Antrim Intermediate Championship
St Galls 1-14
Creggan Kickhams 1-13
At Milltown
A low-scoring but high-drama affair took place at De La Salle Park where St Gall's managed to strike a last-gasp winner from Dubhaltach Mac Liam to clinch progression into the knockout phase for the first-time since 2019.
The game looked to be on its way to a draw when Conor McCann, on the third time of asking, planted a 65 between the sticks to tie up the game for the South Antrim side and the woes in this championship looked to continue for the hosts.
On the final attack of the game St Gall's finally stood up to be counted when Mac Liam flashed a superb point over the black-spot and earned the victory.
The hosts opened up an early five-point gap with Wilson tallying early frees and an exceptional score from the right-wing before being accompanied by a blistering strike from Ethan Walsh and Mark Napier as St Gall's looked desperate to right the wrongs of the past few years in the Intermediate Championship.
Morgan Nelson replied for the travellers to finally get his side off the mark in a miserable day in Belfast.
The game eventually fell into a scrappy affair, and despite St Gall's having the lion's share of possession they failed to really establish any strong lead as Creggan soon fought back to within a few scores after Thomas McCann found his range for the men in green and gold.
A collision on the 16th minute saw the hosts awarded with an in-direct free and the strike that followed proved massive in the context of the game.
Mac Liam stood over the sliotar and launched it into the danger area where the veteran Sean Burke sat awaiting his chance to pounce and use his physical stature to tower over the opposition and he managed to connect with the ball and there was only one destination.
The goal settled St Gall's who were very frantic and at times too quick for their own good causing their own detriment and handing scores to Creggan from misplaced passes in the wet conditions.
Conor McCann took on the free duties for Kickhams and they began to find joy in the scoring department and continued to cut St Gall's lead to within five points, before Mac Liam responded to end the half with four-points in favour of the Milltown men.
The second-half was a very physical and dramatic half of hurling, where Creggan would have the better of the scoring charts in the second period.
McCann continued to threaten with the hosts being penalised for rash challenges and allowing too many placed balls to cut the score to having just the goal margin as a separation.
Despite the low scoring it was a huge battle for supremacy at Milltown
Creggan eventually spread their scoring, this time to Thomas McCann who often popped up in space and proved deadly in short-range scoring.
The game looked to be getting away from St Gall's but Dubhaltach Mac Liam fired over another free to keep them just edging a lead heading into the final 15 minutes.
Oran McIlhatton stepped up and fizzed a terrific score and restored the four-point lead in favour of the hosts, but it looked to unravel when Creggan broke the defensive resilience of St Gall's.
The ball fell to the space and Kevin Rice used his frame to bulldoze his way through the Milltown side and despite Paddy Friel's heroics moments earlier to deny the forward, this time Rice would get the better of his opponent.
Friel, who was a late addition the protect the goal-posts due to a hamstring injury, managed to prevent an equalising point when his tall frame helped him stretch and collect the sliotar which looked destined for a white flag.
Paddy spoke with the Andersonstown News at full-time where he commended multiple players who filled in out-of-position on the day.
"Credit to a lot of the lads today, maybe filling in on positions where we have some big injuries and key players absent. To go out and manage to get the job done regardless of the score is massive.
"It's been years since we got to the knockouts, so you seen the relief on the touch-line today when we managed to get it done, but we want to continue on from here for the rest of the championship."
As the game began to wrap, St Gall's looked to have blown their chance as they failed to score for almost ten minutes with Creggan levelling on the final minute of added time through Conor McCann's 65.
The next puck-out was crucial, and Friel found Walsh who managed to scramble the ball to Mac Liam who used his pace and inch-perfect touch to blitz past the Creggan defenders before lashing the ball over and the home crowd roared as the flag was raised.
The full-time whistle blew and St Gall's had clinched progression from the group at long last.
St Gall's XV: P Friel; E Rush, M Marlow, A Mackel; G Adams, G McGreevy, J Hopkins; T O'Ciarain, O McIlhatton 0-1; E Walsh 0-1, F Donnelly, M Napier 0-1; D Mac Liam 0-11 (0-8F), S Burke 1-0
Creggan XV: C Rice; J McAteer, A McKeown, P McGuckian; S O'Boyle, C McCann 0-5 (0-5F), K McCann; R McGuckian, S Maguire; S Duffin 0-1, T McCann 0-4, D Doran; S McAuley 0-1, K Rice 1-0, M Nelson 0-2 (0-2F)
