Aghaderg 0-10 Ardglass 1-8
Aghaderg’s senior footballers will have woken up this morning and wondered, how on earth they were not in the draw for the next round of the Junior Championship? Dominant for much of this game and playing really well, the Reds just couldn’t buy a score…..and when you can’t score, you can’t win!
Ardglass probably had the lion’s share of possession in the opening quarter, but that seemed to suit Aghaderg just fine as they made the most of the few opportunities that came their way and picked off some really classy scores. On the break, the Reds found the space they needed up front to get their marksmen forward and with three sweet strikes from Chrissy McAvoy, another from Michael Fitzpatrick and a converted 45 from Niall Lennon, Aghaderg led by 0-5 to 0-4 and looked in great shape to pull off a championship victory.
A fisted goal from Ardglass came against the run of play and looked like a fatal blow to our championship hopes but Aghaderg roared back and although they missed two great goal opportunities, two converted frees from Chrissy McAvoy left them reasonably contented at half time to be level on a 0-7 to 1-4 score line.
For 25 minutes of the second half, it was really all Aghaderg. Ardglass took the lead with an early point but Paul McCusker joined the attack to equalise and then Owen McGreevey pushed Aghaderg ahead and for seventeen frustrating minutes, that is how the score line stayed. The Reds hemmed Ardglass into their own half but countless opportunities for both goals and points came and went and inevitably the feeling grew that we could not score and would not score.
Ardglass defended well and blocked everything and Aghaderg could not create the space they needed for a telling shot on goal. With five minutes to go Ardglass equalised with only their second score of the half. Two more points followed and although Chrissy McAvoy converted a late free, Aghaderg continued to miss the opportunity of an equaliser in a nail-biting finish.
Team:
Paul Colgan; Thomas Lennon, Louis Murray, Kelin Doyle; Paul McCusker (0-1), Ciaron Davies, Ryan Donnelly; Paul McGrath, Cailum Meara; Rory McShane, Michael Fitzpatrick (0-1), Rory Conway; Owen McGreevey (0-1), Chris McAvoy (0-6), Niall Lennon (0-1).
Subs used:
Michael Lennon, Cathal Matthews, Conor McGivern.