Football

Erin's Own overcome Creggan Kickham's at second attempt

Ciaran Close helped Cargin past Creggan in the weekend's Antrim SFC quarter-final replay  
Ciaran Close helped Cargin past Creggan in the weekend's Antrim SFC quarter-final replay   Ciaran Close helped Cargin past Creggan in the weekend's Antrim SFC quarter-final replay  

Northern Switchfear Antrim Senior Football Championship quarter-final replay: Erin's Own, Cargin 2-10 Kickham's, Creggan 0-10

GOALS in the first-half from Ciaran Close and Ryan McKiernan proved decisive as Cargin advanced to the semi-finals of this year's Antrim Senior Football Championship as they overcame local rivals, Creggan at the second attempt at Ahoghill on Saturday.

Eight days after the sides played out an exciting draw at the same venue, the defending champions were forced to work for their victory but in truth, they were full value for the win as their main players stood up to see them home.

They did this despite receiving a hammer blow in the early stages when Gerard McCann was given a black card, but this did not stop them in their tracks as John Brennan's side shrugged off the setback and powered forward.

However, Creggan almost took advantage straight after when Conor Small pounced on a mistake within the Cargin defence, but John McNabb made an excellent save. Cargin then had a goal chance of their own on 23 minutes and they made no mistake as Ciaran Close found the net. It was to get even better for Erin's Own soon after when an excellent move initiated by Paul McCann saw Ryan McKiernan raise a second green flag to see them move 2-4 to 0-6 ahead at the break. 

Just like last week, Creggan found a response after the break despite the absence of Mark Dougan and a trio of unanswered points saw them reduce the deficit down to the minimum, but this would be as close as they would get,

With Michael McCann in fantastic form for Cargin, the Toome side held firm and restricted their neighbours to just one point for the remainder of the game. Ciaran Close added a couple of points to increase his personal tally to 1-5. Paul McCann then kicked a good point before brother, Tomás hit a trio as Cargin pulled clear as the game moved into the closing stages.

Conor Small did manage to raise a white flag late on for Creggan, but this was merely a consolation score as their misery was compounded in added time when Aidan Maguire was issued a red card. The game was up at this stage as Cargin can now look forward to a semi-final against St John's in three weeks' time.

MATCH STATS


Cargin scorers: C Close (1-5), R McKiernan (1-0), T McCann (0-3), P McCann (0-2).


Creggan scorers: C Small (0-4), R McCann (0-3), D McCann (0-1). O McLarnon (0-1), C McCann (0-1).


Referee: C McDonald (St Gall’s).