Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship
Aghagallon 3-10 Portglenone 0-18 AET; Cargin 0-13 Creggan 0-12 AET
For the fourth year in succession Portglenone have fallen at the penultimate hurdle. Their semi-final hoodoo continues as Aghagallon repeated their 2021 win over Casement’s in extra-time in Dunsilly on Sunday evening.
Of all their defeats in recent years, this one will surely sting the most. They had one foot in the Antrim SFC final both in normal time and again in extra-time. They led by five points with 57 minutes gone and were three ahead in the second period of extra-time.
Aghagallon’s ability to plunder goals at crucial times proved vital for St Mary’s with Ruairi McCann possibly getting the final touch on a long delivery from Eunan Walsh to kick-start the revival.
Read more: GAA players swapping jerseys is an 'insult' says legendary ex-Armagh boss Joe Kernan
Adam Loughram and Gareth Magee (free) landed late scores to bring the game to extra-time.
Again, Portglenone looked to have done enough to secure a coveted place in the decider and were 0-18 to 2-9 clear in the second period of extra-time despite McCann’s second goal.
With time seemingly up, Magee converted a free to trim the gap to two.
Yet, there was still time for more drama to unfold as St Mary’s worked the ball into the danger zone and found Loughran in space. Somehow, through a wall of Portglenone defenders, the Aghagallon attacker pulled the trigger and unleashed a shot low into the corner of Ryan O’Neill’s net.
Portglenone will wonder what they have to do to get over the line in a semi-final, but credit most go to Aghagallon for the resolve they showed, especially when reduced to 14 players following Aidan Mulholland’s red card midway through the second period of extra-time.
Audi Kelly’s men were outplayed for the majority of the first half and were 0-8 to 0-4 behind at half-time with Paddy Kelly and Oisin Doherty proving a handful while Dermot McAleese and Ryan Convery’s runs from deep had Aghagallon on the backfoot.
Indeed, McAleese moved Casement’s five clear on the restart while St Mary’s lost Padraig Gowdy for 10 minutes after the wing-back picked up a black card for a third-man challenge.
A fine score from Eunan Walsh was followed by another Magee free as Aghagallon kept themselves within touching distance.
However, when Niall McKeever powered through on goal, he opted to fist the ball over the bar rather than shoot for a goal which would have killed off last year’s county finalists.
The gap was five points rather than seven - the door was still ajar.
Walsh clipped over an inspirational point before dropping another shot into Ruairi McCann at full-forward.
McCann threw a fist at the ball as Portglenone scrambled to clear the danger, but the ball ended up in the net. Game on.
After points from Loughran and Magee to force extra-time, all the momentum was with St Mary’s.
With words of encouragement from John McKeever still ringing in their ears, Portglenone rallied once more and Doherty and Ronan Kelly (free) raised white flags, but they were behind for the first time in the contest when Loughran and Walsh linked up to set up McCann for another goal six minutes into extra-time.
Back came Casement’s with points from Paddy Kelly (free), Doherty and Ronan Kelly (free) while Aghagallon lost Mulholland to a red card for an off-the-ball incident.
Paddy Kelly and Magee exchanged frees as the game moved into stoppage time at the end of normal time and all eyes were on referee Sean Laverty.
There was time for one more attack from each side. Loughran plundered a stunning goal for Aghagallon to retake the lead and Portglenone couldn’t reply.
St Mary’s will get the chance to go one better in the Antrim final next month. Portglenone will have to wait another year for their shot at redemption.
On Saturday night, 2021 champions Creggan were knocked out by neighbours Cargin after extra-time at Dunsilly.
Tomas McCann landed the last-gasp winner for the Toome men, but they’ll be sweating on the availability of Pat Shivers after he picked up a late red card.
Leading 0-5 to 0-2 at half-time, Cargin extended their lead to four on the restart via Michael McCann, but they wouldn’t add to their tally for another 20 minutes as the Kickhams found their way back into the contest.
Liam Quinn and Ruairi McCann helped Creggan level the contest midway through the second half before McCann nudged his side into the lead for the first time.
Cargin’s Paul McCann picked up a black card as Creggan moved two ahead inside the final 10 minutes, but Gerard McCann and a mark from Shivers brought the game to extra-time.
However, Shivers would play no part in extra-time after being sent off , but the 14-men got the job done with Tomas McCann scoring what proved to be the winning point for Ronan Devlin’s men.
Aghagallon scorers: Ruairi McCann 2-1, Gareth Magee 0-5 (0-4fs), Adam Loughran 1-1, Eunan Walsh 0-2, Padraig Gowdy 0-1.
Portglenone scorers: Paddy Kelly 0-7 (0-5fs), Oisin Doherty 0-3, Michael Hagan 0-2 (0-2fs), Ronan Kelly 0-2 (0-2fs), Niall Delargy 0-1, Niall McKeever 0-1, Dermot McAleese 0-1, Caolan Tierney 0-1.
Cargin scorers: Pat Shivers 0-3 (0-1f, 0-1m), Tomas McCann 0-3 (0-2fs), John McNabb 0-3 (0-2 45, 0-1f), Mick McCann 0-2 (0-2fs), Gerard McCann 0-1, Ciaran Bradley 0-1.
Creggan scorers: Ruairi McCann 0-5 (0-4fs), Liam Quinn 0-2 (0-1m), Marty Johnston 0-1, Kealan McCann 0-1, Tiarnan McAteer 0-1, Conor McCann 0-1, Matthew Rodgers 0-1.
READ NEXT:
- Dromore vs Killyclogher RECAP as holders progress to the Tyrone SFC quarter-final
- Oisin McConville not convinced by new Mayo GAA management set-up
- Glen boss Malachy O’Rourke provides fitness update on Emmet Bradley
Magherafelt must improve after Kilrea scare insists Brian McGuckin
Eddie McCloskey still hungry for more silverware with Loughgiel
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.
