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by thesaffrongael

St Louis Ballymena Keep Knockout Hopes Alive with Historic Win

Danske Bank D’Alton Cup Schools Football

St Louis Ballymena 3-09 St Patrick’s Cavan 3-04

St Louis Ballymena kept their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the D’Alton Cup alive with a hard-fought 3-9 to 3-4 victory over St Patrick’s Cavan in Garvaghey, Tyrone.

It marks a historic first-ever win for the school in the Grade A football competition, though it didn’t look likely in the opening stages. A wind-assisted Cavan side stormed into an early nine-point lead, registering 2-3 without reply in a dominant first-quarter display.

However, St Louis gradually found their rhythm. Nicholas McCrory, Conan McKeever and Cayden McGuckian began to assert control around the middle, turning the tide of the contest. Their efforts helped reduce the deficit to three points by half-time.

After keeping St Patrick’s scoreless for the remainder of the half, the St Louis forwards began to click. McKeever struck three points, Ronan Laverty added two, and Oisin Anyalechi had the final say of the half, leaving the score at 2-3 to 0-6 in favour of the Cavan side at the break.

The second half belonged to the Antrim men. Picking up where they left off, St Louis surged ahead with goals from Alfie Gordon and Kiran Jayaprakash, sandwiched between another brace of McKeever points to open up a five-point lead.

St Patrick’s responded with a late goal to narrow the gap to two, setting up a tense finish. But the Cullybackey Road side held their nerve, and a third green flag from McKeever sealed a deserved 3-9 to 3-4 victory.

Next up is St Michael’s Enniskillen on Tuesday nexxt — a huge opportunity for St Louis to reach the playoffs for the first time in the school’s history.

ST LOUIS

PJ Marron
Charlie OBrien
Lir Hodkinson
Lir Hamill
Mark Kirby
Joseph Killough
Nicholas McCrory
Conan McKeever
Cayden McGuckian
Oisin Martin
Oisin Anyalechi
Ronan Laverty
Alfie Gordon
Odhran Cassidy
Aidan Scullion

Subs Used
Kiran Jayaprakash
Cahan OKane

Subs
Connlaodh Clarke
Jack Curry
Daithi Diamond
Luca McCamphill
Oliver McCarroll
Matthew McQuillan

Scorers
Conan McKeever 1-5
Kiran Jayaprakash 1-1
Alfie Gordon 1-0
Ronan Laverty 0-2
Oisin Anyalechi 0-1

by thesaffrongael

Cross and Passion College beat St Louis in Year 8 Gaelfast final

Cross & Passion Ballycastle collected the Gaelfast Year 8 Hurling Cup when they beat St Louis Ballymena in Wednesday’s final at Woodlands, Belfast

St Louis started the brighter of the two sides, with Oscar Bradley leading the way and registering some excellent scores — most notably a superb long-range point from a free near the sideline. St Louis settled quickly, with Conor Delargy, Daniel McAtamney and Conn Óg McErlaine creating some impressive passages of play. CPC were forced to call upon their goalkeeper, Cian O’Mullan, to make a number of important saves to keep the game tight in the opening stages.

Cross and Passion responded well, with wing forward Archie Neil and centre half forward Conall Devlin leading the charge. Neil provided the turning point of the half when he delivered a superb pass into full forward Michael Johnson, who finished clinically to the net and raise the green flag to settle CPC’s nerves.

Both teams continued to battle fiercely for the next five minutes, but CPC’s defence and midfield began to assert control, with Brendan Murtagh and Joe McSparron repeatedly turning defence into attack. The full forward line of Michael Johnson and Eoghan McIntyre began to add to the tally, helping CPC build a three-goal lead by half-time. Thanks to the efforts of St Louis goalkeeper Aaron Johnson, along with half-backs Luca McCollum and Charlie Herald, the deficit could have been even greater.

CPC emerged for the second half determined to press home their advantage and dominated proceedings. Influential performances from Brendan Murtagh, Conall Devlin and Joe McSparron ensured a steady flow of goals and points, confirming Cross and Passion College as worthy Antrim Schools Cup champions.

Overall, CPC ran out comfortable winners, but it was encouraging to see two teams battling for every ball, tackling fiercely and demonstrating impressive levels of skill and work rate throughout. To their credit, St Louis fought until the final whistle, with Oscar Bradley continuing to lead by example.

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by thesaffrongael

Strong second half comeback sees Kilrea win comfortably

Ulster Football League Division 1

Group D Round 3

All Saints 2-12 Kilrea 4-13

Kilrea staged a strong finish to sweep aside the challenge of All Saints in a free scoring Ulster League encounter at a floodlit Quinn Park on Wednesday night.

Both sides were understrength for this final Group D encounter with the Derry men worst affected with a host of first choice regulars absent but when they introduced their big guns during the second half the floodgates opened.

It was the Ballymena side who made all the first half running and despite missing a host of chances they looked on their way to victory when they led 2-6 to 2-1 at the break.

Indeed the home side dominated the opening exchanges with Jack Patterson and Darrach Bradley their goal scorers but Diarmuid Bradley’s goal for the visitors late in the half kept Kilrea in touch.

Their opening goal had come from Daniel Madden, both splendid individual efforts, but Baker Bradley would have been reasonably happy with his side at the break though the amount of chances they had missed would surely have given him some concern.

