Category / Football

by thesaffrongael

Johnnies celebrate the return of an old friend

After such a momentous year St. John’s GAC celebrated in style bringing together almost 400 people for a huge night of celebration on Friday 13th February in the Europa Hotel. The club had the great honour of having All-Ireland winning senior hurling manager Liam Cahill as their prestigious guest who spoke from the heart about leading the Tipperary hurlers to the panicle and lifting the Liam McCarthy Cup.

Proceedings for the evening began with the County Hurling Champions being led into the hall by uileen piper Frank Maskey to the cheers of the assembled gathering. The euphoria of that day in Ballycastle was once again relived through the standing ovation the team and their managers received from delighted family and friends.

Having the County Chairman Seamus McMullan and his wife Siobhan in our midst added to this joyful occasion which was handled superbly by MC David Robinson. David executed the evening with such professionalism which was no easy task keeping 400 people on board, as he introduced speakers, played clips on the big screen and managed presentations.

An added bonus to the evening was the presence of Fr Joe McGuigan, son of the famous Joey McGuigan after which the ‘Joey McGuigan Cup’ was named. Fr Joe led us in thanksgiving for the meal we were about to eat and for being able to celebrate in such numbers. He was then called upon to present the Joey McGuigan Cup to the mixed team of young and not so young players who not only represented the club with great pride but won the South Antrim League. Club chairman Aidan Kelly, a player on this team himself, related a few escapades on their journey, especially making the tight fit jersey loved by the athletes in the club go over the more maturing body!!

Minor teams in both Ladies Gaelic Football and hurling were honoured for their achievements on the field, lifting their respective cups as these cups and medals were distributed. These young players were recognised as the future of the club and were praised for their commitment to training and wearing their club jumper with pride. The ‘Minor of the Year’ award was then announced and presented by a former winner back in 1978, club treasurer and one of the main organisers of the night, Neal Peden to a very worthy winner, hurling team captain Finton Mc Kinney.

As an interlude in the events, Peeky Blinders star Packy Lee entertained the crowd with his wit, telling the story of how he tried to join St. John’s back in the day but he was told that maybe Gortnamona would be more suited to his talent!

Then came the main players in whose honour the event was organised, the senior hurling team who one by one were brought out to victorious applause and standing ovations. A huge tribute was paid to Peter McCallin who unfortunately couldn’t be there but was watching proceedings in the Australian sunshine.  Once again MC David spoke to manager Gerard Cunningham about the team achievements with the hope that we could continue the euphoria into the new season and do a ‘back to back.’ What a wonderful accolade for each hurler to be presented with their prestigious medal by Tipperary’s finest Liam Cahill.

No presentation could be concluded without a rousing chorus of ‘Whack-fol-the-diddle’ the Naomh Eoin anthem, led by one of the five 1973 team members who were present, the man himself Mr Mick, Mickey Gallagher.

Having sat through the beautiful meal and presentations the crowd were itching to boogie and led by the fabulous Marty Fay band they did just that, while our good friend and most dedicated photographer Bert Trowlan continued to capture the event in pictures.

Tipperary manager Liam Cahill who was guest of honour at the St John’s dinner in the Europa Hotel

by thesaffrongael

Dunloy Cuchullains celebrate a special season

Above – The Dunloy team who bridged an 89 year gap by winning the 2025 Senior Football Championship were honoured at the club’s annual dinner in the Tullyglass Hotel.

Dunloy Cuchullains held their annual dinner dance at the Tullyglass Hotel last night with Thomas Niblock the host for the evening.

In a night with a twist, Thomas did a number of interviews with those involved in the club while performing podcast style chats with those associated with the clubs success in 2025.  Gabriel McTaggart and Éobha McAllister were first up under the microphones and cameras, Gabriel standing in for Eamon Smyth who was unable to attend the event.  Keelan Molloy and Kevin McQuillan were up next – Kevin making the most of his time with the microphone and taking centre stage.

The Dunloy team who won the Minor A Camogie Championship in 2025

Senior football Captain Seaan Elliott was accompanied with his grandfather Don Maguire for the last podcast of the evening with Don declaring that despite being in the village 58 years, he classes himself as a ‘blow in’ and how he never misses a training session thanks to ‘a hole in the hedge’.

A brilliant evening was rounded off with a montage of clips of both video and photographs from the year, Ger Dixon’s song ‘Dunloy’ providing the music for the video.

A lovely way to round off a special evening as the Cuchullains remembered the journey they have been on to end an 89 year drought to bring the senior football championship back to Pearse Park.

Dunloy held a raffle on the evening with the prizes being a signed shirt by the senior footballers (won by the McMahon Family) and the football used in the county final signed by the team (won by Oisin McCamphill).

Many thanks to the Cuchullains who made a presentation to The Saffron Gael through Brendan McTaggart.  The support of clubs up and down the county is greatly appreciated.

