Antrim Senior Football Championship – Group 3 – RR2

St Mary’s Ahoghill 1-13 Con Magees Glenravel 0-10

St Mary’s Ahoghill bounced back from a seventeen point drubbing in the opening round of the Antrim Senior Football Championship, to beat Glenravel by six on Sunday and get their championship campaign back on track. After that heavy defeat to neighbours Portglenone most people would have written the Cloney men off, but they are made of tougher stuff and Sunday’s win sets up a mouth-watering meeting with neighbours Moneyglass with a quarter final place there for the taking for the winners.

Glenravel started Sunday’s game in promising fashion and were 0-3 to 0-1 up nearing the end of the opening quarter, but Ahoghill eventually settled into a rhythm and by half time they were 0-6 to 0-3 to the good. A goal early in the second half put them firmly in control and they controlled the game to win by six in the end.

Three early points, two of them from Eoin Hynds, in reply to one by Ahoghill’s James O’Connell had the visitors 0-3 to 0-1 ahead nearing the end of the first quarter, but two by Colla McDonnell and one from James O’Connell during the second quarter had the home team 0-06 to 0-03 in front at end of the first half.

James O’Connell stretched the Ahoghill lead to four within a minute of the restart, but when Eoin Hynds fisted over a point and Calum Higgins added one with the boot there was just two between the sides. However straight from the kick-out following the Higgins point, Ahoghill broke through at the other end and James O’Connell put Gerard Graham clear to grab the first goal of the game and stretch their advantage to five. The visitors pulled a couple of points back through Hynds and McKay and though the home team responded with one from Eamon Brady, Daniel McQuillan replied for the Con Magees to bring the deficit back to just three.

Daniel McQuillan cut the gap to just two on forty minutes before Glenravel had chances to take the lead, but Niall Hynds fired over from close range and Aidan O’Donnell had a goal bound shot brilliantly cleared off the line by a defender. Niall Hynds did add another point on 42 minutes but the visitors would only manage one more point in the remaining 18 minutes, plus injury time and Ahoghill once again showed their resilience to slowly stretch the lead.

Gerard Graham started the run for home with a point from play on 44 minutes and midfielder Patrick Graham jnr added another a minute later. A pointed free by James O’Connell and one from play by Danny O’Neill stretched the gap out to six and though Glenravel pulled one back from a free with five minutes still to play, James O’Connell ended the scoring with a point in the final minute.

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Senior Football Championship Group 3.

Moneyglass 2 – 09 – 1 – 17 Portglenone

This senior championship Group three game between local clubs Moneyglass and Portglenone drew a reasonable crowd, and they were treated to an entertaining game with the resulting prize for the winners being a guaranteed place in the Quarter finals. In the end Casements did enough on the day, but not before being tested by the hosts who despite missing quite a few regular starters played a full part in this lively contest.

A blistering start from the hosts saw them open up a four point lead in the first quarter, two points from the feet of Colum Duffin and a goal from the fist of impressive Conleth McCann gave their vocal home support cause for optimism as John McKeever’s men took a while to settle down and get a foothold in the game. Points from Aidan McAleese Ronan Kelly and Oisin Doherty got the visitors off the mark and kept them in touch, but Moneyglass weren’t going away, and when full forward Aidan McErlain got his hands on a long delivery from Paul Duffin, and transferred quickly to James McCormick, the corner back cooly picked his spot and rolled the ball past Portglenone custodian Kevin Mullan to once again restore a four point cushion.

Conleth McCann and the lively Sean Boyd added further scores and it took three excellent frees from Casements Ronan Kelly and Aidan McAleese, and another from play from Oisin Doherty to keep the deficit to just two in favour of Moneyglass at the break.

It took a few harsh words from Portglenone management to shake up their charges during the interval and this had the desired effect. A well worked move was cooly despatched over the bar by Michael Hagan as Casements gradually started to get on top of proceedings. Paddy Kelly announced his arrival by stroking over a trademark free kick from around the forty metre mark, and suddenly the game was all square.

