Down 0-10 Antrim 1-12
Antrim took full advantage of a poor Down performance to coast to an easy McKenna Cup win in Newry tonight.
The victory wasn’t enough to put the Saffrons through to the semi-finals, but it was a confidence-boosting win over a side who will be playing two divisions higher than them in this year’s league campaign.
Down were a point ahead on a few occasions in the early stages but Paddy Cunningham’s goal after 22 minutes turned the game in Antrim’s favour.
His fisted effort put Antrim 1-3 to 0-4 ahead, and they outscored the home side by six points to two for the remainder of the half.
Although Cunningham accounted for 1-3 of Antrim’s half-time tally, the saffrons had six different players on the scoresheet, with newcomer Philip Maguire catching the eye with two points from play.
Down spurned a lot of chances as Antrim romped to a 1-9 to 0-6 lead at the break. Scores were hard to come by in the second-half.
Mourne defender Dan McCartan received the only black card of the game after 60 minutes for pulling down Sean McVeigh, who had to be stretchered off.
DOWN: B McVeigh; D McCartan, J McCarthy, S McNamee; C Garvey, A Carr (0-1), R Boyle; K King, P Fitzpatrick; D Turley, L Doyle (0-2, 1f), D O'Hanlon (0-3, 2f); N Madine (0-4, 3f), B Coulter, S Bell. Subs: B McArdle for Turley (30), D O'Hagan for Doyle (46), P Turley for King (55), E McCartan for D McCartan (60, BC), G McArdle for Fitzpatrick (64), M Lively for Garvey (67).
ANTRIM: C Kerr; K O'Boyle, S McVeigh, N Delargy; M McAleese, M Johnston, J Lavery; M Sweeney (0-1), M McCann (0-1); C Murray, P Maguire (0-2), P Kelly (0-1); P Cunningham (1-3, 2f), C Duffin (0-1), M Pollock (0-1). Subs: J Crozier for McAleese (43), B Neeson (0-1) for Duffin (44), CJ McGourty (0-1, f) for Cunningham (53), T McCann for Kelly (53), C Kelly for McVeigh (60).
Referee: S McNamee (Tyrone)
