Antrim SFC: Portglenone end semi-final hoodoo with facile defeat of 14-man Lámh Dhearg

Portglenone captain Niall Delargy comes under pressure from Lámh Dhearg duo Mark McGarry and Ben Rice during Saturday's Antrim SFC semi-final at Toome
-Credit: (Image: Photo by Justin Kernoghan)


Northern Switchgear Antrim SFC semi-final: Portglenone 1-17 Lámh Dhearg 0-9

If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. Or in the case of Portglenone, a sixth time as they finally got over the line to book their place in the Antrim SFC final with an 11-point rout of Lámh Dhearg.

The Casement’s had lost five successive semi-finals, but made no mistake with an impressive and measured display at Toome on Saturday afternoon.

The result was already beyond doubt when Conor Murray’s black card was upgraded to a red for verbals towards referee Colm McDonald with Stephen Kelly’s early goal giving his side a great platform.

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The quarter-final appeal lodged by Creggan threatened to delay Saturday’s last four clash before the Kickhams withdrew their complaint to the Ulster Council following the ‘16th man’ debacle from Lámh Dhearg’s victory last time out.

Paddy Cunningham’s early free gave his side the lead, but it would prove to be the only time they had their noses in front.

Oisin Doherty got Casement’s up and running before Daniel McNicholl landed a fine point to give them the lead. A poor pass in defence by Mark McGarry was punished when Fergal O’Kane set up Stephen Kelly for a well-taken goal.

Lámh Dhearg were indebted to goalkeeper Gerard Smyth as he made two great saves to deny Doherty and then Michael Hagan.

Cunningham’s second free and an Owen McKeown effort kept Lámh Dhearg in touch and a foul on Marc Jordan led to Cunningham’s third with the gap back to two after Ronan Kelly had converted a free at the other end.

McKeown and Kelly traded scores, but Portglenone took control of proceedings with a late rally of points before the break.

Lámh Dhearg's Owen McKeown in action against Portglenone's Enda Lynn
Lámh Dhearg's Owen McKeown in action against Portglenone's Enda Lynn -Credit:Photo by Justin Kernoghan

Hagan scored twice either side of another free from Kelly as John McKeever took a 1-8 to 0-5 lead into half-time.

With Lámh Dhearg losing captain Terry McCrudden to injury midway through the first half, Portglenone also lost an influential player as Dermot McAleese didn’t appear for the second half.

Yet, Casement’s extended their lead with a stunning back-to-back points from Enda Lynn and Kelly.

Ben Rice replied with two cracking points for Lámh Dhearg and they might have plundered a much-need goal when Kevin Mullan’s restart went straight to Cunningham.

The former Antrim captain launched a shot at the posts with Mullan desperately trying to get back to his goal-line, but the ball dropped over, rather than under the crossbar.

Remarkably, the Hannahstown men only scored one more point in the final 25 minutes of the game.

They had another great goal chance as Jordan set up Declan Lynch for a shot at the target. Unselfishly, he passed to Ryan Murray albeit Murray’s angle was tight and he fired wide when trying to create a better one.

With time against them, Lámh Dhearg’s hopes of making the county final faded rapidly and Portglenone banished their semi-final demons in style by slamming the door shut.

Kelly and Doherty continued to punish an indiscretions as Casement’s continued to push forward rather than defend their lead.

Their task was aided by Murray’s red card on 46 minutes and Lámh Dhearg finished the game with 13 players when Rice was shown a black card inside the final moments.

McKeown had a late point chalked off with the gap between the sides confirmed at 11 points at the full-time whistle as Portgleone progressed to their first Antrim SFC final since 2009.

Portglenone scorers: Ronan Kelly 0-6 (03fs), Oisin Doherty 0-5 (0-2fs), Stephen Kelly 1-0, Michael Hagan 0-2, Enda Lynn 0-2, Daniel McNicholl 0-1, Sean Byrne 0-1.

Lámh Dhearg scorers: Paddy Cunningham 0-4 (0-3fs), Owen McKeown 0-2, Ben Rice 0-2, Declan Symth 0-1.

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