Match day 5 Allianz League Division 3: Antrim v Laois

Match day 5 proved to be a tough affair between Antrim and Laois at a very blustery Corrigan Park, Belfast.  How much would the elements come into play today?

Antrim who came off the back of a loss from table-toppers Louth, used home field advantage to get their scoring off to a start through half back Paddy McBride.  Laois responded well as they went up the other end and got the first score of their own.

Conor Murray struck over two consecutive scores for the Saffrons, while Jack Dowling added another giving them a 0-4 to 0-1 lead inside 14 minutes.

Laois came back with two scores of their own, before St Galls CJ McGourty slotted over another making it a 0-5 to 0-3 game. Half time was upon us, CJ rifled home a goal chance from close range giving Antrim a five point margin.

The half time whistle was about to be blown when Laois where down to 14 men due to what seemed like an illegal punch.  Would this prove to be a sucker punch for the O’Moore Countymen? 

Laois came out with a fire in their bellies scoring two unanswered points until Antrim’s Paddy McBride slotted over for his second. The score line was level reading Antrim 1-6 Laois 0-9 with 12 minutes gone in the second half.

Another point by CJ McGourty restored Antrim’s lead to a single point.  Conor Hamill also scored one of his own to widen the gap to two points until Laois struck over another.

Antrim Managers Frank Fitzsimons and Gearoid Adams gathered their troops by introducing 3 substitutes to settle the game. The score read Antrim 1-9 Laois 0-11 with 4 minutes left to play on the clock.

The star of the show McGourty had the chance to settle down the game with a free.  However the heavy wind directed the ball onto the upright, denying Antrim of a two point lead in injury time.

Laois broke with the ball, however missed their chance to level the contest with a widely struck effort. The Saffron’s capitalised scoring another point to lead with a two point cushion with seconds left to play.

The full time whistle blew. Antrim won the closely competed contest on a score line of 1-10 to Laois’ 11 points.

ANTRIM

Scorers: CJ McGourty 1-4 (0-3 frees), Conor Murray, Paddy McBride 0-2 each, Conor Hamill, Jack Dowling 0-1 each.

Team: Chris Kerr; Conor Hamill, Patrick Gallagher, Peter Healy; Paddy McBride, Declan Lynch, Paddy McAleer; Jack Dowling, Stephen Beatty; Kevin Niblock, Ruairi McCann, Matthew Fitzpatrick; CJ McGourty, Conor Murray, Seamus McGarry. Subs: Sean Donnelly for K Niblock (half time, BC), Brendan Bradley for McGarry (47 mins), Sean McVeigh for Donnelly (57 mins), Donal Nugent for Dowling (64 mins), Niall Delargy for Lynch (66 mins).

LAOIS

Scorers: Ross Munnelly 0-3 (0-2 frees), David Conway, Evan O'Carroll 0-2 each, Padraig McMahon, James Finn, Sean Moore (free), Alan Farrell 0-1 each.

Team: Graham Brody; Darren Strong, Denis Booth, Alan Farrell; Stephen Attride, James Kelly, Padraig McMahon; James Finn (0-1), John O'Loughlin; Niall Donoher, David Conway (0-2), Damien O'Connor; Ross Munnelly (0-3, 2 frees), Donal Kingston, Paul Kingston. Subs: Eoin Buggie for Attride (18 mins, inj), Evan O'Carroll (0-2) for D Kingston (25 mins, inj), Sean Moore (0-1 free) for Conway (half time, BC), C Murphy for Munnelly (49 mins), Kieran Lillis for P Kingston (54 mins), Danny O'Reilly for Finn (63 mins).