Allianz Division Four
Antrim 1-15
Carlow 2-16
At Portglenone
ANTRIM suffered a huge setback in their hopes of promotion after an opening day defeat at the hands of Carlow on Sunday afternoon in Portglenone.
The hosts opened the scoring when Pat Shivers pointed a free from short range and St Gall's star Niall Burns announced his return to the panel with a great score from play as he clipped an effort between the posts.
Antrim looked good early on and managed to pen Carlow in their own half for the majority of the opening ten minutes and Conor Small's delicious finish sent the Saffrons in front by a three point margin.
Disaster soon struck for Antrim in a game in which they were in full control when they succumbed to a sucker-punch when Niall Roche's 11th-minute goal was quickly followed by a second green flag.
The away side managed to retain the possession directly from the Antrim kick-out and after a scuffle close to goal, Conor Doyle was impeded and seemingly dragged down inside the box and the referee awarded a penalty for the Leinster county.
Christopher Blake made no mistake as he drilled his spot-kick into the top-right corner before tacking on a few extra points from play in the first period which killed Antrim's momentum.
The Saffrons fought back through Lámh Dhearg's Mark Jordan after his driving run gave Antrim the boost they needed when the half-back clipped over the bar.
Antrim did begin to kick into gear as the half tailed and Niall Burns once again proved pivotal. The forward struck a great two-pointer and Oisin Doherty followed up the score with a white flag of his own as Carlow’s lead whittled down to the bare minimum at the interval.
A moment which Antrim may rue was Pat Shivers opting to negate his initial score for one, after the referee awarded Antrim the advantage for a breach by Carlow, but brought it back and Antrim had the chance to continue with the single point or opt for a chance at two. Shivers opted for the latter and his free was sent agonisingly wide of the mark and Antrim headed into the break on a negative note.
Antrim would face the second half with the wind against them.
A great score from Carlow opened the half and before long Antrim's deficit looked a mountain to climb.
Antrim showed solidarity with the protest against league sponsors Allianz
Eoghan McCabe and Mikey Bambrick exchanged points early in the half before McCabe clipped a fantastic score between the posts for the Glensmen, but Bambrick continued to cause real trouble for the Antrim defence scoring twice in quick succession.
The momentum continued in favour of the away side, and when Conor Hutton’s orange flag increased the Carlow lead to seven points, Antrim faces looked almost defeated.
Mark Doran looked to his subs bench for hope and that is exactly what he got when St John's youngster Ronan Quinn came off the bench to punch home the only goal for Antrim. Quinn rose highest to get on the end of fellow Johnnies compatriot Paddy McBride, after his floated delivery was perfectly weighted for his teammate to arrive and thump it into the back of the net.
Oisin Doherty enjoyed a spell where he scored another point to reduce the deficit to three, but despite scrambling for the pivotal goal it never came even when Niall Burns' effort off the deck looked to have been the best chance, but Ben McCarron was on hand to punch the danger away.
Paddy McDonnell claimed the final score of the game for Carlow to ensure the visitor's won by four and Antrim's late hopes for heroics proved in vain.
Antrim must recover quickly ahead of a long trip to Tipperary next Saturday, where they will hope they can get off the mark in Division Four.
Antrim: John McNabb; Kavan Keenan, Kevin McCann, Eunan Walsh; Eoghan McCabe 0-02, John Finnegan, Marc Jordan 0-01; Paddy McAleer 0-01, John Carron; Paddy McBride, Conor Small, Seán O’Neill; Pat Shivers 0-04 (0-01f), Niall Burns 0-04 (0-02f, 1 tpf), Oisin Doherty 0-02.
Subs: Dominic McEnhill on for Conor Small, Kevin Small on for John Carron, Ronan Quinn 1-0 on for Sean O’Neill, Ryan McQuillan on for Paddy McBride, Tomas McCann 0-01 on for Kevin McCann
Carlow: Ben McCarron; Colin Byrne, Dara Curran, Lee Moore; Niall Roche 1-00, Mark Furey, Padraig Bolger 0-01; Eoghan Ruth, Conor Doyle 0-03 (0-01 tp); Paddy McDonnell 0-01, Colm Hutton 0-02 (0-01 tp), Mikey Bambrick 0-01; Conor Crowley 0-02, Christopher Blake 1-04 (1 tpf, 1-00 pen), Ross Dunphy 0-01
Subs: Tadgh Roche on for Mikey Bambrick, Adam Burgess on for Eoghan Ruth, Shane Clarke on for Padraig Bolger, Liam Gavin on for Conor Crowley, Aaron Amond on for Ross Dunphy
Referee: Andrew Smith
