Antrim Football League Division One
St John’s 1-9 Portglenone 1-12

ST JOHN'S slipped to their second successive defeat after Wednesday night’s three-point defeat to Portglenone at Corrigan Park.

Conal Delargy’s first half penalty helped Casement’s lead 1-7 to 0-8 at the end of a keenly-contested opening 30 minutes.

The hosts were wasteful in front of the posts in the second half and were left to rue Darren Bellew’s missed penalty on 40 minutes with Portglenone goalkeeper Ryan O’Neill also saving Bellew’s rebound.

Having lost their opening game to rivals Rossa, St John's would have been hoping for better fortune against a Portglenone side who suffered an opening round loss to St Brigid's at the weekend. 

The visitors made the brighter start to proceedings with points from Delargy (free) and full-forward Michael Hagan putting them two ahead on four minutes.

St John’s opened their account when Andy McGowan opted against taking a mark and possession was recycled with centre-back Pearse Donnelly splitting the posts.
Hagan and Bellew exchanged points before McGowan levelled the game at 0-3 all on 12 minutes with a fine score.

Portglenone then regained a lead which they would hold until the full-time whistle when Michael Dudley was adjudged to have fouled Oisin Doherty as the Casement’s attacker cut through on goal and Delargy made no mistake from the penalty,  smashing his effort down the middle as Padraig Nugent guessed the wrong way.

The Johnnies replied with an excellent long-range free from Bellew before Hagan and Ronan McCaffferty swapped points.

Indeed, the remainder of the half was almost point-for-point with Delargy (free) and Bellew next to raise white flags.

Delargy was proving a handful for the home defence and he landed Portglenone’s final two scores of the half, one from play and another brilliant long-range free with Dudley and Stephen Tierney replying for the hosts to leave Casement’s leading 1-7 to 0-8 at the interval.

The second half didn’t get off to a good start for Paddy Nugent’s side as they were forced into a switch in their full-back line when Aaron Douglas came off injured.

Portglenone sought to close out the contest in the third quarter and they extended their lead via another Delargy free which was soon followed by an excellent point from raiding wing-back Ryan Convery.

Things could have been even worse for St John’s had Convery spotted an unmarked Doherty lurking at the back post.

Trailing by four, the home side earned a lifeline when gritty determination from the industrious McGowan won his side a penalty when his run was impeded by Aidan McAleese.

However, Bellew’s penalty lacked conviction and O’Neill was able to make an easy save while his follow-up was also repelled by O’Neill.

Moments later, Portglenone midfielder Ronan Kelly took advantage of some slack marking to fire over a point from play to move his side five clear inside the final 20 minutes.

A free from his midfield partner Paddy Kelly looked to have settled the game in favour of Barry Dillion’s men.
Yet, St John’s had ample time and opportunity to gain something from the contest.
With a little under 10 minutes of normal time remaining, Bellew atoned for his early miss by rifling a shot past O’Neill following great work from Pearse Donnelly in the build-up.

However, a series of wides and a second yellow issued to wing-forward Ryan McNulty hindered their prospect of a comeback.

Nugent kept the gave alive in the closing minutes when he made a stunning save to deny Hagan, but Paddy Kelly slotted over the resulting ’45 before McGowan cut the gap back to three in stoppage time.

There wasn’t enough injury-time for the hosts to muster another shot on goal and Portglenone held on to secure their first win of the new campaign.
 
ST JOHN’S: P Nugent; M Dudley (0-1), C Carson, A Douglas; O Donnelly, P Donnelly (0-1), P Gribben; J Bohill, R McCafferty (0-1); R McNulty, S Tierney (0-1), D Bellew (1-3, 1-0 pen, 0-2fs); C Quinn, A McGowan (0-2), F McCrudden.
Subs: S McDonagh for Bohill (HT), R Hannigan for Douglas (37), C Hand for McCrudden (46), J Garland for P Donnelly (57), K Cunningham for O Donnelly (60).
 
PORTGLENONE: R O’Neill; C McGhee, S Delargy, R Delargy; R Convery (0-1), R Hagan, C Tierney; R Kelly (0-1), P Kelly (0-2, 0-1f, 0-1 ’45); C Delargy (1-5, 1-0 pen, 0-4fs), A McAleese, F O’Kane; M Kelly, M Hagan (0-3), O Doherty.
Sub: C McKenna for R Hagan (57).
 
REFEREE: Brendan Toland (Lámh Dhearg).