ACFL Division One
St Galls 1-19
St John's 1-11
At Milltown
St Gall's welcomed their nearest and dearest to Milltown for an early clash in Antrim's top-flight on Sunday morning with the sides both in opposite veins of form after the Wednesday fixture round, with St John's earning a victory over Sarsfields and St Gall's seeing their unbeaten streak ended in South Antrim to Creggan.
The first half was a great battle with both sides firmly showing the physical nature of Gaelic football early on with some heavy tackling and challenges were certainly excessive at times.
St John's opened the scoring with Paddy McBride thumping a great effort between the posts, with the former Antrim captain finding himself in an unusual position, but nonetheless his scoring ability proved as strong as ever.
It did not take long for the home side to find a reply, and they did in emphatic fashion when they found the net after a quick-free from Barra McCaffrey found Padraig Óg Murray in space with the full-forward showing great composure to lay it off to Niall Fallon who burst the net with a great finish.
BIG GAME PLAYER: Paddy McBride topscored with five points despite defeat to St Galls
The aggrieved St John's felt that an injury in the process should have prevented the goal from standing, but their outrage ultimately cost them with referee Ray Matthews awarding a free to St Gall's due to misconduct, and another point was struck for the hosts when Daniel Quinn clipped it over the black-spot.
The first-half lacked much quality in terms of point-scoring, but St John's did rally a couple of scores with Paddy McBride and Odhran McAuley both earning white flags for their side.
Points from McCaffrey and Quinn kept St Gall's firmly in the driving seat and Padraig Óg Murray managed to turn-over a great score alongside Martin Murray's excellent score from just inside the arc which kissed the upright and kept the Milltown men four ahead.
Barra McCaffrey enjoyed a spell where he knocked over consecutive scores with St John's rarely venturing forward with much success out-with Paddy McBride, who continued to find white flags with his set-pieces.
The half ended with a bust-up in the middle of the park which resulted in the hosts being reduced to 14-men temporarily after a black card was produced for Christopher Hale.
As half-time blew St Gall's did maintain a lead of three over their rivals, who did creep within the goal margin after McBride and Conall Quinn offering some solace with strikes at the end of the period for the Corrigan Park side.
After the orange slices were hand out, the former All-Ireland winners were the side to really up the ante in the second half, and started once again as Dubhaltach Wilson drove down the field and clipped the ball between the posts, and Barra McCaffrey added to his growing personal tally with two great efforts, increasing their side's lead to six points.
The Johnnies did find themselves under the cosh and their deficit stretched to nine-points when Danny Quinn's two-pointed free was accompanied by another McCaffrey score.
Eventually St John's did find some rhythm and retained a grip on proceedings when Chris Kerr was called into action preventing James Wilson with a great stop, but eventually Conall Quinn was on hand to dispatch the rebound.
St Gall's fell asleep for a ten-minute period, which caused substitutions to roll and the addition of Cormac Austin, who allowed the hosts to regain control with the young star firing over a great point from play, helped the hosts maintain a healthy advantage.
McBride was once again the man for St John's when he drove a free over the bar and Conchuir Adams finally got his afternoon's scoring underway with a great effort which swung from the right hand side and flew over the black spot.
A superb two-pointer from Conor McEvoy kept the tie alive with five minutes remaining and only five points separating the rivals as the crunch-time could see a miraculous comeback on the cards.
Fortunately for the home side, the experience from Aodhan Gallagher and Pollock allowed the game to be strangled with Gallagher winning every ball driven down his throat from the kickout.
A free from Barra McCaffrey and a score from Pollock sealed the home win in the derby, and returns St Gall's to winning form after a night-off in Creggan.
St Gall's: Chris Kerr; Christopher Hale, Gairech Adams, Ethan Walsh; Damien Ball, Dubhaltach Wilson 0-1, Conor Ryan; Manus McCrossan, Aodhan Gallagher; Martin Murray 0-1, Daniel Quinn 0-7 (0-4F, 1xTPF), Aaron Mackel; Barra McCaffrey 0-6 (0-1F), Padraig Óg Murray 0-2, Niall Fallon 1-0
Subs: Mickey Pollock 0-1, Cormac Austin 0-1
St John's: Brian Neeson; Paddy McDiarmid, Oisin Jackson, Lorcan McCallin; Dannan McKeogh, Conor McEvoy 0-2 (1xTP), Odhran McAuley 0-2; Paddy McBride 0-5 (0-3F), Adrian Oliver; Ronan Donnelly, Conal McGlade, James Wilson; Odhran Quinn, Conall Quinn 1-1, Conchur Adams 0-1
Subs: Matthew Leydon, Shae McKee, Fintan McKinney
Referee: Ray Matthews
