Allianz Football League Division Four: Waterford 0-10 Antrim 2-12
ANTRIM'S bid for a quick return to Division Three of the Allianz Football League remains on course following this crucial away win over Waterford in the WIT Arena yesterday.
A goal in each half from Lamh Dhearg’s Murray brothers – Ryan and Conor – rocked the home side when they looked like they might be gaining momentum, and gave the visitors a cushion on the scoreboard that they were able to maintain comfortably right up to the final whistle.
Though conditions were perfect at the splendid WIT venue, this was not a very attractive spectacle between two sides employing similar tactics of having 14 men behind the ball when defending and building patiently from the back before breaking forward in numbers.
Antrim proved more adept with their pacy front men being far more clinical in their finishing than opponents who appeared to take too much out of the ball at times.
Paddy McAleer had the opening point for Antrim inside a minute before Waterford took the lead for the only time in the game with points from Jason Curry (free) and Dylan Guiry.
Peter Healy got forward to level matters in the 15th minute and Waterford had cause to rue missing some easy chances when Ryan Murray showed his pace in the 20th minute and rounded his marker before shooting to the far corner of the net past a helpless Stephen Enright.
Waterford’s Conor Murray hit back immediately with a great score, but Antrim were looking more dangerous every time they got forward and outscored the home side by 0-4 to 0-2 in the remainder of the half to take a 1-6 to 0-5 lead into the dressing room at the break.
The Decies opened the second half scoring with an early point from a free by Jason Curry, but were unable to cut further into the Antrim lead as points from Sean Burke and a Ryan Murray free kept their side five points clear.
That was before a further exchange of points between Donie Breathnach and Matthew Fitzpatrick saw that margin maintained going into the last quarter.
Each side had already incurred three yellow cards in what was not an overly physical game.
The somewhat fussy referee then sent off Waterford’s primary ball carrier Paul Whyte on a second yellow card in the 47th minute before Jason Curry’s point left four between them.
Antrim were then reduced to 14 men with the dismissal of Sean Burke on a second yellow card in the 54th minute, but Waterford hopes of a comeback were dashed when a well-worked move from midfield saw Niall McKeever finish it with a lay-off to Conor Murray whose shot crashed into the Waterford net off a defender.
There was no way back for the home side as the last 10 minutes saw the winners adding four more points to just two in reply.
Antrim manager Lenny Harbinson was pleased to have come away with both points especially as Antrim had failed to win an away game last year in Division Three and were relegated as a result.
“We expected a tough game against Waterford being aware of how well they played in last year’s Championship against Cork and Derry,” he said.
“The goals here were crucial but I was not happy that we conceded those two late points when they piled on the pressure. We still have a lot of work to do.”
Antrim: C Kerr; P Healy (0-1), P Gallagher,
N Delargy; K O’Boyle, M Sweeney, J Laverty;
S Burke (0-1), N McKeever; P McAleer (0-1),
S Beatty, P McBride (0-3f); M Fitzpatrick (0-2), C Murray (1-1), R Murray (1-3, 0-2f)
Subs: K Healy for Laverty (52), O Eastwood for McBride, R Johnston for Gallagher (63),
S McVeigh for McKeever, R McCann for Beatty (68).
Waterford: S Enright; B Looby, T O’Gorman,
R O Ceallaigh; J McGrath, S Ryan, A Trihy;
T Prendergast, M Curry; C Murray (0-1),
D Breathnach (0-1), D Guiry (0-1); J Curry
(0-3f), J Veale (0-1), P Whyte (0-1).
Subs: JJ Hutchinson for Veale (h-t), K Power for M Curry (48), J Mulanney for Looby (57), M Scurry for Breathnach (60), M Cummins for Murray, F O Cuirin for Trihy (66)
Referee: S Lonergan (Tipperary)
