Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship final: Erin’s Own, Cargin 1-18 St Mary’s Aghagallon 3-9 (after extra-time)
IN the fading light and lashing rain at Corrigan Park, Cargin celebrated this county championship victory like it was their first rather than their fourth in five years.
Aghagallon gave this pulsating final one hell of a shot; they raised three green flags and played some brilliant and direct football that saw them lead by eight points after 33 minutes.
But still they couldn’t land a knock-out blow on Cargin in a bid to win their first-ever senior county title.
Eunan Walsh, Ruairi McCann and Gareth Magee did all they could in their pursuit of making history for Aghagallon.
But Cargin just had a little extra.
Take a bow Kevin O’Boyle, Tomas McCann, Pat Shivers, Gerard McCann and Paul McCann as they led an unbelievable fightback.
And Ronan Devlin – the reluctant manager.
The Ballinderry native was happy in his role as assistant manager under Damian Cassidy. They won three-in-a-row together before being dislodged by Creggan Kickhams last year.
Cassidy headed back to his native Bellaghy, and Devlin took some persuading to take the Cargin hotseat.
He’s glad he did now.
Soaked to the skin and leaning against the fence talking to reporters yesterday, Devlin revealed his doubts about taking over from Cassidy.
“I didn’t plan this. I was happy coaching,” he said.
“I didn’t want this to be honest and when it was put in front of me I wasn’t sure. You’ve self-doubts because I haven’t done it before. I coached at schools’ level but I was never a manager [of a senior team]. Some of these boys are nearly my age and I didn’t know if I’d get their respect.
“A few of the players phoned me and talked me round. So it’s nice on a personal level. Damian did his job and I helped him. There’s a man there [pointing to Fabian Muldoon, assistant] - some credit to him. He’s been class. The boys love him.
“And Kevin Doyle? No better man. He does everything for us, and I mean everything.”
Despite trailing by eight points after Ruairi McCann bagged his second goal for Aghagallon just after the restart, Devlin never lost faith in his players as they kept moving the scoreboard.
Between the 37th and the 61st minutes, Cargin retrieved this final by out-scoring St Mary’s 1-7 to 0-2 and led by a point in stoppage-time, but there was still time for Oisin Lenehan to grab an equaliser for the underdogs.
But Cargin showed the greater composure in extra-time to win their 11th title in the club’s history, with Shivers, Tomas McCann, Benen Kelly and Sean O'Neill getting on the scoresheet.
Devlin added: “After conceding two goals in the first half, we actually talked about it at half-time and said we couldn’t afford to concede another goal. And that’s exactly what we did.
“But whatever happens you chip away at the scoreboard.”
Mick McCann’s 52nd minute goal was the turning point for Cargin as they began to reel in their rivals.
Aghagallon definitely brought their A game to yesterday's final - but Cargin still came up trumps. Top dogs again.
