Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship, Group One
O'Donovan Rossa 0-6 Erin's Own, Cargin 0-12
DEFENDING champions Cargin made it two wins from two in Group One of the Antrim Senior Football Championships as they had six points to spare over the hosts Rossa Park on Sunday.
The Toome outfit enjoyed an excellent start and had laid the foundations for victory in the first half, but credit to Rossa who grew into the game in the second period and did threaten to really challenge, but Cargin were just able to get the scores to keep the city side at arm's length and leave them still chasing their opening points in the group.
This game was strange in many ways as Cargin looked like they could really cut loose at one period win the opening half, but were left having to gain a foothold midway through the second period as the hosts started to use the ball better and kicked some fine scores.
The county champions incredibly held Moneyglass scoreless in their opening fixture during the week and for a time they threatened to do the same here as they completely snuffed out the Rossa attacks with some excellent defending and they broke with purpose when forcing the turnovers as they hit the ground running early on.
Dominic McEnhill gathers possession as Ronan Gribbin closes in
Tomás McCann kicked an early free with John Carron thumping over a beauty from deep immediately after, while a fine break after a stray Rossa pass was intercepted resulted in a flowing move with Ronan Devlin splitting the posts.
Kieran Close kicked a pair of frees and then added one from play after another breakaway as Cargin held a 0-6 to 0-0 advantage at the water break.
The break afforded Rossa the chance to quickly reorganise and this seemed to work as they began to move the ball with more purpose as play restarted although the final pass wasn't quite finding the target with Cargin able to get the blocks and challenges in.
The hosts finally did get off the mark when Dominic McEnhill won a free that he converted on 23 minutes - the first score Cargin had conceded in 83-plus minutes of Championship action this year - and they began to snuff out the Erin's Own attacks, but the visitors did add late scores in the half through Ryan McKernan and Carron to leave them 0-8 to 0-1 ahead at the short whistle.
Rossa really needed a good spell after the break of they were to get into this game and they did just that with Stephen Beatty and Dominic McEnhill curling over early points before Eoghan McMenamin split the posts with a magnificent effort from a tight angle out on the right and suddenly, there was just four between the teams.
The hosts were growing in confidence with Cargin now looking a little flat, but a McCann free steadied them before Beatty responded when his shot dropped over to maintain the four-point gap.
Stephen Beatty in action
While this game never quite exploded into life, a goal may have changed the dynamic and Cargin were first to go close when Tomás McCann burst in on the right and fired a shot that came off the crossbar, was recycled back to Ryan McKernan whose close-range effort was well saved by Michael Byrne in the Rossa goal to keep his side in it at the water break.
A Benan Kelly score immediately after the restart and then another when Kevin McShane finished a flowing move pushed the gap out to six, with Rossa now needing goals and almost got one three minutes from time when Thomas Morgan availed of the advantage to crack a shot that also hit the crossbar, but play came back for the free that McEnhill converted.
Rossa really needed a major to ensure a grandstand finish, but it wasn't forthcoming as a Ciaran Bradley point at the other end sealed the Cargin win.
ROSSA: M Byrne; C Orchin, J Cooley, G Walsh; N Crossan, R Gowdy, P Moyes; S Beatty (0-2), C McGettigan; SP Donnelly, C Fleming, T Morgan; E McMenamin (0-1), D McEnhill (0-3, 2 frees), M Mallon.
Subs: S Shannon for S Beatty (50), D Grego for E McMenamin (53), R Murray for J Cooley (53), R Currie for R Gowdy (60+1).
CARGIN: M Magill; G McCorley; K O'Boyle, R Gribbin; R Devlin (0-1), J Laverty, S O'Neill; K McShane (0-1), J Carron (0-2); C Bradley (0-1), P Shivers, D Johnston; K Close (0-3, 2 frees), R McKernan (0-1), T McCann (0-2, both frees).
Subs: B Kelly (0-1) for P Shivers (HT), E Quinn for K Close (HT), P McLaughlin for D Johnston (50), G McCann for J Carron (59), B Laverty for R Devlin (60+1).
REFEREE: Darren McKeown (St Gall's)
