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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).

by thesaffrongael

Good away win for promoted Dunloy

ACFL Division 1

St. John’s 1-15 Dunloy 1-18

Dunloy picked up their first win of the season in an entertaining game against St Johns in Corrigan Park. With both teams missing players due to county representation, it was a good opportunity for management to test their squads, and the players didn’t disappoint with some high-quality play and great scores throughout the game.

The Cuchullains had the breeze at their backs in the first half but failed to take advantage as the teams traded early scores with St Johns going into a 0.5 to 0.4 lead. Dunloy got the breakthrough on 15 minutes, however, when Deaghlan Smith forced a turnover deep in the St Johns defence before feeding Kevin McQuillan, who finished to the net.

James Scally and Barry McCloskey also popped up with 2-pointers and Dunloy looked like they were making the breeze count. Their joy would be short lived however as back came St Johns, driven by some excellent fielding by Ryan McNulty the Corrigan men worked the ball up the pitch with the ball eventually finding its way to the Dunloy net.

The teams traded further points and went in at half time with a score of St Johns 1.09, Dunloy 1.11. St Johns came out in the second half and looked like they were going to make the breeze count as an excellent 2-pointer in the opening minute wiped out Dunloy’s first half lead.

They followed this up with further points and the task looked like it was going to be a tough one for Dunloy. The Cuchullains though, found a purple patch of their own before the teams traded further scores and were tied at 1.15 each going into the final 10 minutes.

Dunloy would go on to finish stronger on this occasion with Deaghlan Smith and Tom McFerran adding 3 unanswered points going down the stretch, helping their team earn a victory on a scoreline of St Johns 1.15 Dunloy 1.18.

A good game with plenty of positives for each side. Both teams will now turn their attention to the small ball for the upcoming week. In round 3 of the Football League on Sunday 6th of April St Johns will make the short trip to St Brigids, whilst Dunloy host Creggan.

by thesaffrongael

Second half goals swing it Rossa’s way

ACFL Division 1

O’Donovan Rossa 3-15 Ahoghill 0-17

Two second half goals from Diarmaid Rogan and another from Conor O’Neill swung this division 1 game firmly in favour of O’Donovan Rossa when they overcame the challenge of St. Mary’s Ahoghill on the Shaw’s Road on Sunday.

The first arrived 19 minutes into the new half at a time when a Ronan Graham point had just brought the visitors back on level terms before James O’Connell edged them ahead and the game seemed to be swinging Ahoghill’s way.

Rogan’s goal gave Rossa back the lead but the game was still finally balanced with only minutes remaining when Conor O’Neill and Rogan again struck with late majors to secure a first win of the season for the Rossa.

The opening half was evenly balanced with Rossa taking a narrow 0-8 to 0-7 lead into the break with Conal McDonald leading the way with 0-4 and Eoghan McMeanman 0-2 and Michael McEnhill on target.

St. Mary’s scores came from James O’Connell 0-2, Noel Crossey 0-2, Neil O’Connell and Patrick Graham and at the half way stage there was little to separate the protagonists.

It remained nip and tuck for most of the second half with James O’Connell striking four points and Neil O’Connell, Ronan Graham and Patrick Graham bring Ahoghill’s total to 0-17 by the 29th minute.

Rossa continued to rack up points of their own however with Conal McDonald bringing his total for the evening to 0-8 and Stephen Beatty scoring three before that late goal blitz that ended the St. Mary’s challenge.

Rossa: 1 Niall Crossan, 2 Ciaran Orchin, 3 Gavin McGrath, 4 Adam Devlin, 5 Tiarnan Murphy, 6 Patrick Moyes, 7 Fiachra McDonnell, 8 Stephen Beatty, 10 Diarmaid Rogan, 11 Conal McDonald, 12 Michael McEnhill, 13 Darren Grego, 14 Eoghan McMeanman, 15 James Aughey, 16 Dairte Morgan. 25 Conor O’Neill

St. Mary’s Ahoghill: 1 Aiden Graham, 2 Harry O’Donnell, 3 Patrick Dougan, , 4 Seamus McKeever, 5 Fionnbar O’Neill, 6 Diarmuid Graham, 7 James Magee, 8 Patrick Graham, 9 Ronan Graham, 10 James O’Connell, 11 Noel Crossey, 12 Dan O’Neill, 13 Colla McDonnell, 14 Neil O’Connell, 15 Conor Crossey

by thesaffrongael

Cushendall book McAuley Cup final place

McAuley Cup semi-final in Armoy

Cushendall 3-17 Loughgiel 0-18

Cushendall booked their place in the final of the McAuley Cup at Armoy on Sunday with an eight point semi-final win over Loughgiel.

