Graham Tarmac Antrim Junior Football Championship Final
St Comgall's 0-9 St Agnes 1-3
ST COMGALL'S dealt with the elements better and survived a late scare to the lift the Antrim Junior Football Championship, defeating St Agnes on a wintry Saturday afternoon in Hightown.
A prolonged hail shower created pools of water on the surface prior to throw-in and both sides were forced to try their upmost to adapt.
Pre-game favourites St Comgall’s hit the front after Tom Patchett’s free dropped short, Miles Devine gathered and laid the ball to Patrick O’Connor to drop his shot over the bar.
St Agnes' had one sole attempt on target in the opening half, though Ronan Carroll kicked his free wide.
It took Comgall’s until the 18th minute to double their advantage in the form of Miles Devine point and he would double his individual tally moments later after exchanging passes with Ryan Clarke and bending his shot inside the posts.
Devine added a converted free before the break as his side were 0-4 to 0-0 ahead at the interval.
St Comgall’s extended their lead with three converted frees inside of the first six minutes of the second half.
Tom Patchett’s trusty left foot guided the first two over with Ryan Clarke kicking the other from close range.
The occasion appeared to be getting the better of the Aggies with Anthony Watson easily gathering a scuffed Shay Madden attempt.
After 47 minutes the West Belfast natives finally registered on the board after Conall Turley switched to David McGaharan to kick their opener.
It would be the first of three unanswered as Ronan Carroll dropped over a second and converted a free on the 51st minute to reduce arrears to four.
St Comgall’s steadied things up with Miles Devine feeding Patchett to kick his first from play of the afternoon and Patchett notched up his third converted free on the stroke of full-time.
The Antrim town natives would see the game out with 14 men after James McCabe was shown a second yellow card and subsequent red for getting involved in an incident off the ball.
St Agnes’ took immediate advantage of their numerical advantage from the resulting free that Colin Clarke floated into the rectangle and substitute Patrick Mulgrew’s fisted attempt saw the ball tail through a ruck and into the net.
Time was against the Aggies though and their fightback was in vain as St Comgall’s held on to claim the Championship for the first time in three years.
ST AGNES': C Carroll, P Carool, R Reilly, K McCormick, R Gilligan, C Flannery, B McLarnon, C Turley, D Turley, C Clarke, R Carroll (0-2, 0-1f), J Campbell, D McGaharan (0-1), S Madden, C McBride.
Subs: C Gregory for B McLarnon (40), P Mulgrew (1-0) for D Turley (45), D Crummey for D McGaharan (60).
ST COMGALL'S: A Watson, S Gribbon, C Donnelly, C McKeown, M McCabe, J McCabe, D O’Hara, J Henry, L Higgins, J Webb, P O’Connor (0-1), A McGaw, R Clarke (0-1), M Devine (0-3),T Patchett (0-4, 0-3f).
Subs: E Lynott for D O’Hara (41), D Murdock for A McGaw (45), D Hanna for J Webb (52), C Griffin for R Clarke (60+1).
REFEREE: Ray Matthews (O’Donavan Rossa)
