ACFL Division One
Rossa 0-13
St Galls 2-21
At Rossa Park

A second-half attacking masterclass helped St Galls on their way to clinching yet another victory in the top-flight after they made short work of 14-man Rossa on the Shaws Road on Wednesday evening.

The travelling side managed to head for the changing rooms with a single point after a late rally from the hosts helped them produce a great comeback which would have St Galls ruing their multiple wides in the opening half of play.

Aodhan Gallagher got the game up and running when he managed to find space and lash a great score between the posts for St Galls to take an early advantage after 90 seconds.

The dominance in possession by the Milltown men was helped thanks to the return of Niall Burns and Eoghan McCabe following the conclusion of their Intercounty season for Antrim. McCabe's ball retention and cute awareness helped expose early gaps in the Rossa backline and could have had a goal assist if not for the great defensive resilience from the hosts to prevent Niall Fallon bursting the net.

Rossa did finally get their foot on the ball and Thomas Morgan did find the leveller on the ninth minute but chances proved limited for the Jeremiahs.

After a series of wides which kept the scoreboard the same after ten minutes, St Galls managed to retake their advantage when seasoned veteran Mickey Pollock rectified an earlier miss and planted a great score into the catch net.

Danny Quinn saw his woes in front of the net put to bed when the forward struck a great free to increase his side's lead, and Colm Walsh followed with an effort of his own but despite the domination in possession St Galls struggled to make the most of it and their lead was cut in half when Dominic McEnhill wrapped his foot around the ball and between the uprights for a score.

Pollock showed his experience and managed to continue to prove a threat when he notched two quick-fire clipped efforts for white flags, whilst Niall Burns marked his return to the blue (or in this case black) jersey with a great score to continue pressing on with the lead.

As the half faded, the Jeremiahs grew in confidence thanks to a terrific two-pointed free from Dominic McEnhill, which was followed by yet another score for an orange flag, this time Thomas Morgan getting in on the act and thumping a scorching strike high and skimming the inside left upright.

St Galls saw their lead dwindle to within a point as the half-time whistle was sounded with 0-10 to 0-9 reading on the scoreboard.

The frustration held by the management bench at the break was surely heard loud and clear as the Milltown men started the half with a score in the opening seconds as Aodhan Gallagher linked well with Eoghan McCabe before the Antrim captain found his county compatriot Niall Burns who dispatched an early score.

Burns was firmly warmed to the game at this point, and took over the long-range set-pieces and drilled a great two-pointer to extend his side's lead to three points.

Prior to the free being taken, Dominic McEnhill was booked twice in a matter of moments and despite the Antrim star pleading his innocence the referee dismissed him for verbal misconduct and Rossa were without their talisman for the rest of the tie.

From then on St Galls kicked on and the hosts looked lost at times without McEnhill's presence. 

It didn't take long for Niall Fallon to find the net after he retrieved the Rossa kick-out and set up a counter-attack with Burns before dispatching his effort into the bottom corner of the net. The remainder of the half saw St Galls continue to press home some great attacking link-ups and as the scores rolled, so did the confidence of the Milltown side.

Colm Walsh found his range and a delicious brace of scores from Danny Quinn saw the scoreboard continue to be worked in favour of one side only.

Niall Burns proved too hot to handle with his speed and agility allowing St Galls to break the lines and they almost found the net a second time only for Conall Murray's effort to roll agonisingly wide after some tidy possession in the final third.

Quinn and Burns both collected more white flags and the victory was almost assured at this point, with the game playing out as one-way traffic when it came to finding scores.

Rossa did show some spirited fight and were narrowly close to punching home a major after Gerard Walsh's free floated into the danger area but was eventually cleared by Chris Kerr and prevented a goal-mouth scramble from finding the back of the net.

The St Galls scoring was rounded off when Mickey Pollock rolled back the years and thumped a great score into the roof of the net on the stroke of the hour and sealed the victory for the away side.

Fleming did tally a handful of late frees for Rossa to cut the deficit ever so slightly, but it proved to be nothing more than a consolation and St Galls look rampant as ever with the defeat to Creggan parked firmly in the rear-view mirror as the only black spot on an otherwise flawless campaign.

Rossa XV: M McEnhill; J Tennyson, G Walsh, J McGurk; N Crossan, S Beatty, R Grant; E McMenamin 0-1, L McEnhill 0-1; C Walsh, D McEnhill 0-3 (1xTPf), T Morgan 0-4 (1xTP); C Fleming  0-4 (1xTPf)

Subs: D Murphy

St Galls XV: C Kerr; C Hale, A McDonagh, E McCurdy; C Murray, E McCabe, E Walsh; A Gallagher 0-1, C Ryan; C Walsh 0-2, N Burns 0-9 (2xTP), A Mackel; N Fallon 1-2, M Pollock 1-3, D Quinn 0-4 (0-1F)

Subs: J Mervyn, C Stinton