Fr PJ McCamphill presents Eilish Kearns with the Minor Camogie Championship trophy
Dunloy PP Fr Devlin presents Francis McMullan with the Senior Reserve Hurling trophy

County chairman Seamus McMullan is interviewed by Thomas Niblock.

by thesaffrongael

Longford dismantle Antrim to end Saffron promotion hopes

National Football League – Division 4

Antrim 1-14 Longford 1-27

Antrim’s National Football League Division Four campaign slumped to a new low at Portglenone on Sunday as a clinical Longford side handed them a 1-27 to 1-14 defeat. The result marks the third consecutive loss for the Saffrons under new manager Mark Doran and effectively kills off any lingering hopes of promotion. Rooted to the bottom of the table with zero points, Antrim appeared shell-shocked by a Longford outfit that moved with a level of pace and precision that suggested they belonged in a much higher bracket.

Antrim captain Eoghan McCabe in action against Longford’s Matthew Carey

The opening half was a period of total capitulation for the hosts. While Adam Loughran opened the scoring within thirty seconds, it proved to be a false dawn. Longford took complete control of the midfield, with Ronan Sweeney and Liam Glennon dominating John McNabb’s restarts. The visitors’ movement was spearheaded by an inspired performance from Matthew Carey at centre-forward, who dictated the tempo and punished Antrim with a series of well-taken scores. Alongside Oran Kenny, Carey helped Longford amass a staggering 0-19 to 1-04 lead by the interval. Antrim’s solitary green flag came via Loughran midway through the first half, a brilliantly taken goal by the Aghagallon man who cut in along the endline and blasted home from a narrow angle. However even that failed to shift the momentum as Longford immediately responded with scores of their own and pulled away again to lead by twelve at the interval.

Dominic McEnhill fires a shot at goal but it wasn’t to be the Saffron’s day and Lonford cleared the danger once again

  Playing with a fresh breeze at their backs in the second period, Antrim did manage to stem the bleeding and compete with more physical intensity. The introduction of Pat Shivers and Ryan Murray from the bench provided some much-needed spark, with Shivers chipping over four points to lead the Saffron resistance. However, the damage done in the first thirty-five minutes was insurmountable. Longford never looked panicked, maintaining their cushion through the accurate free-taking of Carey and the tireless running of the Reynolds brothers.

Any faint hopes of a miracle comeback were officially extinguished when Matthew Carey stepped up to bury a penalty low past John Carron, capping off a dominant individual display. For Antrim, the thirteen-point margin was their most emphatic defeat of the season so far and leaves the camp in a state of disarray ahead of their upcoming fixture against Leitrim. With key personnel changes and a lack of points on the board, the Saffron’s face a massive challenge to salvage pride from a season that is rapidly slipping away.

Longford’s man of the match Matthew Carey fires a second half penalty into the corner of the net despite the best efforts of Antrim goalkeeper John McNabb

ANTRIM: John McNabb; James McAuley, Joseph Finnegan, Kavan Keenan; Eoghan McCabe ©, James Lenehan, Marc Jordan; Paddy McAleer, Cathal Hynds; Conor Hand, Niall Burns, Oisin Doherty; Ryan McQuillan, Adam Loughran, Dominic McEnhill

Subs: Pat Shivers on for Conor Hand (39’), Sean O’Neill on for Oisin Doherty (29’), Ryan Murray on for Ryan McQuillan (47’), Kevin Small on for Cathal Hynds (52’), Ruairi Hagan on for Jack Lenehan (55’)

Antrim scorers: Pat Shiver (0-4, 2TP), Adam Loughran (1-2), Ryan McQuillan (0-2), Ryan Murray (0-2), Dominic McEnhill (0-1f), James Lenehan (0-1), Niall Burns (0-1) Paddy McAleer (0-1)

LONGFORD: Eoin McGuinness; Patrick Fox, Ryan Moffet, Bryan Masterson; Peter Lynn, Oisin O’Toole, Dessie Reynolds; Liam Glennon, Ronan Sweeney; James Moran, Matthew Carey, Daniel Reynolds; Joseph Hagan, Paddy Moran, Oran Kenny

Subs: Cian Brady on for Ronan Sweeney (47’), Cathal McCabe on for Paddy Moran (47’), Ronan Bleakely on for Oisin O’Toole (53’), Niall Farrelly on for Dessie Reynolds

Longford Scorers: Matthew Carey (1-8, 0-6f), Oran Kenny (0-6, 2TP), Daniel Reynolds (0-4), Dessie Reynolds (0-3, 1TP), Liam Glennon (0-1), Cathal McCabe (0-2), Joseph Hagan (0-2), Liam Glennon (0-1)

TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/3tFNJVsDsEJxyE/?invite=995262af-a722-40e6-a5b7-02bea51074bd

TO VIEW PADDY’S PICS CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/hcya6ihCGAfzmr

by thesaffrongael

It’s a long way to Antrim but Tipperary take the win

Centra League Div 1a Antrim 0-09 Tipperary 2-19 14th February 2026

Report and pics from Michael Corcoran in Cushendun

As the song goes ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’, equally as long up to Antrim but the visitors to Cushendun made it all the worthwhile as they drove back down the road with their first Centra div 1a league win under their belt from 2026.