All those concerns seemed to have been unfounded when Darrach Bradley kicked the first three points of the second half with only four minutes gone and when Sean O’Callaghan added another, the home side were 8 ahead.

Their Achilles heel was exposed again as Cathaoir Bradley netted for Kilrea in their first attack of the second half and suddenly the visitors had found another gear.

A superb exhibition of long range shooting saw Cathaoir Bradley, and Paddy Quinn raising a series of Orange flags and when Quinn weighed in with their fourth goal it was all over.

A good workout for both sides with Cathaoir Bradley, Paddy Quinn, Ryan Oliver, Darmuid Bradley, Daniel Madden and Louis McCormick in sparkling form for a Kilrea side who can still qualify for the knockout stages.

James McDonnell, Darrach Bradley, Ciaran Campbell, Sean O’Brien and Michael Read were best for an All Saints side who started well but faded as the game progressed.

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by thesaffrongael

Antrim young guns beat Derry in Ulster Minor Hurling Cup

Ulster Minor Hurling Championship

Derry 1-13 Antrim 3-19

At Owenbeg

Antrim produced a commanding performance at the Derry Centre of Excellence in Owenbeg to book their place in the Ulster Minor Hurling Cup final against Wicklow, defeating the hosts on a scoreline of 3-19 to 1-13. Despite playing against the wind in the second half, the Saffrons (who are made up of the Under 16 Development squad) showed their quality with a clinical display of finishing, particularly from full-forward Joe Casey and a high-impact bench.

With wind assistance in the first half, Antrim made a lightning start. Connlaodh McNaughton opened the scoring after just ten seconds, followed quickly by a point from Jude Gamble in the first minute. Although Karl Friel responded with a point for Derry on two minutes, Antrim hit a devastating purple patch shortly after. In a blistering thirty-second spell around the tenth minute, Antrim rattled off 1-02, including a goal from Joe Casey and another point from McNaughton, putting them firmly in the driving seat early on.

Derry settled as the half progressed, with their number ten, Callum McLaughlin, finding his range from frees. Antrim kept the scoreboard ticking over with a long-range effort from midfielder Gerard Delaney, but Derry began to find gaps in the defense. Peadar Kelly pointed well after a solo run, and a goal from Callum McLaughlin helped the Oak Leaf county drag themselves back into contention. By the halftime whistle, Antrim held a five-point lead, going in 1-10 to 1-05 ahead.

With the wind at their backs for the second half, Derry would have fancied their chances of overturning the deficit. However, Antrim extinguished those hopes almost immediately. Joe Casey remained in fine form, hitting the first score of the half in the opening minute, followed by a point from Cody McGarry. When Casey pointed again in the fourth minute following good approach work by McNaughton, Antrim had stretched their lead to eight points, effectively killing Derry’s momentum before it could build.

Derry continued to battle, relying heavily on the excellent free-taking of Callum McLaughlin, who slotted over a series of placed balls, including a superb effort from the sideline. However, Antrim’s attack remained potent. Good movement created an opening for Joe Casey to blast home his second goal of the game, cementing Antrim’s grip on the tie.

As the game entered the final quarter, Antrim’s substitutes made a significant impact, highlighting the depth of their squad. In the 19th minute, a flowing move involving four players ended with substitute Cillian Cunning firing home a great goal just minutes after entering the fray. Fellow substitute and Dunloy clubmate Ronan Elliott also impressed, scoring two excellent points shortly after his introduction, while Damian Laverty also chipped in with a fine score. Despite late resistance from Derry, Antrim ran out comfortable 12-point winners, finishing 3-19 to 1-13 to set up a decider with Wicklow this weekend.

Antrim –

1 Aidan Johnston, 2 Matthew O’Neill, 3 Oran Baudant, 4 Cormac Bailey, 5 Seàn Cunningham, 6 Lorcan Murtagh, 7 Lorcan Martin, 8 Cahir McErlean, 9 Gerard Delaney, 10 Jude Gamble, 11 Connlaodh McNaughton, 12 Cahir McCloskey, 13 Cody McGarry, 14 Joe Casey, 15 Rian Laverty, 16 Sean Vasille, 17 Ruairi McIlhatton, 19 Cillain Carabine, 20 Damian Laverty, 21 Daire Rainey, 22 Cillian Cunning, 23 Conan Digney 24 Ronan Elliott.

Derry

1 Pádraig Campbell, 2 Cathal Duggan, 3 Ben Douglas, 4 Pearse Murphy, 5 Odhran Clark, 6 Conor McCloskey, 7 Anton Farren, 8 Conan Gillan, 9 Cormac O’Kane, 10 Callum McLaughlin, 11 Eoin McGuigan, 12 Eoghan Murray, 13 Peadar Kelly, 14 Karl Friel, 15 Davin Hassan, 16 Ciaran Crawford, 17 Killian Doyle-Kennedy, 18 Fionn Connery, 19 Ryan McKenna, 20 Cody McCullagh, 21 Sean O’Neill, 22 Ben Haran, 23 Cathair Mullan, 24 James Óg O’Kane, 25 Ruairi Haran, 26 Johnny McKenna, 27 Dara Cassidy, 28 Shea Kearney, 29 Eoghan Smith 30 Liam O’Kane.

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