Both teams traded points in the 8^th and 9^th minute, courtesy of Aidan McAleese and the hard working Dermot Busgy McErlain who was possibly the most impressive player on view. Paddy Kelly smashed an opportunist goal chance off the crossbar and over for a point after cheekily intercepting a misplaced pass from Moneyglass keeper, but Smiley Duffin tied the event once more with a free kick.

With a quarter remaining and the sides level no one wanted to blink. Niall Delargy finished off a well worked team movement to go in front by one. And then, in one passage of play, the game changed.

Winning a highly contested ball in defence, Casements were driving forward with intent when an off the ball incident occurred. Ray Matthews allowed play to continue, the result was a well worked weave of possession which Aidan McAleese palmed into the Moneyglass net and suddenly Casements were four up.

In the follow up celebrations Moneyglass had two players dismissed after the referee had consulted with his umpires and with them went any fading chances of a St. Ergnat’s comeback

Now four points down and with just 13 men, ironically Moneyglass played some of their best football, prising the Portglenone defence wide open several times. Sean Boyd was causing all sorts of bother with his pace and twisting turns and was unlucky to see a goal bound effort bounce off a post and drift wide.

Another Ronan Kelly point brought his personal tally to six on the day, and when Michael Hagan and Dermot McAleese tagged on another brace, it was all over, bar the shout.

On the day Casements did enough, but in truth a five point winning margin flattered them, and John McKeever will know that his men will need to be better if they are to challenge for the McNamee cup. Moneyglass now face a do or die play off against neighbours Ahoghill for a place in the quarter finals in two weeks.

Referee: Ray Matthews.

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SFC Group 4

St. Galls 3-9 Aghagallon 3-14

St. Mary’s Aghagallon collected their first win in Group 4 of the Senior Football Championship when they came strong, midway through the second half to overcome the challenge of St. Gall’s in an entertaining encounter at Milltown on Saturday.

There was little between the sides in a cagey opening half with Niall O’Neill’s fisted goal for St. Gall’s and a deflected goal from Aghagallon’s Gareth Magee leaving the sides tied at 1-5 apiece after 30 minutes.

O’Neill struck with his second goal on the restart as the Milltown Row side led by three after 12 minutes of the second half but a Padraig Gowdy goal heralded a dominant period for the visitors.

Brendan Bradley’s penalty conversion in the 29^th minute for the home side cut the gap to the minimum but Aghagallon finished on the front foot with a Johnny Hannon pointed free and a goal from Ruairi McCann to win by five in the end.

Eunan Walsh, playing at mid-field shot the Visitors into an early two point lead and an exchange of points from Mickey Pollock and Johnny Hannon left St. Mary’s two to the good with six minutes on the clock.

Niall O’Neill rose to fist a long delivery to the Aghagallon net and two points from the same player and another from Brendan Bradley had the home side four ahead after 16 minutes.

Aghagallon replied with their first score for 13 minutes through Johnny Hannon and the same player added another from a free before Gareth Magee’s shot deflected of a defender and finished in the net to give the visitors back the lead in the 25^th minute.

Back came St. Gall’s and Conall McGirr fisted over to leave the sides level at the break, 1-5 to 1-5 at the end of a slow burning opening half where defences were on top.

Niall O’Neill struck with his second goal, four minutes into the second half and his finish was a mirror reflection of his first as the long early ball troubled the visitors defence and O’Neill got his fist to it to finish to the net.

Aghagallon replied with a point from Ruairi McCann as Oisin Lenehan replaced David McAlernon in the visitors side and Johnny McCaffrey and Michael Hopkins for the Milltown side and Hannon from another free for St. Mary’s kept the gap at three.

Eunan Walsh reacted quickest as he collected a short free and his astute pass caught the home defence cold and Padraig Gowdy took advantage as he finished clinically to the net to level the contest.

Gowdy’s goal seemed to lift the visitors and the same player followed with a point and further minors from Enda McCartan and Gowdy again had St. Mary’s 2-10 to 2-7 ahead with 10 minutes remaining.

Eunan Walsh added another before St. Gall’s lost a player to a Red card and when Johnny Hannon added to his impressive total at the other end Aghagallon looked home and hosed.