It was a healthy margin for the Premier County but that was expected as Antrim slip into a new league consisting of Camogie Behemoths, Cork, Galway, Waterford, Kilkenny and Tipperary. For now, Antrim has defined their league encounter as the bed for building performance and taking that into more realistic venues such as Ulster and the Intermediate Championships.

Antrim started well with only three points the difference after twenty minutes gone. The pitch held up well to the torment delivered underfoot and both squads managed to display a number of first touches off the pacy roll, but Tipperary seemed able to offload the sliotar better under pressure to a blue and gold jersey whilst Antrim under similar pressure occasionally spilled the sliotar to a waiting Tipp player. Those opportunities were rarely waisted as they carved up the middle of the pitch to deliver a volley of points and the drift began around twenty eight minutes when Tipp went four ahead and from a simple left flank move down towards the sea end, a running Caoimhe Stakelum teased Antrim’s goalkeeper to come off her line and look big but a rifled sliotar to the back of the net elevated Tipperary’s score to a goal and eight points before adding a further two points short of the whistle. There could have been a second goal for Tipp if not for the sharp action from Antrim’s Caitriona Graham who would continue to spoil more attempts to goal in the second half.

Antrim’s goalkeeper, Caitriona Graham had a solid game with only two green flags raised by Tipperary

Antrim rallied at the restart with a constant drip of points to keep momentum going. Katie Molloy embarked on one of her solo runs, out striding her marker but dropped the sliotar off the stick. Such was the tenacity of the forward, roll lifting out of a mini ruck to continue her solo run finishing with a fine point.

Well into the second half, and making her debut on the senior squad, Eobha McAllister showing no fear went on a solo run charging down the metres for a fine strike at Aine Slattery’s net but sensing the following pack of defenders opted to ‘underarm’ flick it over the bar for her first county senior point. McAllister would get a second chance at Slattery’s net but directed the sliotar towards her from a narrow angle, unfortunately Slattery was able to raise the stick and diffuse the threat.

Antrim’s Eobha McAllister has her goal run stopped by an alert Aine Slattery

It was one of those games, where every point from Antrim was matched by two from Tipperary and a goal but Niamh Treacy was going to change that when Caoimhe Maher offloaded to Aoife Dwyer and finding Treacy for a short tap in over Antrim’s line to hear the long whistle ending Antrim’s first league opener Antrim 0-09 Tipperary 2-19.

All in all much the expected outcome in terms of score but a decent game for Antrim, taking the opportunity to run out Laura Black, Aimee Ferris and Eobha McAllister for first appearances in the senior Saffron jersey. Fine performances came in from Clare McKillop, Nicole McAtamney, Lucia McNaughton, who clutched an awkward ball out of the air that fed McAllister on her goal effort and stalwarts like Maeve Kelly, Shannagh Heggarty, Erin Coulter, Amy Boyle, Katie Molloy and Janey McIntosh to name a few and a great opening game for returning players like Colleen Patterson, Niamh Cosgrove, Katie McKillop and Elen McIntosh.

Antrim’s bench, alert and tuned in to Saturday’s game now know the standard in division 1a

Antrim’s next game is against Cork on Saturday 21st February, weather permitting.

You can see more pics from Saturday’s game against Tipperary here…

https://myalbum.com/album/48Z724vNqcuGFW/?invite=6c803eeb-4c9a-492a-af7b-73cda93ab900

Antrim Starting Panel and Scorers

Caitrin Graham, Colleen Patterson, Shannagh Heggarty, Clare McKillop, Laura Black, Niamh Cosgrove, Erin Coulter, Amy Boyle 0-01, Nicole McAtamney 0-05f, Maeve Kelly 0-02, Lucia McNaughton, Katie McKillop, Elen McIntosh, Janey McIntosh, Katie Molloy, Eobha McAllister 0-01

Tipperary Starting Panel and Scorers

Aine Slattery, Isobel O’Donnel, Celine Guinan, Eimer Loughman, Sarah Corcoran, Caoimhe McCarthy 0-02, Emma Carey, Kate Ralph 0-02, Karen Kennedy 0-01, Amy Quinlisk, Roisin Howard 0-01, Clodagh McIntyre 0-03, Caoimhe Stakelum 1-04, Eimear McGrath 0-04 (1w), Lucy Purcell 0-01, Aoife Dwyer 0-01, Niamh Teacy 1-00

by thesaffrongael

Antrim team to play Longford announced

The Antrim team to play Longford in the NFL Division 4 in Portglenone on Sunday has been announced and shows a number of changes to the one who lost to Tipperary last time out.

Aghagallon’s Jack Lenehan makes his first start of the season at centre-half while his St. Mary’s colleague, Adam Loughran comes into the side at full-forward.

Both Cathal Hynds of Glenravel and Conor hand of St. John’s, who both came on as substitutes last day out start at mid-field and right half forward respectively in a side hoping for their first win of the season.