Murphy comes to Antrim
Thursday, 7 August 2008
THERE has to be a great deal of satisfaction in winning a trophy even though the contest was staged at noon on a Saturday in an almost empty Croke Park.
Beggars can't be choosers.
I hear you say and I'm sure neither Antrim Manager Jody Gormley nor his players were too put out about the timing of the event.
They have ,at last won some silverware in the form of the Tommy Murphy Cup, and, if Gormley's comments prior to the game were anything to go by then it was certainly a very welcome prize.
“There's no doubt that there is certainly a need for a second tier competition in Gaelic football," he said, adding:
“It's been good for Antrim and it's been a great experience or some of the players who possibly would have very little chance of getting a run-out at Croke Park."
What a pity then that this is the last year of this competition. In existence in the past five years it never got the support or the backing it deserved. So heavily criticised since it's inception, the powers that be have now decided that the division counties for which it was intended will again get back into the All Ireland qualifiers.
It is good that the Saffrons have got their name on the trophy after their tale of woe from last year when an injury time goal from Wicklow denied them.
This time round they made no mistakes, beating the same opposition by three points, 3-12 to 1-15, and salvaging something from a season which saw them fail to win promotion from division four and exit the championship in their first round game.
Despite falling behind to a Sean Furlong goal only seconds after the throw in they came back strong during the second quarter and a three goal onslaught before the break saw them lead 3-6 to 1-9 at that stage.
The Saffrons on this occasion possessed a lethal full forward line which scored 3-9 between them with Tomas McCann, Kevin Brady and Ciaran Close all testing the Wicklow net.
They were indeed welcome and much needed strikes as it was the champions who showed all the early running and they led, 1-5 to 0-4, at the end of the first quarter.
Furlongs goal looked for a time as if it had knocked the stuffing out of Antrim but a sterling performance from the defence after their initial hiccup saw Cargin's Tony Scullion act as the linch-pin in turning a four point deficit after 17 minutes into a three point lead at the interval.
The same Scullion was involved in Antrim's first goal which came in the 23 minute when he set up full forward Kevin Brady who delivered on cue. Ciaran Close, another of the Cargin faithful, picked up Antrim's second goal and, not to be out done, another Cargin star Tomas McCann powered his side into a five point lead.
Wicklow's half back Leighton Glynn came forward to pull back a couple of points but Antrim were still relatively comfortable with their three point interval advantage.
Following an entertaining first half the game lost some of it's momentum in the opening stages of the second half as slippery under foot conditions saw both sides commit errors.
Wicklow however appeared to adapt best and a couple of points from Tony Hannon had them back to just one, 1-11 to 3-6, by the 44 minute.
The champions had ample chances to put the game out of Antrim's reach during the next ten minutes with Hannon and Furlong both firing wide as the Saffrons also saw their shooting away off the mark.
Antrim however did again find their shooting boots and they outscored their opponents three to one with the game running out of time.
A late Wicklow burst, not unlike what happened last year, saw danger men Furlong and Hannon cut the gap to two but a tremendous display of defending saw Antrim hold out for their moment of glory.
