Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup Section B:
Antrim 3-12 St Mary’s UC 2-16
A FREE in the final moments of normal time from man-of-the-match Oisín O’Neill saw St Mary’s claim the points over Antrim in this Dr McKenna Cup Section B opener in Glenavy.
Most, if not all, observers actually had St Mary’s winning by two, but the referee’s score tally had Antrim with one point more and it took that free in the final minute of normal time to secure a deserved victory for Paddy Tally’s Ranch outfit who looked much slicker in attack and showed their mettle by securing the victory despite seeing a six-point lead wiped out within the space of a minute with 10 to play.
“We really focused hard on winning this match today and at times I thought we looked fairly comfortable and then at other times we let Antrim back into the match,” said Tally.
“I think we were six up and had a goal chance but lost the ball and, fair play to Antrim, they hit two goals in a very short space of time, but we are happy with the win. The two points are the most important thing because we know all of these games are going to get tougher as we go. We know next week’s match [against Fermanagh] is going to be harder again, but today it’s just good to get the win.”
The students raced into an early 0-4 to 0-1 lead with O’Neill to the fore against an Antrim side that featured seven debutants from the start. Antrim pulled level on 25 minutes thanks to scores from Ryan Murray, Creggan’s Ruairi McCann and corner-back Conor Hamill, but from the restart St Mary’s hit the first goal as Conor Meyler initiated and finished a flowing move as he swapped passes with Darragh Kavanagh and Niall Toner before palming to the net.
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The west Belfast college hit the next three points to go six clear, but Antrim grabbed a lifeline as a Murray goal on the stroke of half-time left it 1-7 to 1-4 in favour of St Mary’s. The second period exploded into life from the start with the scores flowing at both ends as Murray kicked some excellent points and substitute Stephen Beatty began to influence matters around the middle.
However, St Mary’s grabbed the initiative on 41 minutes when O’Neill fired to the net after Darragh Kavanagh’s half-blocked shot spun into his path. They always were able to respond to anything Antrim hit them with and they led by six on 58 minutes - 2-13 to 1-10 - before Antrim stormed back into the game with two goals in a minute to level.
First, Kevin Niblock took a free from a mark and pumped a long ball in that bounced into the path of Creggan’s Ruairí McCann who finished neatly. From the restart, Antrim gained possession and Niblock was through one-on one but was taken down by goalkeeper Mark Reid, whose foul resulted in a black card and penalty that Tomás McCann blasted home.
However, it was St Mary’s who finished stronger and a score from substitute Joe Colton, with his first touch, and O’Neill’s free secured the win for Tally’s men as Antrim finished with 14 players after one of their debutants, Michael Johnston, was flashed a second yellow card deep into stoppage-time.
“There were eight or nine lads making their debuts,” said Antrim’s joint-manager Frank Fitzsimons.
“You saw that in the second-half with Tomás [McCann] coming in too - he’s been very busy himself and we have only seen him in the last few weeks. Okay, we could have got a draw in the end, but you can’t try out eight or nine players and expect them to show that experience. We’d have been happier with the win, but we’re happy enough with the performance of 95 per cent of them.
“People also forget that is a very strong St Mary’s side and four of five of those Tyrone lads have Ulster Championship medals. Hopefully we can improve next week against Monaghan. If we can by five or 10 per cent we’ll be happy enough.”
The character St Mary’s showed to respond to Antrim’s goals pleasing their manager: “The positive thing is that when they got the penalty to level, that was the time to see if they could kick on with 10 minutes to go,” said Tally.
“Fair play to them as they dug in hard and played a lot of good football, created a lot of good scoring chances and could have had a couple more. A college to beat a county team in a McKenna Cup game is always a good thing and we can look forward to the game next week now.”
MATCH STATS
Antrim: R Hanna; C Hamill (0-1), P Gallagher, N Delargy; D Lynch (0-1), J Laverty, P McAleer; M Johnston, O Lenehan; R Scott, R Murray (1-6, 0-3 frees), Ruairí McCann (Creggan) (1-1); C Small, K Niblock (0-1), Ruairí McCann (Aghagallon); Subs: S Beatty (0-1) for O Lenehan (21), P McBride for C Small (31), T McCann (1-0 pen) for R McCann (Aghagallon, 45), E Walsh for P McAleer (52), L McLarnon for R Scott (62); Yellow cards: R Scott (19), K Niblock (32), M Johnston (48 and 70); Red cards: M Johnston (70)
St Mary’s: M Reid; J Hannigan, A McKay, K Mallon; C Byrne, M O’Hare, C Myler (1-1); D McConville, O O’Neill (1-6, 0-2 frees, 0-1 45); C McShane, K McGeary (0-2), S McConville (0-1); D Kavanagh (0-1), M FItzpatrick, N Toner (0-4); Subs: C Quinn for D McConville (47), B Óg McGilligan for D Kavanagh (47), C Mac Iomhair for M O’Hare (51), J Colton (0-1) for C McShane (66), P Og McCrickard for C Byrne (70); Black card: M Reid (replaced by P Sweeney 60)
Referee: D Mullan (Derry)
