Northern Switchgear SFC Group Two
St John’s 2-17 
Ballymena All Saints 2-14 
At Corrigan Park

A fantastic team performance truly helped the Johnnies in their quest to top their Antrim Senior Football Championship group after they prevailed by three points in a feisty and tough affair with Ballymena on Sunday evening.

The game was the feature of belfastmedia.com as the evening clash was available on the Championship Live blog.

Conor Hand's second half goal strike, which can only be described as David Clifford-esque, helped cement the momentum boost in favour of his side as the three-point lead earned from his goal proved to be the difference as the sides battled for supremacy on the Whiterock Road.

The game got off to a frantic opening few minutes after Conor Stewart launched a superb strike which flew between the posts for two inside the opening seconds of the game.

Paddy McBride got off to an early start when he halved his sides deficit with a short range free before the game truly sprang into life.

An off the ball incident occurred and saw the Ballymena forwards in a tussle with Conor Hand, with the Johnnies forward ending on the wrong side of a sore incident.

Moments later the issue was resolved when the Antrim star stepped up and blasted a terrific effort over the bar for two as the orange flag was raised alongside the fans who applauded the young star.

It did not take long for another contentious moment after McBride and Brendan McDonnell exchanged scores, but just as the clock hit the 13th minute Kavan Keenan was dismissed when the black card was shown after a clash with Ryan McNulty.

The man advantage did eventually kick St John's into gear and Sean Wilson fancied himself from a tight angle and prevailed, meanwhile Paddy McAleer thumped an orange flag to keep the away side within touching distance.

Just before Keenan's reintroduction, the Corrigan Park side managed to grasp the game and the lead when Simon McDonagh looked to have scrambled the ball over the the line, although Conall Quinn looked to have gotten the final knick on the effort.

Ballymena were restored to full capacity and they made it count with Connell Lemon instantly blasting a ferocious effort into the top-corner of the net before Brendan McDonnell struck a massive orange flag to level.

Conor Hand responded and restored parity before Conchur Adams granted some breathing room and doubled the advantage.

McDonnell struck a late free to reduce the score to the minimum with St John's leading the crunch tie in Group Two.

The second half was as frantic as the first and opened with McDonnell firing over the leveller before the crucial moment fell to Conor Hand.

Conchur Adams' fist pass was retrieved, un-ironically, by the use of one hand by Conor Hand and the forward stepped inside before lobbing the goalkeeper and watching the ball nest in the top-corner.

Hand then grasped another score instantly before Ryan McNulty fired over a terrific effort for two-points in favour of the Johnnies.

When you thought the game could not get anymore dramatic, the away side were awarded a spot-kick after an infringement on Connell Lemon.

James McDonnell made light-work of Bam Neeson and was followed by another strike from Stewart who once again reduced Ballymena's deficit to the minimum.

Both sides exchanged multiple scores with Paddy McBride hitting three key points including a phenomenal two-pointer, meanwhile Ryan McNulty hit another huge score for the Johnnies to extend their lead to five points with as many minutes left on the clock.

Brendan McDonnell then stepped up and fired over two fantastic frees but time was not on the side of the All Saints and despite their frantic flurry late on, the result remained as it did at the half and St John's prevailed.

The Johnnies have managed to clinch not only a knockout spot for the first time since 2024, but will hope to finally earn a win with their last knockout victory coming in 2017.

St John's XV: Pearce Donnelly; Oisin Jackson, Enda McGurk, Conor McEvoy; Sean Wilson 0-1, Chris O’Neill, Conal McGlade 0-1; Simon McDonagh 1-0, Ryan McNulty 0-3 (1xTP); Conor Hand 1-4 (1xTPf), Patrick McBride 0-7 (1xTP, 4F), James Wilson; Conall Bohill, Conall Quinn, Conor Adams 0-1

All Saints Ballymena: Ryan Stewart; Joe Rafferty, Cal O’Brien, Sean McDermott; Patrick Ferris, Shaun O’Callaghan, Kavan Keenan; Paddy McAleer 0-3 (1xTP), Emmet Killough; Connell Lemon 1-2, Conor Stewart 0-3, James McDonnell 1-0, Peter McReynolds, Brendan McDonnell 0-5 (2F), Ciaran Campbell 0-1

Referee: Brendan Toland