Allianz National Football League Division Three: Antrim 1-13 Longford 0-16

3rd April 2017

Report By Brendan Crossan

GEAROID Adams leaned against the cool concrete walls outside the changing rooms in Corrigan Park and summed up perfectly Antrim’s last-gasp relegation back to Division Four.

“It’s completely gut-wrenching,” he said.

Beside him was joint-manager Frank Fitzsimons.

Both men were still trying to make sense of Longford’s stoppage-time equaliser that kept the visitors afloat in Division Three and sent the Ulstermen back down to the basement alongside Laois.

On a dramatic last day, Offaly saved themselves too with a surprising one-point win over Laois.

But, make no mistake: yesterday was rough justice on this young Antrim team.

Written off at the start of the year, this group of players have grown as a team, making valiant strides over the last three months - and yet they still got relegated on scoring difference.

When Longford attacker Sean McCormack hammered over his rangy free in the 76th minute, there wasn’t enough time for Antrim to mount another attack down the field.

Once Longford’s wild celebrations died down, an eerie silence gripped the west Belfast venue.

Moments earlier, it seemed the incredible comeback was complete when CJ McGourty edged Antrim ahead deep into stoppage-time.

It was an outstanding score from an outstanding finisher.

Antrim trailed 0-10 to 0-7 at the interval and they fell five behind after 44 minutes [0-13 to 0-8] – but they showed wonderful courage to come back and get ahead thanks largely to the brilliance of McGourty, who notched a mesmerising 1-4 in the second half.

His 50th minute penalty after Niblock was fouled reduced the deficit to one point [0-13 to 1-9].

Antrim's tails were up.

But what Saffrons needed in those final seconds of yesterday’s enthralling duel was a cuteness – a bit of cynical play, one might say - to deny Longford building from the back and allowing them to pull the game out of the fire.

Longford, infinitely more streetwise than their hosts, most certainly would have fouled their way over the finishing line had they been in Antrim’s shoes.

The visitors finished yesterday’s epic struggle with 13 men after Andrew Farrell picked up yellow and black cards that saw him lined on 50 minutes, and centre-back Padraig McCormack was red-carded for a wild lunge on Antrim’s Brendan Bradley on 58 minutes.

Antrim also played out the last 10 minutes (including stoppage-time) with 14 men after their sixth and final substitute Ryan Murray was felled by Diarmuid Masterson.

“It’s hard luck but, in my opinion, I thought it was a very bad call to give that free [for Longford] at the very end, and I thought the challenge on Ryan Murray should have been a straight red card," Adams said.

"He got cleaned after he got a ‘mark’.

“What do we do? Do we be more cynical ourselves? Longford built from the back to get that equalising point. If it had been the other way about, Longford would have taken cards.

“Maybe that’s a lesson for us to learn.”

Despite their day ending in bleak circumstances, there were some stunning displays from the home side.

McGourty played the shirt off his back in the Antrim attack, top-scoring with 1-7.

Peter Healy was brilliant in defence. Declan Lynch scored two monster scores – one in each half.

Wing-back Paddy McBride was on the front foot from start to finish.

Goalkeeper Chris Kerr weighed in with an excellent block to deny Longford a second-half goal, while Niall Delargy and Kevin Niblock got through a mountain of work.

But, in the cold light of day, the home side paid a heavy price for a disastrous end to the first half.

Longford, who started with 10 of the side that toppled Monaghan in last year’s All-Ireland Championship, hit seven points between the 20th and 35th minutes.

A classy CJ McGourty point in the 31st minute was Antrim’s only resistance in that period.

“We fell asleep the last 10 minutes of the first half and let them get a three-point lead,” said Adams, “but we came into it in the second half and brought it back.

“I thought we had it in the end but they managed to steal a draw, which means we’re Division Four and they’re in Division Three. That’s how fine the line is.”

Antrim’s scoring average took a hammering in Offaly in mid-February, losing by 13 points, which came back to haunt them.

“The Offaly match was a complete freak,” said Adams.

“That was the one game that got away from us. All the other matches we were in contention. We should have got a point against Tipp and we should have got a point against Louth.

“We didn’t do that, so we were chasing it today. In saying that, our comeback today and to get a one-point lead was great.

“We obviously needed a bit more experience, we needed to be that bit cuter. We’d opportunities to get a few more scores and didn’t take them.”

Patrick McBride, Kevin Niblock and Brendan Bradley had good chances to get Antrim back on level terms before a McGourty free levelled things up in the 66th minute.

While their persistent fouling drew the wrath of the home crowd, Longford showed great resilience of their own to remain composed when they went down to 13 men.

And as Longford ushered the ball up field in the last attack of the game to equalise, substitute John Keegan was grounded just inside the scoring zone.

It was a dubious enough call.

But McCormack showed nerves of steel to find the middle of Antrim’s goalposts to save Denis Connerton’s men from the drop.

“It was very tense, very tough going,” said a hugely relieved Connerton.

“I don’t know how much more of this I’m able to take at this stage of my life...

“We showed fabulous character in that game. The resilience of these players was exceptional. The most important thing from our perspective was to stay in this division.

“Our backs were against the wall especially when we had 13 men for long periods. But we’d a huge 15 minutes before half-time – I think we got something like seven points. That period was absolutely crucial.”

The Antrim players dropped to the turf at the final whistle. Devastated by the outcome.

And yet they're much better than a couple of months ago. Fine lines.

Antrim: C Kerr; C Hamill, P Gallagher, P Healy (0-1); P McBride, D Lynch (0-2), P McAleer; J Dowling, K Niblock; R McCann (0-1), M Fitzpatrick (0-1), S Donnelly; CJ McGourty (1-7, 1-0 pen, 0-4 frees), B Bradley (0-1), N Delargy Subs: P Brannigan for C Hamill (19), D Nugent for J Dowling (46), C Small for R McCann (47), E Walsh for S Donnelly (53), J Hannigan for P Brannigan (53), R Murray for N Delargy (65), R Murray (66 no replacement)

Yellow cards: R McCann (20), P Brannigan (37), P Healy (56), C Small (76)

Longford: P Collum (0-1 ’45); D Brady, B Gilleran (0-1), A Farrell; D McElligott, P McCormack, B O’Farrell; D Gallagher (0-1), L Moran; L Connerton (0-1), J McGivney (0-1), B McKeon (0-2); R Smyth (0-4, 0-3 frees), M Quinn (0-1), S McCormack (0-4, 0-3 frees) Subs: D Masterson for L Moran (54), J Keegan for D Gallagher (69), P Farrell for L Connerton (73)

Yellow cards: D Gallagher (22), A Farrell (40), B Gilleran (63)

Red cards: A Farrell (40 & 50, yellow & black), P McCormack (58), Black cards: A Farrell (50)

Referee: N Mooney (Cavan)

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This group of players deserve much credit and have developed immensely from the beginning of the year. Losing Conor Murray and Stephen Beatty for the game was a blow to the Saffrons. However , this young group will regroup and will no doubt bounce back up from Division 4 having flavoured Division 3. The lads will take the heartbreak and learn from it.

#Saffs #GiveTheChampionshipAlash