Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship, semi-final
Portglenone 1-17 Lámh Dhearg 0-9

THE semi-final hoodoo is no more for Portglenone as they dominated Lámh Dhearg in Toome on Saturday to reach their first Antrim Senior Football Championship final since 2009.

Casement's had experienced last four heartbreak for five straight years, but this time they kicked the door down and have a final to look forward to as this time the tears were of joy.

They got on top early and at no time seemed likely to be bettered with Enda Lynn pulling the strings in an impressive display, while Ronan Kelly and Oisin Doherty contributed 10 points between them.

Niall Delargy played a major role and Niall McKeever stood in defiance to repel late Lámh Dhearg raids as they ensured there would be no more disappointment.

Lámh Dhearg just didn't do enough despite some decent performances from Owen McKeown and Ben Rice, but losing Conor Murray to a 46th minute red card didn't help and they would end with 13 as Rice picked up a black card deep in added time.

What also couldn't have helped was the shadow hanging over this time right up until 24 hours before throw-in with Creggan's appeal from the quarter-final due to be heard by the Ulster Council on Friday before Kickham's decided to withdraw from the process earlier in the day.

This is not why they lost as it also left Portglenone in a bit of limbo, yet their manager John McKeever insisted the whole issue made no odds to him or his players.

"We were in a good position as we were in a semi-final and it wasn't a distraction," he said.

"We had two weeks to think about Lámh Dhearg and if that changed, then we would deal with it, but the focus was on Cargin (venue) at 4pm today.

"Our boys came in with little pressure as everyone expected us to be beat and that would be the trend after five semi-final defeats. But I felt we would perform well today and over the last five years we have been unlucky as times, but you have to make you own luck and we did that today."

A fairly cagey start came to an end five minutes in as Paddy Cunningham points a free for the Lámhs, which acted as a cue for Portglenone to get moving as they swept upfield with Niall Delargy and Niall McKeever linking up for a Delargy point.

Daniel McNicholl edged Casement's ahead and then came their goal arrived, which was entirely preventable from a Lámh Dhearg perspective as Michael Herron was caught waiting for a fairly loose Mark McGarry ball to reach him and Fergal O'Kane took full advantage to intercept and pop to Stephen Kelly to finish low.

Cunningham did reply from a free soon after, but Casement's could and should have had a second goal as again, possession was given to them too easily but a sweeping move resulted in Gerard Smyth saving at point-blank range from Oisin Doherty. The ball was transferred up the field with Owen McKeown and this felt like it could have been a big moment, but a few wides ensured Lámh Dhearg couldn't build upon it.

Ronan Kelly and and Cunningham swapped frees but Portglenone would enjoy a fine run to the half as they outscored the Hanahstown outfit by five to one as Doherty, Kelly and Michael Hagan all got on the board with Hagan having the goal at his mercy fort his second, but opted to fist over.

McKeown was the Lámh Dhearg scorer in this time but they went in at the break with much to do as Portglenone held what was a very healthy 1-8 to 0-5 advantage.

Owen McKeown goes on the attack
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Owen McKeown goes on the attack

Casement's had been in a strong position in semi-finals over the past number of years only to see things to awry but they were not to let this happen again, setting a good marker early in the second period with points from Enda Lynn and Ronan Kelly.

Ben Rice did hit back only for Oisin Doherty to reply as the gap was eight and already, Lámh Dhearg needed a spark to get back into it.

Rice again pointed before the subsequent kick-out went straight to Paddy Cunningham and with Kevin Mullan out of his goal, Cunningham let fly from 30 yards but had to be content with a point as he got fully behind the shot.

An Oisin Doherty free came in response before the Red Hands engineered a good opportunity as Marc Jordan - temporarily stationed at full-forward after picking up a knock - made a superb fetch and offloaded to Declan Lynch who could have pulled the trigger, but instead passed out to Ryan Murray by which time the scrambled defence had crowded the space and the chance went.

Oisin Doherty kicks a Portglenone score
3Gallery

Oisin Doherty kicks a Portglenone score

This felt like the moment the Lámh Dhearg dream died and two minutes later there was further confirmation as Conor Murray initially picked up a black card which was then upgraded to red as he appeared to say something to referee Colm McDonald.

There was no looking back now for Portglenone as they once again outscored Lámh Dhearg by five to one in the final 10 minutes with Kelly, Doherty, Lynn and substitute Sean Byrne on target.

The Hannhstown men were chasing goals but the floated ball inside was well dealt with as the towering presence of Niall McKeever got his hands to everything that came his way as his side reached their first senior final since 2009.

PORTGLENONE: K Mullan; 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, 2f), E Lynn (0-2), R Kelly (0-6, 4f).
Subs: A McAleese for D McAleese (HT), C Tierney for C McGhee (57), S Byrne (0-1) for E Lynn (60), C Delargy for M hagan (60+3)

LÁMH DHEARG: G Smyth; Ross Murray, M McGarry, B Rice (0-2); O McKeown (0-2), D Lynch, D Smyth (0-1); P Fitzsimmons, M Jordan; D Murray, T McCrudden, Ryan Murray; P Cunningham (0-4, 3f), M Herron, C Murray.
Subs: P Mervyn for T McCrudden (16), E Matassa for D Murray (HT), F Mervyn for McMcGarry (46), M Lowe for Ryan Murray (49)

REFEREE: Colm McDonald (St Gall's)