LAST Wednesday saw the final fixtures of Antrim’s divisional football. The gruelling league campaign came to a dramatic conclusion as the topflight status of both Shaws Road clubs hung in the balance.

Rossa assumed their fate was a foregone conclusion, after a disappointing campaign saw them slump to 15th in the division, only placing above St Mary’s Ahoghill.

The return of county stars Mick Byrne, Dominic McEnhill and Conor Stewart was too little too late it seemed for the saffron and blue men as they only managed a single win in their final three fixtures, including conceding a game, due to injury worries, to St Brigid’s after both clubs' fates were thought to have been confirmed prior to the final matchday.

Mick Byrne spoke to the Andersonstown News as he had to switch attention from county duty to the relegation play-offs for his club side.

"We have had a rough season, but Antrim club football starts right at the same time as the county campaign which is not ideal for any of the clubs who are missing boys due to commitments to the schedule.

"We really need to knuckle down and try our best to turn the form around. Then we have the small matter of the Championship in a few weeks too, so we are hopeful that the season isn’t lost yet," said Byrne.

A relegation play-off looked set for Rossa but with the strengthening of the panel, the Shaws Road side were confident they could overcome any opponent and avoid the drop.

St Paul’s, on the other hand, travelled to Corrigan Park to face Belfast rival and fellow relegation threatened St John’s.

The red and white hoops looked safe on paper prior to the contest, with the hope that results in Aghagallon would go in their favour given Aghagallon's recent collection of defeats, including a penultimate day hammering from St Paul’s.

Both sides at Corrigan Park gave hell for leather as they both understood the importance of victory to avoid the bottom four. St Paul’s looked set to rue some missed chances on the night as the clash saw the Shaws Road side defeated by a single score at the hands of St John’s in what proved to be a heated affair.

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Despite starting the day in tenth place, three positions above the dreaded play-off, St Paul’s found themselves in a serious predicament, after murmurs in the stands at Corrigan Park believed that the impossible was in fact happening, when Aghagallon led Ballymena by two scores with minimal time remaining in the game.

Panic had set in for some of the St Paul’s faithful, with the Antrim County Board rule book getting a thorough examination to determine whether the head-to-head or scoring difference, or to make it easier again, the scoring difference in the head-to-head was the decisive factor as it would see four clubs sit on 11 points in the table, with one set for the final spot in the bottom four.

The fear was that should score difference outright be the decider, the Shaw Road side would end up taking that dreaded final position, as they sat with -84. This left the away side looking back to their opening fixture with Creggan after they suffered a harrowing defeat by 42 points back in March.

Matters only worsened as the game in Aghagallon never concluded and was forced to be abandoned, meaning no one knew how this affected the issue.

Thankfully in a dramatic turn of events, the Competition Control Committee welcomed the voluntary relegation from St Mary’s Ahoghill on Saturday morning in a statement reading.

"St Mary’s Ahoghill have notified CCC that they will be unable to field in the relegation play-off games scheduled for the coming weeks. They have accepted that they will therefore be relegated from Division One."

Call it luck, a blessing, a miracle, whatever, all that matters now is that both Rossa and St Paul’s can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their top-flight status is secure for now.

The pair can now look to the Championship which begins on the opening weekend of August, as they look to rectify their respective league campaigns.