Category / Football

by thesaffrongael

Football league Fixtures and Previews (Sunday 12th March)

The Second round of the football league is scheduled for Sunday (12th) and this will provide a ‘wake up’ call for the clubs involved.

The senior club games are set to get under way at 10.00 am and this early start could provide problems for the travelling clubs.

The inclement weather forecast for the next few days could play havoc with the scheduled fixtures with the fixtures secretary hoping for improvement by Sunday.

Division One

 (All games at 10.00 am)

St Brigid’s v St Ergnat’s Moneyglass

St Brigid’s suffered defeat in their opening game down at Clooney when they lost to Ahoghill.

The South Belfast men started that one as firm favourites but found the James O’ Connell inspired St Mary’s men too hot to handle and they will look for better this time as they welcome Moneyglass to Musgrave Park.

Moneyglass lost their opening game in the top grade last week when a Eunan Walsh goal sowed the seeds of victory for the 2022 beaten county championship finalists, Aghagallon and they will travel to the City hoping for a first win but St. Brigid’s may just shade it.

Erin’s Own Cargin v St Gall’s

Cargin opened their league campaign on a positive note when they gained the points with victory at Whitehill over Tir na nOg and they return to Toome for visit of St. Gall’s.

St Gall’s lost to Casement’s in their opening game and Paddy Mc Shane’s charges will travel down to Toome seeking a better return in this early morning fixture.

Cargin will start as firm favourites on their own sod and may well collect the points.

St Mary’s Aghagallon v St Enda’s Glengormley

St Mary’s opened their league campaign last week with a win over Moneyglass at Marian Hill and they will enjoy home advantage for round two as St Enda’s visit.

The Hightown side sat had no game last week but they will travel out to the home of last season’s beaten county senior finalists with a degree of confidence.

Aghagallon with the legend that is Pete Mc Grath holding the reins may well have one eye on the championship this year but ground advantage may well tip the balance in their favour.

Casement’s Portglenone v Lamh Dhearg

Casement’s opened their league account with a win up at Milltown and John Mc Keever’s charges will return to home base for this one as they play hosts to the Hannahstown men at Kelly Park.

Lamh Dearg lost to the visiting St John’s in their opening game with the Whiterock road men gaining the points at Hannastown.

Portglenone began their league campaign with an away win in round one and they will start as favourites to continue on the winning trail in this one with a home victory envisaged.

O’ Donovan Rossa v St Mary’s Ahoghill

Ahoghill got off to a great start last week with a home win over St. Brigid’s and will travel with some confidence for this one.

Rossa lost away to Creggan by the minimum in round one with a late Tiernan Mc Ateer point proving the difference and ensuring a win for the home side in a close encounter.

Hugh Mc Gettigan’s men underlined current wellbeing in that first round encounter and if that is maintained or possibly built upon they may well gain the verdict on home soil.

Division Two

Michael Davitt’s v St Teresa’s

Davitt’s opened their account for 2023 with a narrow win over Sarsfields at the Bear Pit, a venue on which the Paddies are never easily overturned.

Davitt’s will return to the familiar terrain of Davitt’s Park this time as they welcome Glen Road side, St Teresa’s.

Liam Mc Goldrick is still in charge of Teresa’s and with a 4-12 to 0-08 win over Dunloy on day one, they will travel up the road with wind in their proverbial sails.

Cuchullian’s Dunloy v St James Aldergrove

Dunloy started the season as the Intermediate football champions but with a weakened side they failed to cope with the experienced St Teresa’s on the Glen road.

The Cuchullian’s are back on their own ground for this one and they may well struggle to cope with the challenge offered by the visiting Crumlin men.

St Paul’s v St Patrick’s Lisburn

St Patrick’s gave a good account in their opening game before losing out to the visiting Gort na Mona with only a handful of points in it at conclusion.

The Gorts claiming a 2-10 to 1-08 win.

The Lisburn side are on the road this time as they travel to Shaw’s Road to play St. Paul’s

The home side lost to Aldergrove on day one but they will should get a first win in this one but it could be close.

Gort na Mona v Con Magees Glenravel

Joe Cassidy’s Glenravel made it all the way to the Intermediate final last year and they started this season’s league campaign with a draw against All Saint’s at Fr Maginn Park.

The South West side are on the road this time as they travel to West Belfast for a meeting with Gort na Mona at Enright Park.

Gort na Mona won at Lisburn last time and they will line out for this second round encounter with confidence high and with home advantage may gain the points but it could be close.

