Littlewoods League Division Two quarter-final: Antrim 1-13 Galway 1-10
“THE result was never in doubt,” quipped joint-manager Jim McKernan at the end of a hard fought Littlewoods Division Two quarter-final in Donaghmore Ashbourne on Saturday.
His tongue was firmly in his cheek as Antrim were very much under the cosh during the first half, yet went in on level terms at the break before establishing a lead of a couple of points early in the second half and they were holding on for the final whistle.
“We provide entertainment, don’t we?” said the Sarsfield’s man.
“It was a tremendous result, particularly considering the changes we had to make from last week.”
Full-back Chloe Drain broke her jaw in the previous game against Derry while corner-back Maria Lynn, a teacher in Corkey Primary school, had to miss the game because of First Communion. Then not long into the game, with the defence under severe pressure, last season’s captain Maeve Connolly was forced off with a groin injury.
“We are delighted. Galway are a serious team and we have done well to get past them. This is another step forward for us.”
The turning point in the game was the Antrim goal in first half injury time when Maeve Kelly took a pass from Róisín McCormick and went in on the Galway goal. She seemed to lose the sliotar, but recovered to fire home from close range and send the teams in at 1-5 each.
Galway deserved better. They dominated the opening half with the wind behind them but hit five wides. Caoimhe Mahon was brilliant as sweeper while Ava Lynskey tortured the Antrim defence with her running and her strength under the high ball. Throw in the two corner forwards pulling Antrim to the wings and it seemed like fire-fighting at times.
Antrim took a good while to settle and they had far fewer attacks over the first half hour. However their defence stood up to the test, apart from a couple of mistakes that were punished.
Galway got in for a goal in the ninth minute. The sliotar should have cleared from a ruck on the 20 metre line. It wasn’t and Antrim paid the price with Máiréad Dillon finishing from close range.
That put Galway ahead by 1-2 to 0-2 and they led by 1-4 to 0-3 at the water-break. It could have been worse for Antrim.
But they held together and points from Maeve Kelly and Amy Boyle left them a goal adrift going into half-time. The Saffrons would have been happy enough with that, but then things got a lot better with Kelly’s goal!
Nicole O’Neill pointed a free on the re-start and although the dangerous Áine Keane pointed in reply, points from Róisín McCormick, Kelly and another O’Neill 45 opened up a three points’ gap for the Saffrons.
The teams traded points each before the second water break and again on the resumption of play with Elisha Broderick closing the gap to two points with five minutes left.
Áine Keane, already the scorer of five points, then missed from a 45 and shortly after a long clearance from Niamh Donnelly was picked up by Róisín McCormick for a point. That secured Antrim’s passage into the last four.
Antrim: C Graham; K McKillop, C Conlon, L McKenna; C Patterson, N Donnelly, M Connolly; L McNaughton, A Boyle (0-2), M Kelly (1-2), A Connolly (0-1), N O'Neill (0-5, 2 frees), R McCormick (0-2), Ciara Laverty, C Dobbin (0-1).
Subs: C McKillop for M Connolly, Christine Laverty for N O’Neill
Galway: L Glynn; K Screene, S McCartin, R Hannify; L Casserly, C Mahon, T Canning; M Burke, N Horan; M Mannion, A Lynskey (0-2), E Broderick (0-1), C Kenny (0-2), M Dillon (1-0), Á Keane (0-5, 0-2 frees).
Subs: K Manning for S McCartin, C Reilly for M Dillon, T Rutledge for E Broderick
Referee: Philip McDonnell (Cavan)
