Northern Switchgear Antrim SFC final
Roger Casements, Portglenone 0-8 Erins Own, Cargin 0-10 (after extra-time)
TOWARDS the end of yesterday’s nail-biting Antrim Senior Football Championship final at Corrigan Park, it resembled a scene from the war movie Saving Private Ryan.
All over the field, players from Cargin and Portglenone lay poleaxed with cramp and with all sorts of injuries, others hobbled, dazed and exhausted from 80 bruising minutes of championship football.
Not one player on either team could have given an ounce more in search of glory.
But defending champions Cargin prevailed, like they always do. No matter what anyone throws at them, the Erin’s Own men always find a way to win.
Under the autumnal light at Corrigan Park in west Belfast, they claimed their sixth county championship title in seven years – a remarkable achievement by anyone’s standards.
Read more: Casement’s aiming to make history against Antrim SFC champs Cargin
Extra-time was needed to separate these two foes – and the two points that got Cargin over the line were magnificent ones.
Pat Shivers had drawn Cargin level just before half-time of extra-time [0-8 apiece] before Tomas McCann sent over a nerveless free a yard from the sideline and from the ugliest of angles, and two minutes into stoppage-time Cargin substitute Eunan Quinn shrugged off a challenge to split Portglenone’s posts.
Although referee Kevin Parke allowed a couple more plays, the Casements chased a goal that ultimately never came.
An almighty roar went up from the Cargin supporters in the Corrigan Park stand and children with green and white flags stormed the field.
It’s Cargin’s second three-in-a-row in seven years. Ronan Devlin has been involved in all six championship wins since 2018 – three as assistant to Damian Cassidy [2018 to 2020] and three as manager now.
But the Ballinderry man wasn’t jumping for joy at the final whistle. Still in forensic mode in the immediate aftermath, Devlin was mystified by how poorly his side played.
“It’s a weird feeling,” he said, “because I didn’t think we played well. It was probably as bad as I can remember us playing in a final.
“At the minute, it’s just pure relief that the boys ground it out. I don’t think it was tactics or anything involved, it was just poor stuff at times, and we just managed to get through it.”
Chasing an historic first senior title and competing in their first final since 2009, Portglenone left the Whiterock Road venue with plenty of regrets.
They pressed high bravely from the opening minute and forced mistakes out of the champions - but they didn’t make it count on the neon scoreboard in the far corner of the ground.
They missed a number of scoreable frees, they snatched at a few other opportunities and when they were trailing by a point in the second period of extra-time they couldn’t take advantage of three good opportunities to level it up.
Aidan McAleese, who brilliantly converted two frees to force this final to extra-time, dropped one short in the closing stages, Michael O’Hagan watched his free sail agonisingly wide, and Enda Lynn screwed another ambitious shot wide of Cargin’s posts.
Nobody has tried harder to win a county championship for his club than John McKeever.
The Portglenone manager and his players respectfully remained on the field until Cargin captain James Laverty lifted the silverware and made his victory speech.
Heads bowed, their management team and players then made their way to the changing rooms, many of them distraught.
They’re getting closer to realising their dream, but 2025 must feel like light years away to them right now.
Niall McKeever, Niall Delargy, Ronan Delargy, Dermot McAleese and others couldn’t have given it more for the Casements cause.
But Ronan Devlin’s cold post-match assessment was on the money.
“It’s absolutely satisfying but there’s less elation than usual,” said the Cargin manager.
“I didn’t jump on the pitch there celebrating because I felt the boys didn’t do themselves justice. It wasn’t a defensive game - it was a mistake-ridden game.
“But I’m going to watch James lift this trophy and I’m happy enough. Those boys have now lifted six trophies in seven years and that’s the second three-in-a-row, so these are small complaints.”
The best players on the field were mostly defenders. Take your pick from Cargin’s back-line.
Conan Johnston was touch-tight to Enda Lynn until he was forced out of the game with a shoulder injury in the 50th minute.
Ronan Gribbin was sticky as hell to Ronan Kelly. Kevin O’Boyle was always there to accept possession under pressure.
James Laverty won a couple of brilliant turnovers in the early stages and forced Portglenone to bring on Ryan Convery after the restart in a bid to quell the Cargin captain’s influence.
Sean O’Neill and Justin Crozier covered some acreage. Goalkeeper John McNabb stole forward to nick a point but the pick of the bunch was Kevin McShane.
He played in various defensive roles until he moved into midfield in extra-time to keep tabs on Niall McKeever.
Niall Delargy made life difficult for Tomas McCann and Portglenone paid Mick McCann a handsome tribute by designating Dermot McAleese as his man-marker for the day.
The elder McCann was still involved in some key moments though. He assisted for a couple of Cargin’s scores and did brilliantly to win a high ball near the end line and set up Pat Shivers for that vital score before half-time of extra-time.
Portglenone brought plenty of controlled rage to the opening half, pressing right up on the roaming McNabb, but they still trailed 0-4 to 0-3 at the break.
The champions held the upper hand on the scoreboard for most of the second half and were ahead by two points – 0-7 to 0-5 – entering the last 10 minutes.
But up stepped Aidan McAleese, a 37th substitute for Portglenone, to convert two frees – both won by their ceaseless harrying of the Cargin defence who tried, and failed, to play keep-ball in their own half of the field as normal time ticked to a conclusion.
“Boys were slipping, boys weren’t handling the ball well,” Devlin added. “I don’t know, maybe there was a lot of rain but there were definitely a lot of errors on both sides. It was a strange game.”
Cargin will now regroup for Ulster and will face either Donegal champions St Eunan’s, Letterkenny or the winners of Tyrone in a month’s time.
“We just want another crack at it,” Devlin said.
“I’ve always said we deserve to be in Ulster as we’re at that level but based on today we’ve a way to go.
“I’m looking forward to Ulster but I’m glad we’ve a month and I think we need it.”
Portglenone K Mullan; R Delargy, K O’Kane, D McNicholl; C Magee, R Hagan, N Delargy; N McKeever (0-1), D McAleese (0-1 mark); F O’Kane, E Lynn (0-2), S Kelly; O Doherty (0-1), M Hagan, R Kelly (0-1 free)
Subs R Convery for C Magee (37), A McAleese (0-2 frees) for S Kelly (37), S Byrne for R Kelly (50), K McKenna for F O’Kane (58), S Delargy for R Delargy (68), P Kelly for K O’Kane (71), C Tierney for O Doherty (71)
Yellow cards R Delargy (39), N Delargy (69), S Delargy (73)
Black card D McAleese (26 to 32)
Cargin J McNabb (0-1); K O’Boyle, Conan Johnston; J Crozier, K McShane, S O’Neill; P Shivers (0-2, 0-1 free), G McCann; B Kelly, Conhuir Johnston (0-1), J Laverty; T McCann (0-2 frees), M McCann, T Shivers (0-3, 0-1 free)
Subs J Carron for G McCann (23, inj), J Gribbin for B Kelly (44), E Quinn (0-1) for T Shivers (46), D Johnston for Conan Johnston (50 inj), B Kelly for R Gribbin (73), C Gribbin for P Shivers (77), G McCorley for S O’Neill (81)
Yellow cards S O’Neill (27), J Laverty (36), Conhuir Johnston (39)
Referee K Parke
