Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship Group One
St John’s 0-7 Cargin 1-14
CARGIN have one foot in the quarter-finals of the Antrim SFC following Friday night’s 10-point win over St John’s at Corrigan Park.
The county champions have now won three from three in Group One and only a bizarre set of results in the final three games would deny Damian Cassidy’s side a place in the knock-out stages.
The Toome outfit were full value for the two points against the Johnnies, who were held scoreless between the sixth and 52nd minute while Tomás McCann converted an injury-time penalty for Cargin.
A point in their next game at Moneyglass would be enough to ensure a top-two finish while Rossa’s games against St John’s on Wednesday, September 1 could determine who joins them in the last eight of the Championship.
The hosts made the better start to proceedings and a brace of frees from Paddy McBride had them two points ahead after five minutes.
Wing-back Ronan Devlin opened Cargin’s account before McBride replied with a fine point from play a minute later.
St John’s didn't register another point until deep into the second half as Erin’s Own upped the ante with points from Ciaran Bradley and McCann (free) to draw level at 0-3 each on 11 minutes.
Devlin’s second from play was followed by an excellent Pat Shiver’s point and a free from Kieran Close gave the visitors a 0-6 to 0-3 lead at the first water break.
Both sides struggled to find their range during a disjointed second quarter.
St John’s were targeting Domhnall Nugent at full-forward, but Cargin deployed midfielder Gerard McCann as a man-marker to nullify the county hurling star and the hosts were off target with a few shots from distance.
McCann and John Carron also posted a few wides for Cargin, but they extended their lead to five just before the half-time interval with points from Shivers and another free from McCann, although they lost the impressive Devlin to injury just before half-time.
A foul on Close allowed McCann to stroke over another free in the early stages of the second half while Bradley set up centre-back Sean O’Neill for a superb point on 36 minutes as Cargin moved seven ahead.
St John's attacker Conal Quinn tried to escape the attentions of Cargin's Gerard McCorley
St John’s attempted to rally and they enjoyed a good spell of possession, but they were hindered by some erratic shooting – hitting seven wides in the third quarter alone.
Johnnies skipper McBride tried to spur his side to life when he aimed a shot at goal from inside the 20-yard line, but Kevin O’Boyle made a brilliant diving block to deny his former county colleague.
A point from Bradley gave Cargin a 0-11 to 0-3 lead before McBride converted a free on 52 minutes to end his side’s scoring drought just before the second water break.
McBride fired over another free moments later before Cargin substitute Jamie Gribbin made his mark on proceedings.
He set-up Eunan Quinn for a score before putting Bradley through, only for the wing-forward to be fouled with McCann tapping over the free.
Gribbin then riffled over a point from play while Conal Quinn hit back with a point at the other end for St John’s.
As the game entered injury-time, Nugent managed to raise a white flag with an exceptional long-range point from out on the right-hand touchline, but it was all in vain.
Cargin were awarded a penalty in the final minute of injury-time when substitute Paudie McLaughlin was fouled and McCann made no mistake, firing low to Padraig Nugent’s right to give his side a commanding 10-point cushion at the full-time whistle.
ST JOHN’S: P Nugent; J Bohill, A Nugent, M Dudley; J Hannigan, C Garland, L Laverty; C Bohill, D Nugent (0-1); C Quinn, P McBride (0-5, 0-4fs), C McEvoy; R McNulty, C Kelly, S McDonagh.
Subs: R Hannigan for Oliver (50), S Tierney for Kelly (50), A McGowan for Laverty (55).
CARGIN: M Magill; B Laverty, K O’Boyle, R Gribbin; R Devlin (0-2), S O’Neill (0-1), G McCorley; K McShane, G McCann; C Bradley (0-2), P Shivers (0-2, 0-1f), J Carron; K Close (0-1, 0-1f), T McCann (1-4, 0-4fs, 1-0pen), D Johnston.
Subs: E Quinn (0-1) for Devlin (30), J Gribbin (0-1) for Close (50), B Kelly for Shivers (50), P McLaughlin for Johnston (59).
REFEREE: B Toland (Lámh Dhearg).