St. Gall’s would not concede without a fight however as veteran Michael Pollock replied with points with Pauric Maginnis responding with one at the other end before the Milltown side were handed a lifeline as referee, Conall Roberts pointed to the penalty spot.

Bradley’s conversion closed the gap to the minimum with a minute of normal tie remaining but it would be St. Mary’s who finished the stronger as Johnny Hannon eased the pressure from a free before Ruairi McCann punished a defensive mistake to palm to the net and ensure his side the victory.

This win leaves Aghagallon level on points with Kickham’s Creggan after two rounds of games with Creggan entertaining St. Gall’s on Saturday 31st August on the final day of the group stages while Aghagallon entertain unbeaten St. Brigid’s the following day.

 St. Gall’s: 1 Chris Kerr, 2 Marcus Donnelly, 3 Tiarnan Keenan, 4 Eoghan McCurdy, 5 John McCaffrey, 6 Conall McGirr, 7 Conall McCabe, 8 Manus McCrossan, 9 Conor Ryan, 10 Niall Burns, 11 Brendan Bradley, 12 Michael Hopkins, 13 Niall O’Neill, 14 Michael Pollock, 15 Daniel Quinn

Subs: 21 Gairech MacAdhaimh, 24 Conor Burke, 19 Callum Walsh

St. Mary’s Aghagallon: 1 Luke Mulholland, 2 Kieran Hamill, 3 Aidan Mulholland, 4 Ciaran Maginnis, 5 Stephen Devlin, 6 Jamie Lamont, 7 Padraig Gowdy, 8 Eunan Walsh, 9 Ruairi McCann, 10 Marc McAfee, 11 Daryl McAlernon, 12 Jonathan Hannon, 13 Gareth Magee, 14 David McAlernon, 15 Jack Lenehan

Subs: Oisin Lenehan, 18 Enda McCartan, 19 Pauric Maginnis

Referee: Conall Roberts (St. John’s)

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Senior Football Championship – Round 2

Creggan 0-08 St Brigid’s 1-11

St Brigid’s made it two wins out of two in the Antrim Senior Football Championship round-robin when they travelled to Creggan on Saturday and beat the Kickham’s by six points to all but seal their place in the quarter finals. Although there are still a few permutations that can unfold on the final weekend of games a draw in their final match against Aghgallon would be enough to see the south Belfast side top the group.

It all appeared to be plain sailing for the Musgrave Park men at half time of Saturday’s game when they led by 0-8 to 0-01, but when Creggan came out in the second half and hit the first four points of the second half the complexion of the game changed. With the fresh breeze at their backs the home side looked like they could turn things around. However St Brigid’s steadied the ship and after surviving an almighty scare when the home team’s Tiernan McAteer took advantage of a bad defence error and broke towards goal. With goalkeeper Declan Heery struggling to get back McAteer went for goal from just outside the D, but the corner forward’s shot bounced on the edge of the ‘square’ and rebounded off the crossbar and the visitors got back to clear the danger.

Five minutes later the decisive score of the game came when St Brigid’s centre-back Shea Downey soloed through from midfield, breaking through three tackles on the way, to set up corner forward Rory McErlean for the only goal of the game.

The visitors dominated the opening half though it took them eight minutes to register their first score, a point from left half forward James Smith, the scores began to flow more freely after that. With Creggan defending deep St Brigid’s were patient in their approaches but the scores began to come and they moved 0-5 to 0-00 ahead after twenty minutes as Ronan Boyle, Rory McErlean, Shay Campbell and Jack Dowling all sent over points.

Creggan’s only score of the opening half came on 21 minutes when Tiernan McAteer swung one over from the right corner, but St Brigid’s held the upper hand for the remainder of the half and full-back Joseph Finnegan, full forward Conor McAleer and corner forward Rory McErlean (from a free) all hit the target to give their team a seven point cushion at the break.

When the teams re-emrged for the second half the significance of the fresh breeze soon became apparent as Creggan dominated the first ten minutes of play. McAteer fired over inside the first minute, Jamie McCann added one from a free and Ehan Carey-Small cut in from the left corner to send one over. On 38 minutes the gap was down to just three when Sean Duffin sent over from close range and suddenly things looked much different.

