LONGSTONE made their own piece of history yesterday when they won their first ever Down senior football trophy with an impressive 2-14 to 2-7 victory over Annaclone to secure the SFL division two title in an exciting encounter at Ballymartin.
For 39-year-old Longstone captain Ambrose Rodgers it ended a 22-year wait for a senior trophy.
The former county star, not yet fully recovered from a broken arm, came on as a substitute five minutes from time.
Goals from Mark Doran and John Trainor helped Longstone to a 2-7 to 0-4 half-time lead. Aidan Fegan and Noel Burns scored second half goals for Annaclone.
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NORTH Belfast's Neil Carty and Newcastle's Dermot McGonigle took the title at the Christmas Cracker pairs race at Comber.
The duo came home in a time of exactly 65 minutes which left them three minutes and four seconds ahead of Willowfield pair Billy Welsh and George Morris.
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THE Belfast celebrations which began immediately after the judge, Billy Roche, declared Inimical the winner of the Oaks Tri Stakes at the coursing meeting on Saturday went on a well into the night.
Owned by Mark Mulholland, from Premier Drive in the city, and bred by the Glengormley-based Paul Matthews and Geordie Simpson, Inimical got up for a half-length win at the end of a course which saw a winding hare take the pair all over the field.
The Judge’s red flag was the cue for the start of the celebrations, the likes of which had never been seen at the venue.
Inimical is trained by Jim “Maxie” Collins, who went on to complete a magnificent double with Central Hill in the featured Corn Cuchullain.
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EVERTON manager Howard Kendall hailed “Braveheart” Duncan Ferguson after the giant Scot's first hat-trick for the Merseysiders clinched the relegation battle with Bolton.
Ferguson was made captain for the first time in his career, a day after his 26th birthday, and responded with a magnificent hat-trick in the 3-2 home win.
Kendall said: “He was a bit special out there, and I felt the rest of the players responded to him.’’
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LIKE the little girl in the nursery rhyme, this season, Celtic, when they have been good have been very good, and when bad have been horrid.
At Perth on Saturday they were horrid in the extreme, losing to St Johnstone 1-0 and serving up the kind of blank performance that could ensure their hopes of claiming the league crown would remain in the realms of fantasy.
A 72nd minute scrambled effort from Northern Ireland international George O'Boyle was sufficient for Paul Sturrock's side to take all three points from a tepid affair.
Once again their situation takes on a desperate quality, going into an Old Firm match in the New Year meeting at Parkhead.
At 3pm on Saturday, it should be remembered, they were a mere one point adrift of their city rivals, whom they haven't beaten in 10 attempts on Premier Division business.
