Down 1-18 Antrim 0-14

Ulster Gaa Football Senior Championship – Quarter-Final

Down 1-18 Antrim 0-14

Brendan McTaggart reports from Páirc Esler

Antrim’s Ulster championship hopes were ended by a slick Down side on Saturday evening at Páirc Esler.  Seven points separated the sides at the end of the 70 minutes but in truth the home side had this match won by half time.

In a first half where tactically, Antrim refused to contest a Down restart, the Saffrons packed their defence and relied on being capable of soaking pressure from the home side then looked to counter attack.  After 15 minutes it looked like it was frustrating the Down men but as the game progressed, the pressure increased and Antrim’s game plan began to unravel.  Down gambled on winning the midfield battle and trust their own ability.  They put pressure on Chris Kerr’s kick outs and the Antrim challenge began to wilt.

They scored the games only goal when Shay Millar cut inside from down the Antrim left for what felt like the one hundredth time in the first half before laying off to Kevin McKernan in the 35th minute.  A finish from point blank range and a finish that ended Antrim’s championship after one half.

Antrim showed more attacking intent in the second half with Conor and Ryan Murray as willing as ever to run through brick walls for the Saffron shirt while Kristian Healy gave the Saffrons something extra in attack.  Defensively, if someone asked Antrim would they take Connaire Harrison scoring just 0-1 before a ball was thrown in, they would have bitten their arm off for it.  Ricky Johnston looked shaky in the opening quarter but warmed to the task and had the upper hand over the Down star before a moment of madness in the 57th minute ended his game.  The Creggan man seeing red for an off the ball incident involving Jonny Flynn.  Caolon Mooney was man marked by Peter Healy, a tough ask but the Naomh Éanna man stuck to the task well before being substituted late in the game.

Niall McKeever was played on the 3/4 line in another tactical move where Antrim were looking to use him as an outlet with runners coming from deep.  Again, it looked good in the opening quarter but Down were able to contain and counter with plenty of threats of their own.  Namely Peter Turley.  The Down midfielder was outstanding and only pipped to man of the match by Donal O’Hare.  The Down forward finished with 0-7 but tormented the Antrim defence with pace, trickery and guile.

Down took their foot off the accelerator in the second half with the intensity but as Antrim pushed looking to come out in top of mission impossible in the second half, they left gaps that Down exploited.  If there is a silver lining to be taken from this performance, Antrim need to look at how they competed in that second period.  Maybe Down were seeing the game out with a seven point lead after their first half dominance, but Antrim battled hard and took the game to the Mournemen in that period.

Decent Start….

Antrim did make a bright start as both sides looked to assess the tactical layout of each other.  Fitzpatrick drilled over what was arguably the score of the game in the second minute for the first point of the match.  Wide on the right an close to the touchline, Fitzy unleashed one with the outside of his right boot to split the posts.  As the Antrim fans on the City side terrace cheered before the umpires raised the white flags the Saffrons started to believe that this could be their day.  A free from McBride after five minutes doubled the Antrim lead and the Saffrons were making the most of a nervy start by the home side.  With the concession of possession, Antrim played into Down’s hands though.  They were a team lacking in confidence and stared like a team who had forgotten how to win.  With the possession they grew in stature and it was only a matter of time before they started to pick holes in the Saffron defence.  First it was Mooney then O’Hare (free) before Millar dissected the posts in the 11th minute to give Down the lead.

Ryan Murray raised a third white flag for Antrim in the 17th minute to bring the sides level, the Lámh Dhearg man riding a couple of heavy challenges from the Down defence before finding his range but Down began to go thrown the gears.  Another trio of points from O’Hare (free), McKernan and Millar was added to by full back Brendan McArdle too give Down a four point advantage.  Conor Murray landed a delightful point from wide on the right and McBride landed points either side of another O’Hare free in the 30th minute to leave three points between the sides but Down finished the half superbly.  First Harrison evaded the challenge of Johnston before splitting posts then McKernan scored Down’s goal in the last minute of the half.  It could have been worse for Antrim moments later when Down looked to punish anothr wayward Antrim kickout.  Mooney flighting the ball to the unmarked McKernan but the Down man fluffed his lines this time before Antrim gathered possession.  In what can only be described as a rush of blood, McKernan dragged down Niall Delargy as the Saffron defender looked to pick his pass.  As decisive a black card as you are likely to see and McKernan went from goal scorer, to the bench in the space of less than 60 seconds on the stroke of the half time whistle.

