The Cushendall-Glenariffe combination side Gael na Glinnti won the Antrim Under 14 Shield on Sunday when they beat St Paul’s in the final at Corrigan Park.
Ruairi McQuillan opened the scoring for the boys from the Glens with a pointed free in the 2nd minute and Conor Delargy added a goal two minutes later. Daire Gault pulled a point back for St Paul’s, but McQuillan and James McNulty came back with two more for the Gaels to go five clear by the 12th minute. St Paul’s kept in touch with three more points and a goal from Daire Gault, but Gael na Glinnti pushed on to lead by 2-03 to 1-03 at the break, their second goal coming from Lorcan McNaughton.
Oliver Mooney stretched Gael na Glinnti’s lead in the opening minute of the second half but two from Lewis Hardy kept the Belfast boys in the game. However Gael na Glinti finished the game strongly and a goal from centre back Ryan Robin on forty minutes proved a killer blow. Two more points from Lorcan McNaughton pulled them well clear before Tiernan McKeegan put a bit of gloss on the victory when he kicked home goal number four near the end.
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St.Patrick’s Donagh (Fermanagh) v St. Agnes (Antrim)
St Agnes make the trip to Enniskillen this Saturday in the first round of the Ulster Junior Football club championship where they will face Fermanagh champions, St. Patrick’s Donagh.
The Aggies have been in splendid form this season and completed a league and championship double when they beat Pearses in the Graham Tarmac JFC decider two weeks ago.
St Agnes’ clinched the Antrim Junior Football Championship for the first time in the club’s history with a 1-14-0-09 win over Pearses in the decider at Davitt Park.
Ahead 0-8-0-5 at the interval, an early second half goal from David McGaharan gave his side the platform to kick on for victory after the disappointment of losing last year’s decider to St Comgall’s.
It’s been a great season for the Belfast club who won 12 of their 14 games to top division 3 and earn a place in division 2 next season and they went on to top Group 1 of the Junior Championship unbeaten with wins over Ardoyne, O’Donnell’s and St. Malachy’s to earn a semi-final meeting with Eire Og.
They won that one at Woodlands by 1-18 to 1-11 to earn a place in the final against an improving Na Piarsaigh where they finished 8 points winners to qualify for Saturday’s meeting with St. Patrick’s Donagh at Brewster Park.
Paddy CarrollConall Turley
Paddy Carroll and Conall Turley have been selected on the Antrim All Stars team for this year while Colum Carroll, Caoimhin Floyd, Cormac Flannery, Dan Turley, David McGaharan, Shea Madden and Ronan Gilligan will spearhead the Aggies challenge in County Fermanagh.
The Antrim champions face stiff opposition in the form of St. Patrick’s Donagh who defeated Newtownbutler in a tight Fermanagh final which was in the balance right to the final whistle.
The game had everything – Super scores hard challenges and two teams that refused to accept defeat.
The St. Patrick’s Donagh challenge will be spearheaded by Eamon Maguire (43), who gave a display for the ages which recalled his heroics in that great summer of 2004 when he and Mark Little of Lisnaskea dazzled Armagh in Croke Park as Fermanagh reached its first ever All-Ireland senior football semi-final.
Donagh showed character, courage, and heart in spades to come back from an early five-point blitz from a physically imposing Newtown side.
But they hit back with a great two-pointer from Cameron McBrien, and a superb solo goal from the lively Tiernan Wray brought St. Patrick’s right back into the picture.
Fermanagh Champions, St. Patrick’s Donagh
Newtownbutler led by 1-9 to 1-7 at the break and by 1-10 to 1-7 on the resumption but two superbly finished goals from Brian McDermott and Jimmy Tormey in the space of four minutes gave Donagh the momentum to press on and take their first county title since 2021.
The record for Antrim clubs in this competition isn’t good though Naomh Comhghall came mighty close to causing an upset against the Donegal champions, St. Patrick’s Muff in Letterkeny last year.
A big crowd is likely to accompany the Woodlands side to Enniskillen on Saturday and a confident St. Agnes will feel they can buck the trend of first round losers in this competition and if they are at their best then they are capable of beating St. Patrick’s Donagh and advance to the next round.
The ICC in Belfast was the venue for this year’s packed Irish News Ulster All Stars awards. Neil Delamere was the MC for the evening and after a three course meal, attendees were treated to a panel discussion from Oisín McConville, Kevin Cassidy and Peter Canavan, ranging from who slept with who to the adoption and success of the new rules in football.
Antrim were well represented with nominees and awards across the four codes. All Star Awards on the evening went to the following players; congratulations from everyone at the Saffron Gael:
Cargin defied the weather and the challenge of the men from Crumlin to claim a place in the next round of the under-21 football championship when they proved too strong for the visiting Aldergrove in a one sided affair in Toome on Sunday.
The home side, under the guidance of Tomas McCann, Justin Crozier, and Kevin Mc Shane entered this one as firm favourites and were quickly into their stride.
Tom Shivers and Charlie McCann proved dominant in the central zone from the outset and the former helped himself to several scores in the early stages and such dominance ensured a 0-14 to 0-1 lead at the halfway stage.