All Saint’s Ballymena v Kickham’s Ardoyne

Marty Kane’s Kickham’s side collected a valuable point with a share of the spoils from a visit to Chapel Hill last time and they will travel with confidence to Ballymena to play All Saint’s.

Liam Bradley’s All Saint’s had a similar result at Glenravel last time and they will return to Quinn Park hoping for a home win but with quite a number of players still unavailable they could be pushed all they way.

St Joseph’s Glenavy v Patrick Sarsfield’s

Sarsfield’s lost to Davitt’s last time out and will hope for improvement this time as they travel to Glenavy to take on St Joseph’s.

Glenavy earned a share of the points in round one when they drew with Ardoyne at Chapel Hill and they will hope to go one better in this one but it could go either way.

Division Three

Eire Og v Cardinal O’ Donnell’s

Eire Og opened their account in round one with a good win over St Malachy’s but this does look a more difficult assignment as they meet up with O’ Donnell’s.

Patrick Pearses v Wolfe Tones

Reigning Junior champions Padraig Pearses opened their league account with a 5-07 to 1-11 victory over St. Comgall’s in Antrim and they look likely to add another couple of points from this meeting with Wolfe Tones.

Laochra Loch Lao v St Malachy’s

Laochra Loch Lao were well beaten at Dreen by St Mary’s Rasharkin on day one and they will hope for better this time as they play hosts to Malachys.

Mc Quillan’s Ballycastle v St Comgall’s Antrim

McQuillan’s didn’t field on day one and didn’t compete in the league last year but did play in the Junior Championship. Naomh Comhghall should have rtoo much for the Ballycastle side however if the fixture goes ahaead.

Under-17 Division One

All Games 12.00 noon

Cuchullian’s Dunloy v St Paul’s

St Paul’s opened their account last week with an impressive win over the visiting Aghagallon and the Shaw’s Road side will hope to continue in winning ways again as they visit Dunloy.

St Enda’s v Kickham’s Creggan

Neither side played last day out so it is difficult to predict a result

St Brigid’s v Erin’s Own Cargin

Cargin open their account in round one with a win over Glenravel but this looks a more difficult assignment as they travel up to Belfast and meet the strong challenge of St Brigid’s who just lost out to St Gall’s on day one.

St Mary’s Aghagallon v St Gall’s

The Milltown side looked good in their opening victory over a much fancied St Brigid’s side and if they continue in such mode another win looks probable.

by thesaffrongael

Gorts claim the points at Kirkwood

ACFL Division 2

Sunday 5th March 2023

St Patrick’s Lisburn 1-08 v Gort na Móna 2-10

Kirkwoods Park was in pristine condition for the opening league game between hosts St Patrick’s and visitors Gort na Móna.

Gort na Móna took an early lead with three unanswered points from Patrick McCaffrey, Pádraig McHugh and Thomas McCaffrey. When St Pats got their first score it was quickly followed by Pádraig McHugh’s second point of the day and Darren Boyd also put the ball over the bar shortly afterwards.

A goal by Manus McMullan after 18 minutes meant that the visitors from west Belfast led 1-5 to 0-2. Pádraig McHugh then scored his third point of the day and Desy McClean also put one over the bar after 29 minutes to leave the score 1-7 to 0-4 at the break.

The Gorts came charging out at the start of the second half. Tarlach Enright struck the crossbar from the throw-in, but the ball was kept in play by Eamonn Scannell and slotted over the bar by Patrick McCaffrey for his second point of the day.

Pádraig McHugh then turned over the St Pats kick-out and put the ball in the back of the net, giving him a personal tally of 1-3 for the day and giving the Gorts a comfortable lead.

The Lisburn men set about fighting back but they couldn’t close the gap, and late points from Darren Boyd and Desy McClean ensured that the visitors went back up the road with two points from the game and a winning start to the 2023 season.

Referee: Eamon Hamill

by thesaffrongael

Antrim LGFA cruise past Carlow

Lidl LGFA National Football league Division 4A
Antrim 6-16 Carlow 2-7

Antrim ladies secured their place in the semi-final of the Lidl National Football League Division 4 when they had too much power for visitors Carlow at Davitt Park on Sunday, their third win in a row.

On top from the start the Saffrons were never threatened and had the points secured at half time as Grainne McLaughlin, Cathy Carey and Bronagh Devlin piled on the scores. The scoring was a little slow in the early stages but once Aoife Taggart got them on the scoreboard they started to flow and when top scorer Grainne McLaughlin got their first goal they clicked into gear and were soon 1-6 to 0-1 to the good.

