All Saints March On

All Saints ...................5-18

Moneyglass ................1-4

THE bulk of the All County activity has all but come to an end but South West football action continues in the form of an Under-23 league, an event in which the All Saints are buzzing.

They followed up last week’s big win over Aghagallon with another resounding success over Moneyglass with a twenty six point drubbing at Quinn Park.

Sean O’Brien, who stepped down as senior manager at the end of the 2021 season has returned to take charge of the club’s U23 side and has coaxed a number of absentees back into the fold putting together a strong panel.

His son, Shea O’Brien who had a good hour at mid-field, got the ball rolling with two early points before Charlie McCloskey got in for a Moneyglass goal in the eighth minute to put them ahead.

Ronan McKillop replied with two points for the home side to restore their lead and James McDonnell added another before Darragh Bradley saw his well struck effort come back of the crossbar.

McKillop added another point before Charlie McCloskey recorded the visitors second point with nineteen minute gone as they gradually lost touch.

Ciaran Campbell added another All Saints point before Cormac Lemon’s delivery was fisted to the net by Shea O’Brien giving them a six point advantage at the break, 1-7 to 1-1 and, with second half wind advantage they looked home and hosed.

Ronan McKillop on the restart then kicked a couple of early frees to move his side further ahead with Tyler Cassidy firing wide with the goal at his mercy at the other end.

When Darragh Bradley added a couple more and Shea O’Brien also got in on the act the Saints were well out of sight.

Moneyglass were then handed a lifeline when referee, Ryan O’Reilly pointed to the penalty spot but , like so much that went wrong for them, Tyler Cassidy’s effort struck the crossbar and went over..

To make waters worse the Saints launched a lightning counter at the other end with Patrick Ferris crashing his shot to the net to put his side eleven in front and in complete control.

Ronan McKillop got in for goal number three with twenty minutes gone and he, Shea O’Brien and a couple of Patrick Ferris efforts saw their total increase to 4-16 with six minutes remaining.

Mid-fielder Shea O’Brien added two more as both sides emptied their benches and it was the Saints replacement, Luke Walsh who palmed home his side’s fifth goal with practically the last action of the game.

This was another good performance from the Ballymena side and they never really looked in trouble against a Moneyglass team who were missing a number of regulars but gave it everything over the hour.

The pleasing aspect for the home side has been the return of several players who have played little football over the past year, with perhaps a number of them remaining on board for next season.

Teams: All Saints: 1 Conor Brennan, 2 Rian Tom, 3 Michael Read, 4 Conall Killough, 5 Ronan Laverty, 6 Patrick Ferris, 7 Matthew Downey, 8 James McDonnell, 9 Shea O’Brien, 10 Cormac Lemon, 11 Ciaran Campbell, 12 Darragh Bradley, 13 Charlie Metrustry, 14 Joshua Blair, 15 Ronan McKillop.

Replacements: Luke Walsh, Kevin Brady, Fintan Brady, Aidan Scullion

Moneyglass: 1 Ross Donnelly, 2 Nate Dixon, 3 Diarmuid Scullion, 4 Matthew Mullen, 5 James McCormick, 6 Paul Duffin, 8 Peter McCormick, 9 Connlaodh McCann, 10 Connor O’Kane, 11 Ronan Campbell, 12 Ben Hamill, 13 Aidan McErlain, 14 Tyler Cassidy, 15 Charlie McCloskey.

Replacements: 18 Kevin McCann, 19 Rory Taggart, 21 Enda Duffin, 29 Ruairi Duffin.

Referee: Ryan O’Reilly (Glenravel)