Antrim Senior Football Championship semi-final: Lamh Dhearg 0-9 Roger Casements Portglenone 1-17
THE emotion, a mixture of pride and relief, was clear in his voice. John McKeever, a Portglenone man through-and-through, had watched his club clear the semi-final hurdle at the sixth attempt after five consecutive defeats.
After so much disappointment, the Casements now have a county final to look forward to.
“We’ll go into the final fearless,” said McKeever.
“These lads have got the monkey off their back in the semi-final and they’re hungry. ‘Hunger’ is the big word. Our hearts have been broken in the past but… hunger. This is my own club and there’s not too many managers manage their own club.
“We’re full of emotions because we’ve worked really hard for this. I was looking at past players outside the fence, boys that I played with, willing us on. We have a really good club and, by Christ, it would be really good to get over the line. It would.”
Right up until a couple of days beforehand, this game was in doubt. It went ahead when Creggan withdrew their appeal to the Antrim County Board over Lamh Dhearg having 16 men on the field at one stage of their quarter-final meeting. Coincidentally, the player at the centre of that storm, Terry McCrudden, was also subbed on Saturday, but this time there wasn’t a hint of controversy,
McKeever said the uncertainty hadn’t impacted his players but it did seem to have affected Lamh Dhearg who were second best all over the field at the Cargin grounds. They struggled to raise a gallop in the second half and lost Conor Murray to a needless red card before the finish. The Hannahstown men declined to comment on the issues that preceded the game but mentor Mickey Boyle wished Portglenone well in their third final (they’ve never won a senior title) and their first in 19 years.
“It was a very disappointing performance, we never really got going,” said Boyle.
“Portglenone were full value for their victory and good luck to them in the final.”
Lamh Dhearg put the first point on the board through the reliable boot of veteran forward Paddy Cunningham.
The early stages were played at a frantic pace. In attack, Lamh Dhearg kicked the ball long towards the Murray brothers up front or used the speed of Owen McKeown on the right wing.
Meanwhile, Portglenone – more disciplined in the tackle - worked the ball through the hands. Niall Delargy equalised after a one-two with the influential Niall McKeever and Daniel McNicholl had edged them ahead before Fergal O’Kane nipped in to cut out an injudicious crossfield pass and switched the ball to Stephen Kelly who thumped it into the net.
From that point on, Lamh Dhearg always looked up against it and although they managed three of the next four scores, the Casements regained control and three on-the-trot in the closing stages of the half meant they led by six (1-8 to 0-5) at the interval.
The game was theirs to lose but, since they’d found ways to lose five semi-finals on-the-trot before Saturday, manager McKeever preached a message of ‘it’s not over yet boys’ in the changing room. His words had the desired effect because his players refused to lose concentration or composure in the second half.
Former Derry and London star Enda Lynn and Ronan Kelly’s excellent finish settled them when play resumed. A double from defender Ben Rice kept Lamh Dhearg in it, just about, and had they taken the goal chances that then came their way, a famous comeback win might have been on the cards.
Portglenone weren’t that convincing from their own restarts and an under-hit Kevin Mullan kickout looped straight into the hands of Cunningham. He took a second to size up his options before attempting to chip Mullan who was scrambling back towards his goal. The shot floated over his bar and saved his blushes.
The second lifeline came when Lamh Dhearg pushed Mark Jordan up to full-forward. He leapt to grab Conor Murray’s high ball into the square and switched to Declan Lynch who had Ryan Murray on his shoulder. Surrounded by defenders, Murray got a shot away but it swerved wide.
The late hits began to fly in all over the field and red mist descended. With 15 minutes’ remaining, Conor Murray was black-carded and some back chat as he left the field meant a red card soon followed.
The mountain Lamh Dhearg already had to climb doubled in size as the former Antrim star departed and Portglenone tapped over five points as they cantered into the long-awaited county showpiece.
“Our boys came in with very little pressure or expectation on their shoulders because everybody expected us to be beat,” said winning manager McKeever.
“That has been the trend after the last five semi-finals. I feel we performed really well and in the last five years we have been unlucky at times but, then again, you have to make your own luck. “We made our luck by our performance today and, thank God, we were very good for 64 minutes.”
Portglenone: K Mullen; R Delargy, K O’Kane, C McGhee; D McNicholl (0-1), R Hagan, F O’Kane; D McAleese, N McKeever; N Delargy (0-1), M Hagan (0-2), S Kelly (1-0); O Doherty (0-4, 0-2 frees), E Lynn (0-2), R Kelly (0-6, 0-4 frees)
Subs: P Graffin for D McAleese (HT), C Tierney for McGhee (57), J Convery (0-1) for Lynn (60), C Delargy for M Hagan (60)
Lamh Dhearg: G Smyth; B Rice (0-2), M McGarry, Ross Murray; O McKeown (0-), D Lynch, D Smyth (0-1); P Fitzsimons, M Jordan; D Murray, T McCrudden, Ryan Murray; P Cunningham (0-4, 0-3 frees), M Herron, C Murray
Subs: P Mervyn for McCrudden (16), E Matassa for D Murray (HT), M Lowe for R Murray (50)
Yellow cards: Mervyn (40), Lynch (46)
Black cards: C Murray (46), Rice (60)
Red card: C Murray (46)
Referee: Colm McDonald (St Gall’s)