The forged further ahead and by half time they had a virtually unassailable 4-10 to 1-4 lead, the other goals coming from team captain Cathy Carey, Bronagh Devlin and Thersa Mallon.

The second half was more of the same as the dominant Saffrons kept picking off the scores. They emptied the bench to give as many players as possible some game time as they sealed a semi-final place against Limerick in three weeks’ time   

ANTRIM: A McCann; M Mulholland, E Ferran, N McIntosh; O Corr (0-1), C Brown, S O’Neill; A Mulholland, A Tubridy (0-1); T Mellon (1-0), C Carey (1-2), M O’Neill (0-2); B Devlin (2-1), G McLaughlin (1-6, 0-4f), A Taggart (0-2, 1f).
Subs: L Agnew for M O’Neill (38), O Prenter (0-2, 1f) for A Taggart (44), C Emerson for A Mulholland (49), N Neeson for M Mulholland (51), R Mulholland (1-0) for B Devlin (54), B Ní Cahill for T Mellon 954), D Coleman for S O’Neill (54), C Taggart for G McLaughlin (56), A Devlin for C Carey (58), A Kelly for C Brown (60), C McKenna for A Tubridy (60).

CARLOW: M O’Neill; O Fitzpatrick, A Roche, N Murphy; O Hickey, C Doran, A Hanley; E Ware, R Bailey; E Coogan, E Tracy, E Molloy (1-0); J Sawyer (0-1), C Ni Shé (1-3, 1-1f), S Doyle (0-2).
Subs: B Nolan for O Hickey (HT), S McCullagh for O Fitzpatrick (HT), S Hayden (0-1) for E Treacy (HT), K Collins for A Hanley (HT), E Hayden (0-1) for E Molloy (38), K McDonald for E Coogan (46), R Bermingham for J Sawyer (50), 

REFEREE: Eddie Cuthbert (Down)

by thesaffrongael

Casements do enough at the Bog Meadows.

ACFL Div.1

St Galls 2 – 05  v 2 – 08 Roger Casements

The Bog Meadows was in pristine condition as St Galls hosted Portglenone in the opening round of this division one league encounter. Paddy Mc Shane is the man at the helm this season at St Galls and has put his charges through a good pre season that included four challenge games, and that was evident as his young team threw off the shackles and went at this contest from referee Brendan Toland’s first whistle.

The victors are a bit further on in their journey than their illustrious hosts who are very much in transitional mode, but the youthful side will provide a good test for anyone with their pace and hunger as they stuck to their task for the full hour.

The feature of the first half was some well taken points from distance by the visitors Ronan Kelly and Aidan McAleese, but this early advantage was cancelled out with a St Galls goal from hard working Brendan Bradley, as the tie ebbed and flowed evenly until half time when both sides went in level at the break.

With Niall Burns, Niall O Neill and Brendan Bradley calling the shots and keeping the scoreboard ticking over for the hosts St Galls were always well in this contest. With Niall Delargy and Ryan Convery directing affairs a superb point by Casements Conall Delargy was followed by long range scores from Ronan Kelly, Aidan McAleese and the impressive Michael Hagan, but these were cancelled out with white flags from Niall Fallon and a goal from Niall O’Neill to keep the minimum between the teams.

The deciding move that settled the contest was an excellent catch and delivery from Casements midfielder Stephen Kelly who released Michael Hagan in space. Hagan picked out the on running Ciaran McKenna who had one thing on his mind and McKenna fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the St Galls net to put just about enough daylight between the sides which allowed Portglenone to run out three point winners on the day.

by thesaffrongael

Great start for new manager Kevin McParland

Davitt’s new manager Kevin McParland saw his team make the perfect start to the season when they travelled up the road to the Bear Pit and beat Sarsfields in a tough and physical game.

In a game was nip and tuck on a sticky pitch, Davitt’s played with breeze which made scoring a bit easier. They got ahead with some fines scores from P McParland (0-2) C Rafferty (0-2), G Slane (0-2), J Maguire and A Slane (0-1) but Sarsfields got a breakaway goal to draw level by half time, and the teams went at the break on level terms on 1-5 to 0-8

Sarsfields started better in the second half but were a bit unlucky to squander a couple of goal chances, but Davitt’s stayed in the game with a few good scores.

A major turning point came when Sarsfields were leading by three points and were awarded a penalty. This was a chance for the Paddies to wrap up the points, but the spot kick was missed and Davitts hit back and played their best football. The decisive score came near the end when top scorer Gerard Slane fired home the winning goal. Sarsfield pushed for the equaliser but Davitt’s held on for the win.