St Brigid’s needed a score to settle the nerves and it came two minute later when Conan McNicholl hit a very score from the right corner and when substitute Enda Downey added another to stretch the gap back to five. When Tiernan McAteer broke through for what looked like a certain goal the Creggan fans must have thought they were back in the game, but lady luck was not on McAteer’s side and his shot rebounded off the crossbar and was cleared.

The visitors were still under pressure though and it wasn’t until Shea Downey’s brilliant run and McErlean’s goal that the travelling fans could relax, knowing the game was one.

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Northern Switchgear Antrim SFC Group 2

O’Donovan Rossa 3-11 Tír na nÓg 1-5

Rossa put themselves back in the championship qualification frame with an impressive win over visitors, Tir na nOg at Shaw’s Road on Saturday evening.

Their Whitehill visitors will reflect on what might have been however as they kicked 13 wides over the hour on a day where little went right for them.

The home side were much more clinical in their finishing as they took advantage of errors by their visitors with Dominic McEnhill’s goal midway through the opening half sending Rossa to a 1-4 to 1-2 half time lead.

Darragh Fegan raced clear from the throw-in to kick Tír na nÓg into the lead, but it was far from a sign of things to come in the opening period as they seemed content to sit back and hit on the break.

Chances were created, but six wides in the opening period was not the return they would have hoped for, yet they were limiting Rossa from creating a lot as the hosts finally drew level through a Mick Byrne free in the 5^th minute before Cormac McGettigan edged them ahead.

Rossa were starting to have a bit of success and struck with the game’s opening goal midway through the half as Dominic McEnhill intercepted a wayward pass before racing clear to fire past McAtamney in the Tir na nOg goals.

Thomas Morgan quickly added a point but the visitors ended a 19 minute scoreless spell as they created an opening and Barry McCormick finished low to the net.

Josh Higgins had an opportunity to add a second for the Whitehill side but shot tamely with Richard Gowdy well placed to gather the ball on his own goal line before executing his clearance.

The sides exchanged late points through Thomas Morgan and Caoimhin Duffin as Rossa led 1-4 to 1-2 after a fairly dull opening half.

Tir na nOg went looking for the opening score of the second half as they moved the ball around patiently but coughed up possession with Gerard Walsh’s long delivery finding Dominic McEnhill who outpaced Brandon McLarnon before firing to the net for his second major.

McEnhill quickly added a point as a bit of space began to open up and then Stephen Beatty intercepted a wayward kick-out from Sean Paul McAtamney before returning the ball to the net in the 40^th minute.

Even at this stage it looked over but Josh Higgins finally got Tír na nÓg’s opening score of the second period with 43 played, but McEnhill replied immediately.

McGettigan, Beatty and substitute Corey Walsh added late scores for the O’Donovan’s with two points in replyfrom Aaron McNeill all the visitors could muster.

Rossa rounded off with another two from McEnhill to seal a good win and, depending on Sunday’s result at Corrigan, could find themselves in a winner takes all encounter in their final game against St. John’s.

Rossa: M Byrne; P Moyes, G Walsh, C Orchin; A Devlin, C McGettigan (0-2), N Crossan; E McMenamin, O McVicker; R Grant, T Morgan (0-2), C McDonald; D Rogan, D McEnhill (2-4, 0-1f), S Beatty (1-1).

Subs: R Gowdy for G Walsh (temporary 25-30+2), R Gowdy for E McMenamin (30+2), C Walsh (0-1) for D Rogan (43), R Murray for R Grant (51), C Fleming for S Beatty (55), M McEnhill for G Walsh (55).

Tir na nOg: SP McAtamney; B McLarnon, C McGrellis, R Crilly; P McCloskey, B McCormick (1-0), C Duffin (0-1); D Fegan (0-1, J Higgins (0-1); C Sheerin, C O’Neill, E Murray; A McNeilly (0-2, 1f), A Tolan, D Martin.

Subs: C Og McAllister for C Sheerin (17), O McAtamney for E Murray (48), S Duffin for D Martin (48), S McKeown for C Duffin (50).

Referee: Paddy Tumelty (Lámh Dhearg)