06 October 2011
All Saints advanced to the final of the Antrim Intermediate Football Championship with a fairly comfortable win over St. James Aldergrove at Casement Park on Wednesday night.
Wing-half, Emmet Killough pointed to give them an early lead and Paddy McAleer put them in the driving seat with a goal in the 10th minute after good work by full-forward, Sean McCambridge.
Much controversy has surrounded this fixture in the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s game with Aldergrove having been dismissed from the competition after defeating Dunloy at the quarter-final stage for fielding an unregistered player.
Appeals to Ulster Council and finally to the RDA saw them reinstated eventually and fixed to meet All Saints in Wednesday night’s game but the appeal appeared to unsettle the Aldergrove men more than their opponents and they never really settled from the off.
The loss of mid-fielder Dan Troland with an early injury seemed to unsettle the St. James’ side further and they managed only one point during the opening 30 minutes from a Fergal Burke free in the 15th minute as they squandered good opportunities and managed to kick seven wides in the same period.
The Ballymena side were much more economical in their play with Sean McVeigh and Paddy Logan controlling the mid-field sector and points from Logan in the 20th minute and one from the industrious Michael McCarry in injury time, saw them lead 1-3 to 0-1 at the break.
Aldergrove needed a good start to the second half if they were to salvage anything from this game but in the event it was the Slemish Park side who continued to control the pace of the game and Michael ‘Gooch’ McCarry increased their lead with points in the 2nd and 4th minutes.
Aldergrove did pull one back through the boot of Fergal Burke but their best efforts were floundering on the rocks of a solid All Saints’ defence in which Seamus McAffee, Kevin McAllister, Peter McNicholl and Emmet Killough were outstanding.
Michael McCarry added a couple more points with Paddy Logan and Liam Cassley also getting their names on the scoresheet while Fergal Burke was to finish the game as Aldergrove’s only scorer, accounting for all five of their points.