A couple of early scores in the second period including a converted penalty from Chris Campbell offered hope to the visitors but the home side were quick to respond with Cillian Scullion converting a penalty and Cargin had gone well clear by the final whistle.
The Erin’s Own lads, with a number of players who had been part of the ill-fated senior championship panel on duty, started as firm favourites and were quickly on their way, despite facing a cold northerly breeze in the first period they soon gave employment to those on umpire duty.
The irrepressible Jack O’ Neill split the posts after a couple of minutes and Ben McLarnon was quick to follow suit with a couple of white flags raised by the 6th minute.
A Fiontan Hardy clearance opened the door for Jack Harney to raise a further white flag before Cillian Kennedy pulled the trigger from away out on the right wing to add another and the home side were 0-06 to 0-00 ahead a couple of minutes later when Tom Shivers sent a free between the posts,
The visitors were rewarded for their labours as the game passed the half way juncture with wing half back Cormac Morris answering the call when he despatched a 35metre free between the posts in the 17th minute.
This score failed to inspire his colleagues however and the home side returned to the positive to add a further supply of scores in a dominant ten minutes with Tom Shivers, Ben Mc Larnon, and Caomhin Kennedy raising white flags apiece in as many minutes.
Cargin continued to dominate and Cillian Scullion, Jack Harney, and a two pointer from Tom Shivers, his second of the afternoon, ensured a 0-14 to 0-01 lead for the home side at half time.
Erin’s Own started the second half as they had finished the first and Jack O’ Neill split the posts in the 32nd minute.
The St James men looked in serious trouble but an excellent approach and finish by mid fielder Delany raised their second white flag of the afternoon.
Delaney’s score brought an immediate reply from the home side when Hugh O’ Donnell pointed at the other end a couple of minutes later.
The visitors kept battling against what looked impossible odds and after Cormac Morris sent a free between the posts they were awarded a penalty after Ronan Aiken was adjudged to have been fouled inside the area and Colan Hanna duly delivered the award to the back of the net.
Although still well in arrears of their hosts on the score board Aldergrove had been handed a lifeline but that hope was soon to be dashed as the home side resumed control.
Cargin dominated the closing stages and points from the impressive Jack O’ Neill and another from Cillian Scullion and a goal from the same player put the contest out of sight and sent Cargin trough to a quarter-final meeting with St. Brigid’s next weekend.
Cargin: S Laverty, Fiontan Hardy, Cahir Donnelly, Cahir O’ Boyle, Callum Gribbin, Ben Mc Larnon (0-03), Jack O’ Neill (0-04), Charlie Mc Cann (0-01), Tom Shivers (0-6), Hugh O’ Donnell, Jack Harney (0-03), C Kennedy (0-01), Cillian Scullion (0-03), Diarmuid Quinn (0-01)
Subs
Dara Mc Auley
Niall Quinn
Jack Meatchick
Aldergrove:David Mc Cutchen, Jamie Scallan, C Lagan, Adam Mageda, Cormac Morris (0-03) Liam Magee, Shea Cormon, Luke Delaney (0-01), Aiden Erwin, Dara Maguire, Adam Conway, Jude Keenan, Fionbar Murbans, Jude Keenan, Liam Mc Carry, Ronan Aiken
Goals proved the difference between these two sides at Quinn Park in Ballymena on Sunday with All Saints trailing by two points at the break despite conceding two bad majors to Kickham’s Creggan during a first half where they failed to take advantage of their wind advantage.
It was the home side who were first on target when Paidin Mitchell pointed a 2nd minute free but that lead was short lived as Sean Daly advanced along the by-line through a porous home defence to set up Shea McCann for the game’s opening goal in the 5th minute.
Both sides were finding scores hard to come by though a Darrach Bradley pointed free for the Ballymena side reduced the gap to the minimum with 13 minutes gone but All Saints were defending too deep and inviting the opposition on.
Kickham’s were much more direct in their approach and Finn Connon in the All Saints goals pulled off a smart save to deny Sean Daly but was then forced to watch in despair as a Shea McCann ‘45’ sailed directly to his net.
The home side attempted to respond but Conan McKeown’s attempt at goal was wide of the target before Darrach Bradley pointed a couple of frees to leave it 2-0 to 0-4 for the visitors at the end of a low scoring opening half.
Bradley pointed within 30 seconds of the restart to leave just one between the sides but All Saints were punished for a breach of the 3-Up rule and McCann converted the resulting free.
A point from a free by Darrach Bradley and another converted free from the same player had it all square at 0-7 to 2-1 by the 6th minute and it looked like we were in for a tight second half but All Saints would not score for the remainder of the contest as the visitors took control.
Finn Connon came to his side’s rescue with a good save from Aidan McIlwee with the impressive Shea McCann pointing the resulting ‘45’ to give his side back the lead and it was a lead they would build on as he game progressed.
Eunan Johnston got in for a third goal for the visitors as the home defence got themselves in a tangle and McCann followed with a point before the home side lost a player to a second yellow card.
The Kickham’s pressed home their advantage going down the home straight with Fintan Close, Sean Daly and Shea McCann tagging on late points to see them safely through to a meeting with Dunloy in the quarter-finals next weekend.
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