Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship Group One: Kickham’s Creggan 0-13 Lamh Dhearg 1-10
COUNTY stars Ruairi McCann and Conor Murray lit up this absorbing championship opener yesterday evening as the defending champions Kickham’s Creggan nailed a last-gasp equaliser.
If you need someone to convert a pressure kick, there is none better in Antrim than Creggan’s number 12.
Within ear-shot of the Lamh Dhearg dug-out, Ruairi McCann sent over an incredible ’45 that had Kickham’s boss Gerard McNulty lauding the injury-time equaliser as “better than Sean O’Shea’s”.
Towards the touch-line, McCann got a brilliant connection and plenty of air on his strike as it sailed between Lamh Dhearg's posts.
“That was some kick from Ruairi at the end,” acknowledged Lamh Dhearg and county team-mate Marc Jordan afterwards.
“It was Rian O’Neill-esque. As soon as he hit it I knew it was over.”
McCann’s spectacular kick was fully deserving of the lofty comparisons with Sean O’Shea and Rian O’Neill’s memorable placed ball conversions on the All-Ireland stage this year.
In truth, it was no more than what the champions deserved. Anything else would have been rough justice on them having led this Group One clash from the second minute to the fourth minute of stoppage-time.
How Lamh Dhearg hauled themselves back into contention was hard to fathom.
Their cause was probably aided by a few disputed second-half wides that upset the home supporters.
After a blistering opening half where Ruairi McCann and Conor McCann were exceptional, history will decree that Creggan only managed three second-half points.
From the balcony view, a couple of Creggan’s shots that were called wide might have been good.
Still, Creggan should have game-managed the final quarter better than they did.
When Odhran McLarnon pointed in the 44th minute, Creggan stretched their lead over the Hannahstown men to five.
They looked in control. But Lamh Dhearg are the kind of team that never knows when they’re beaten.
“At no point in that game did we think we were out of it,” insisted Jordan afterwards.
And with a predator like Conor Murray, you’ve always a chance.
Ryan Murray tagged on his third free of the day in the 46th minute to narrow Creggan’s lead to four points and it might have been reduced to a single point when Conor Murray blazed wide five minutes later after Kevin Quinn’s effort came off the crossbar.
But when another goal chance fell to the county attacker deep into stoppage-time, he wasn’t going to pass it up.
A few minutes earlier, he’d converted two efforts in quick succession to leave Lamh Dhearg trailing 0-12 to 0-10 and within striking distance.
Chasing a goal, substitute Stephen Tully lobbed the ball into the danger zone in the 64th minute.
Declan Smyth, who was a thorn in Creggan’s side for most of the evening, popped the ball to Murray who lashed it past Oisin Kerr in the Creggan goal to put the 2017 champions a point up.
With the clock ticking and Creggan facing an unlikely opening day defeat, they managed to fashion one more attack that resulted in a ’45 from the worst imaginable angle.
But the coolness that Ruairi McCann displayed to level things up was outrageous.
Tempers became frayed on the far side of the field between the two dug-outs before order was quickly restored.
And there was hell to pay for the umpires as they left the field over Creggan’s disputed wides.
One Creggan supporter complained to the umpire that he’d waved two good points wide. The umpire was emphatic the right calls were made on each occasion.
Whether they were good or bad calls, the controversy shouldn't detract from the exhibitions of score-taking from both Conor Murray and Ruairi McCann.
The latter had clocked up a half dozen points before the half-time interval (0-5 from play) but Creggan could never quite shake off their visitors.
Terry McCrudden and Ryan Murray hit superb points to keep Lamh Dhearg in touch at the break (0-9 to 0-6) – a score-line that probably didn’t reflect Creggan’s early dominance.
But you could only admire Lamh Dhearg’s resilience in the second half where Kevin Quinn, Declan Lynch and Marc Jordan kept forcing the issue.
Afterwards, Creggan boss Gerard McNulty was disappointed with some calls but was also full of praise for a lot of his side’s play.
“I thought some of our football was first class and I’m delighted with that,” he said. “When Ruairi stepped up at the end to equalise, but that’s the mark of these lads.”
It will take both sides a while to get their breath back as Creggan face St Gall’s and Lamh Dhearg size up St John’s in a fortnight’s time.
Kickham’s Creggan: O Kerr; EC Small, K Burke, E McAteer; A Maguire, M Johnston, J McCann; C McCann (0-2), K Small (0-1); T McAteer (0-1), R McCann (0-7, 0-1 free, 0-1 ‘45); L Quinn (0-1), D McAteer, O McLarnon (0-1) Subs: F Burke for A Maguire (h/t), J McAteer for D McAteer (40) M Rodgers for C McCann (51), S Maguire, K Rice & S Duffin used subs
Lamh Dhearg: J Finucane; F Mervyn, M McGarry, R Murray; D Smyth, D Lynch, B Rice; P Mervyn, M Jordan; C Maxwell, K Quinn, O McKeown; R Murray (0-4, 0-3 frees), C Murray (1-4, 0-1 free), T McCrudden (0-2, 0-1 free) Subs: M Hynes for B Rice (h/t) D Dunne for T McCrudden (49), S Tully used sub
Yellow card: B Rice (30), R Murray (59)
Referee: Kevin Parke
