Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship semi-final: Erin’s Own, Cargin 2-7 Kickham’s Creggan 0-16
JUST as the blinding low sun bid farewell to the Hightown Road yesterday evening only to leave an autumn chill in its wake, Kickham’s Creggan celebrated this famous semi-final victory over perennial rivals Cargin with an unforgettable guttural roar.
To topple the three-in-a-row champions was always going to take a gargantuan effort – and that’s exactly what Gerard McNulty’s players produced.
It was probably always going to be their neighbours that would end Cargin’s dominance.
Unlike other pretenders to their crown, the Kickham’s have never been intimidated by Cargin, regarding themselves to be their equal.
In the 2018 final, they proved it. In the 2020 decider, they proved it again. The problem was they didn’t have the physical evidence of medals to prove it to everybody else in the county.
They still don’t have the medals – but they finally snared their prey. This memorable encounter was a tale of the hunters and the hunted.
For the last three years Damian Cassidy’s men have been brilliant champions, playing with a wonderful economy and ruthless, cerebral edge.
Virtually nobody outside the Creggan changing room expected Cargin’s reign to end yesterday.
A cursory glance at the quarter-final evidence didn’t exactly point to an upset either. But Creggan made fools of everybody.
They know Cargin’s weak spots – and exploited them.
Despite conceding two first-half goals, Creggan had the scent of victory in their nostrils throughout the second half, and eventually edged in front through a dead-eyed free from Ruairi McCann in the 55th minute, won by captain Conor McCann.
Once they got their noses in front, Cargin’s reign was over.
Creggan were too hungry, too astute to let the champions off the hook.
From one to 15, and no small effort from their bench, Creggan were absolutely immense. Between the 39th minute to the end of this titanic tie, Creggan outscored the defending champions 0-7 to 0-1.
You’ll not see a better second half performance for the rest of the club season.
That’s not to say they were unimpressive in the opening half because they showed unbelievable composure to absorb two Cargin goals in the fourth and 20th minutes and stayed strong.
For Creggan, Tomas McCann was like a headache that never went away. He opened Cargin’s account after two minutes and the Antrim ace had a hand in Pat Shivers’ well-worked major on four minutes.
In the 20th minute, he pulled marker Ricky Johnston out to the wing before racing inside to collect the ball from Mark Kelly to put the champions 2-2 to 0-3 ahead.
Still, Creggan kept calm and stuck to the process. By the half-time interval it was seven scores apiece, only Cargin’s goals put a bit of polish on the Naomh Éanna scoreboard [2-5 to 0-7].
Creggan virtually owned the second half. Cargin simply couldn’t find a way out of their own half of the field.
Jamie McCann really started to motor, hammering over his second of the day in the 36th minute right in front of the Cargin dug-out and he would convert three more placed balls before the end, all critical scores.
Midfielders Conor McCann and Kevin Small built a wall across the halfway line and the Creggan forwards worked like dogs to shut off every attacking avenue to Cargin.
“I probably watched the Cargin-St Gall’s game five times,” said Creggan boss Gerard McNulty afterwards.
“We had to track the runners, we had to mark the right men, we knew who we had to isolate. We knew Tomas [McCann] was dangerous. We knew Mick [McCann] was dangerous. James Laverty and Justin Crozier as well. I don’t think Justin Crozier got across our halfway line, so we knew what we had to do…”
The only way to disable the attacking brilliance of Tomas McCann was to cut off the supply – and Creggan did this superbly in the second half.
Even when the ball did enter their territory, Martin Johnston, Eunan McAteer and Ethan Carey Small made sure it didn’t stick to Cargin hands.
A stoppage-time score from Ruairi McCann put three points of daylight between the sides – but there would be no late goal from the champions to force this clash into extra-time.
Erin’s Own, Cargin: M Magill; R Devlin, J Laverty, B Laverty; J Crozier, M McCann, K O’Boyle; P Shivers (1-2, 0-2 frees), K McShane; C Bradley (0-1), T McCann (1-4, 0-3 frees), S O’Neill; J Gribbin, P McLaughlin, M Kelly Subs: R Gribbin for R Devlin (h/t), C Close for P McLaughlin (41), P McCann for M Kelly (41), G McCann for K McShane (41), J Carron for C Bradley (58)
Kickham’s Creggan: O Kerr; EC Small, R Johnston, E McAteer; A Maguire, M Johnston (0-1), J McCann (0-5, 0-3 frees); K Small (0-1), C McCann (0-2); T McAteer, P Coey, S Duffin; M Rodgers, R McCann (0-5, 0-4 frees), O McLarnon (0-1) Subs: K Rice (0-1) for M Rodgers (24), F Burke for O McLarnon (40), C McCann for S Duffin (50), K McCann for P Coey (56)
Yellow cards: R Johnston (30), R McCann (31)
Referee: D McKeown
