unable to sustain that high level of performance for 70 minutes and it is something they will be attempting to address for the visit of Armagh in three weeks’ time

 Scorers for  Kildare: N Kelly 1-4, D Kirwan 0-5 (2ptf), A Beirne 0-6 (2ptf,1f), C Bolton 0-2, C Dalton 0-2, B McCormack 0-2, R Sinkey 0-1, K Feely 0-1f, B McLoughlin 0-1, P McDermott 0-1, T Archbold 0-1.

Antrim: D McEnhill 0-8 (3 2ptfs, 1 2pt), C Stewart 0-3 (2pt), P McBride 0-2 (2pt), F Nagle 1-0, R McQuillan 0-2 (1f).

KILDARE: Cian Burke; Harry O’Neill, Mick O’Grady, Brian Byrne; Ryan Houlihan, James McGrath, David Hyland; Callum Bolton, Aaron Masterson; Cathal Hagney, Alex Beirne, Colm Dalton; Ryan Sinkey, Kevin Feely, Niall Kelly. Subs: Ben McCormack for Hagney, h/t; Paddy McDermott for Masterson, 44; Darragh Kirwan for Sinkey, 50; Brian McLoughlin for McCormack, 63; Tony Archbold for Beirne, 70.

ANTRIM: Luke Mulholland; Eoghan McCabe, Eunan Walsh, Kavan Keegan; James McAuley, Jack Lenehan, Dermot McAleese; Conor Stewart, Patrick Finnegan; Patrick McBride, Niall Burns, Ruairi McCann; Conor Hand, Dominic McEnhill, Ryan McQuillan. Subs: Eunan Quinn for Hand, 41; Fiionn Nagle for Finnegan, 50; Ronan Boyle for Keenan, 60; Calum Higgins for Burns, 65; James McDonnell for Walsh, 68.

REFEREE: Brendan Griffin (Kerry).