Both teams were short a good few regulars but they still produced a high scoring and entertaining game. Loughgiel went ahead in the early stages with points from Rian McMullan and Conor Deery but when Sea McAfee put Cushendall ahead with a goal in the third minute they held the upper hand for much of the game. Rian McMullan was picking off the points for the Shamrocks, with Enda Og McGarry and Conor O’Mullan adding to the tally but a second goal for the Ruairis by corner forward Ciaran Neeson and points from Padraig McKillop, Paddy Sharpe and Dan Delargy helped them to a 2-08 to 0-10 lead by half time.

Delargy increased Cushendall’s lead six minutes into the second half to push the gap out to five, but Loughgiel stayed in touch with good scores from ‘Bubbles’ McMullan (2) and Eoin McGarry (2). Half way through that second period the veteran Paddy McGill, who had been introduced at half time, started to make his prescence felt and two points inside a minute gave the Ruairis a bit more breathing space.

The Shamrocks got themselves back into contention when they hit four points without reply, two from Bubbles and one each Eoin McGarry and Donal McKinley, but Cushendall finished strongly and after McGill got another point, Padraig McKillop and Fergus McCambridge did likewise before Paddy Sharpe put the icing on the cake with an injury time goal

TO SEE MORE OF SEAN PAUL’S PICS FROM THIS GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

https://myalbum.com/album/VSb2STRXyYBZ3M/?invite=799c83ed-5076-4e23-9225-48fb2f5f310b

by thesaffrongael

St Galls maintain winning ways

Antrim Football League Division 1

Con Magees Glenravel 0-11 St Gall’s 1-20

St Galls continued their unbeaten run in Division 1 of All County league when they put Glenravel to the sword in Fr Maginn  Park on Sunday with a convincing 1-20 to 0-11 win.  Both sides fielded teams depleted due to county commitments at senior and U20 level but with one game already under their belt the Belfast men proved too strong for Glenravel for whom this was their opening  game of the season.  Ahead by eight points at the halfway mark  St Galls were never going to be caught and were good value for their twelve point winning margin.

Slack play in the home team defence gifted St Galls a goal chance when  centre half forward Brendan Bradley fisted across goals and his colleague Niall O’Neill fired home from short range to give the visitors the perfect start. Marty Murray followed up shortly after before Daniel McQuillan put over for Glenravel with seven minutes gone but that would prove to be their only score of the opening quarter whilst their opposition tagged on another three points from Daniel Quinn, Colm Walsh and the very impressive Barry McCaffrey to leave St Galls ahead 1-04 to 0-01. Aiden O’Donnell slotted over a free to double the Glensmen’s score but McCaffrey and Quinn again stretched the St Galls lead. Fergus Donaghy popped up for a  good score for Glenravel but back came the city men with three unanswered points off the boots of Brendan Bradley and Barry McCaffrey.  Sean McKay and Aiden O’Donnell added for Glenravel between which Barry McCaffrey popped up with a nice score to give his side a convincing half time lead of 1-10 to 0-05.

Glenravel needed a good start to the second half and Captain Rian Lennon produced that with two well taken scores and when Aiden O’Donnell’s free went over it reduced the gap to six points but then St Galls wrestled control of the game back and recorded four unanswered points from McCaffrey, Daniel Quinn, Marty Murray and Ruari Wilson to stretch their lead to ten points by the end of the third quarter  and effectively seal the game. Both teams traded scores to the end of the game but as a contest it had fizzled out long before referee Richard Leahy called time. 

Next up for Con Magees is a tough away encounter with Ahoghill on Thursday Apr 3rd at 7:30pm whilst St Galls need to wait a few more days to Sunday April 6th at 2pm to face Aghagallon at home at the Bog Meadows. 

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

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