Half time score: Down 1-9 Antrim 0-5

It took Antrim until the 37th minute to contest a Down kickout.  Bourne out of necessity more anything as they looked to claw their way into the match.  McBride scored the first point of the second half when he split the posts from a free for his third white flag of the match but a long range free from Anthony Doherty and O’Hare’s first from play got the home side firing again.

Ryan Murray split the posts in response for Antrim but Down landed another trio of scores to take their lead to double figures – O’Hare (two) and Conor Maginn with the white flags.  Indeed were it not for the shot stopping ability of Chris Kerr, the Mournemen would have scored their second goal after 49 minutes but he pulled off an outstanding save to deny O’Hare and deflect his drilled shot over the bar.

 Ryan Murray landed scores either side of a Sean Dornan point before Johnston saw red to reduce Antrim to 14 men for the last 12 minutes of the game.  The Saffrons continued to apply pressure on the Down defence though and outscored Down by five points to one in the next ten minutes – substitute Colm Duffin, McBride, Conor Murray and Kristian Healy (two) with the scores, O’Hare’s seventh point of the contest the only effort the Down men could respond with to leave just five points between the sides but Down had the final say.  Dornan and Doherty landed points in injury time to ensure safe passage for the Down men and a meeting with either Derry or Donegal in the Ulster semi-final.

It’s back to the drawing board for Antrim and the first round of a qualifying section that already has some big names laying in wait.  Antrim will be hoping for a favourable draw as they look to pick up the pieces from their performance at Páirc Esler.

 TEAMS

Antrim: Chris Kerr; Peter Healy, Patrick Gallagher, Niall Delargy; Kevin O’Boyle, Ricky Johnston, James Laverty; Patrick McAleer, Niall McKeever; Mark Sweeney, Conor Murray, Ruairi McCann; Ryan Muarry, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Patrick McBride

Subs: Colum Duffin for P Gallagher (HT); Stephen Beatty for N McKeever (49); Kristian Healy for R McCann (49); Odhran Eastwood for P McAleer (63); Michael McCarry for P Healy (inj)

Scorers for Antrim: Ryan Murray 0-4 (1 f); Patrick McBride 0-4 (2 fs); Conor Murray 0-2; Kristian Healy 0-2; Matthew Fitzpatrick 0-1; Colm Duffin 0-1

Black Cards: none

Yellow Cards: P McAleer (34); P McBride (37); S Beatty (65)

Red Cards: Ricky Johnston (58)

Down: Marc Reid; Colm Flanagan, Brendan McArdle, Anthony Doherty; Darren O’Hagan, Niall McParland, Caolan Mooney; Peter Hurley, Niall Donnelly; Kevin McKernan, Conor Maginn, Shay Millar; Donal O’Hare, Connaire Harrison, Ronan Millar

Subs: Sean Dornan for K McKernan (black card); Jonny Flynn for R Millar (51); Ryan McAleenan for C Flanagan (56); Conor McGrady for C Harrison (60); Niall Madine for D O’Hare (67)

Scorers for Down: Donal O’Hare 0-7 (5 fs); Kevin McKernan 1-1; Shay Millar 0-2; Sean Dornan 0-2; Anthony Doherty 0-2 (2 fs); Conor Maginn 0-1; Connaire Harrison 0-1; Brendan McArdle 0-1; Caolan Mooney 0-1

Black Cards: Kevin McKernan (35)

Yellow Cards: N Donnelly (28)

Red Card: none

Referee: Derek O’Mahony (Tipperary)

Attendance: 5589