27 September 2009
The St Gall’s machine rolled relentlessly on at Casement Park on Saturday night as the West Belfast club secured their ninth Antrim Senior Football title in ten years by overrunning Portglenone by 2-20 to 0-6 in a very one-sided final.
The Saints went into the game as short odds favourites and from the outset it was easy to see why as they took command from the start with a series of quick points from Rory Gallagher who was highly impressive in the opening quarter.
Portglenone were always up against it and managed only three points in the opening half, and all of those came from frees by corner-forward Gerard McAleese. St Gall’s were in total command and raced to an 0-11 to 0-3 lead by the half-time whistle.
Any thoughts Portglenone may have had of staging a second-half revival were soon dismissed as CJ McGourty and Rory Gallagher struck for goals in the sixth and eighth minutes of the second-half and it was clear the only thing in doubt was the size of the winning margin.
The champions introduced the veteran Sean Burns as a second-half subsitiute to win his tenth medal and equal a record set by St John’s Kevin Gough, and the stylish Burns showed he still has what it takes as he slotted over a point to complete a memorable evening.
Kevin Madden, who came out of retirement to line out for Portglenone, scored his team’s only point from play when he fisted over from close range and the former county star got a rousing reception from both sets of fans when he was substituted in the final minute.
However there was not stopping the St Gall’s machine whose fantastic run continues with their third title on the trot, their eighth this century, and their ninth in ten years.
ST GALL’S – Ronan Gallagher, Simon Kennedy, Andrew McClean, Colin Brady, Terry O’Neill, Anto Healey, Sean Kelly, Aodhan Gallagher, Sean Burke, Kevin McGourty, Rory Gallagher, Kieran McGourty, Conor McGourty, Kevin Niblock, Ciaran Gallagher.
SUBS – Sean Burns, Darren O’Hare, Ciaran O’Connor.
PORTGLENONE – Stephen Magill, John Kearney, Paddy Carey, Aiden Kearney, John McKeever, Tony Convery, Mark McAleese, Martin McCarry, Niall McKeever, Francis Cassidy, Mark Graham, Owen Doherty, Gerard McAleese, James Storey, Kevin Madden.
REFEREE – Brendan Toland (Lamh Dhearg).
