‘Immensely proud of all the players’
drilling over two frees either side of Furlong’s second score, the first won by Harry Wilson, the second by Darren Hayden.
Overzealousness in the tackle from Dean Healy earned himself a yellow card and the home side their first chance of a score after 11 minutes which Paddy McBride dropped over off the right. He followed that up with another when Ciaran Hyland fouled full-forward Conor Murray.
Wicklow enjoyed some healthy-looking attacks in the next few minutes. They moved the ball confidently from their defence with Dean Healy and Rory Finn proving competent but stray balls brought an end to the flowing moves.
An absolute peach from Ryan Murray off his left brought Antrim to within a point of Wicklow at 0-04 to 0-03 after 16 minutes, the score again coming from a move breaking down during a Wicklow attack at the other end.
Good tidying up work from Conor Healy allowed Rory Finn a chance from distance but his effort dropped short and was cleared but a pointed free from Darren Hayden left Wicklow leading 0-05 to 0-03 after 24 minutes of very decent action. A foul on Conor Healy by James Laverty out on the wing had won Wicklow the free and lip from Laverty to referee Niall McKenna saw the free moved in a generous amount and Hayden dropped it over with aplomb.
Antrim hit back and drew level through two points from Ryan Murray (one free) with the second point coming from Wicklow’s failure to win breaking ball under James Stafford.
A foul on Darren Hayden gave Mark Jackson another chance and the Baltinglass man screwed over a beauty but Antrim hit back at the death of the first half with a free from Ryan Murray and the sides went in level at 0-06 apiece at the break.
Conor Healy continued his excellent game for Wicklow with his floated beauty early in the second half but this was snuffed out by Paddy McBride for Antrim.
Antrim were starting to string some passes together and Conor Murray sliced the Wicklow posts from a ridiculously tight angle to give the home side the lead for the first time in this game.
Seanie Furlong dropped deep and won a ball and sent Darren Hayden free towards the end line. Clever play from the Éire Óg man sent him into the dangerzone but as he fired wide he was fouled and Seanie Furlong did the necessary to make it 0-08 to 0-08.
John Evans sent in Theo Smyth and Daniel Keane in place of CAthal Magee and Mark Kenny with 45 on the clock but Antrim opened a two-point lead in the next few minutes with points from Paddy McBride (two frees).
Daniel Keane had joined Seanie Furlong inside releasing Darren Hayden out to the wing while WICKLOW Senior football manager John Evans looked like a renewed man leaving the field in Corrigan Park on Sunday. He wasn’t celebrating, he knows Wicklow didn’t win but it was the manner of the performance that was feeding the air of positivity emanating from the Kerry native.
We mentioned to him that he might have been looking for a response following the London defeat and he replied that he had been and that he had got it in spades.
“Got it in spades, in bucket loads from the lads. The lads were hurting from their display against London, not taking from London one bit, London are a good side. But we were smarting a bit coming up here today and the field was covered in snow and what not and we were reduced down to 13 men at the finish, but it didn’t Antrim sent in CJ McGourty.
Wicklow stopped the rot with a Darren Hayden free and then things started to go a little pearshaped when Seanie Furlong’s protests following a reckless sliding tackle on Dean Healy earned him a red card with 26 gone in the second.
Just prior to this Daniel Keane picked up a knock and had to be replaced by Conor Byrne.
A class point from corner-back Peter Healy returned Antrim to the lead, but Mark Jackson fired over a free won by Conor Byrne who took to the fray at a gallop and this was followed by a Darren Hayden pointed free after dogged work from Dean Healy.
Matters took a turn for the worse for Wicklow then as Theo Smyth collected his second yellow as matter what the circumstances were, we were going to stand up today. And we could have nicked it, so could they, look, under the circumstances, real, real harassment and toughness up here in Corrigan Park, and I think, Wicklow just grew up today, they grew up.
The Wicklow boss was visibly animated at some of the referee’s decisions on the day. Obviously, he wasn’t going to be drawn on the officiating, but he said that his young side were learning fast but lacked the cuteness of the Antrim players to win frees at key moments.
“There’s a lot of young lads out there, they’re learning the ropes, we made a lot of mistakes, Antrim showed their experience in how to win frees, and we’ll leave that as it is, but we certainly weren’t as cute. But, at the same time, I was certainly happy with the team overall.
Wicklow started well in this game, owned the first few moments and went in level at six Niall McKenna tried to stamp some authority on the game.
CJ McGourty fired over a deadly point, having just missed one from a free, to raucous cheers from the home crowd but back came Wicklow.
John Evans’ men attacked down the wing; Rory Finn starting the move with a free-kick to Conor Byrne.
The ball looked to be lost but Byrne held up play and Darren Hayden managed to rescue the situation and he fed Jamie Snell.
The Rathnew man picked out Conor Healy who made a burst and found Harden again who flicked over the top for Rory Finn who rode a challenge and dropped over the sexiest score you will ever see off his left to level the scores. points apiece. How did the Wicklow manager see the opening 35?
“There was good pace in the first half and the field held up very well. I’m really happy, we could have been one or two points up at half-time, but we were happy that we had played. We were going out then to go after them in the second half. We took the game to them on two or three occasions but on my memory, we came back into the game four times in the second half and on top of that we were one man down and then two men down, it didn’t matter what we had, we just kept going. We defended heroically, that’s part of what we didn’t do in the previous games, but look, this a team that is developing and growing and I’m delighted with the younger lads that were in there. And to see James Stafford running 60 yards from across the field and beating two Antrim lads to the ball was a sight to behold and when you have that leadership from the
Mark Jackson had a chance from way out but his effort dropped short and then McGourty looked to have the winning of the match in his hands but his effort was gathered by the Wicklow defence and the shrill sound of McKenna’s whistle split the bitterly cold Belfast air.
Wicklow had earned a point through bravery and tenacity. Things could get very interesting from here on in if the Garden County lads play with the same passion and application as they did in Corrigan Park.
Scorers - Antrim: Paddy McBride 0-5 (4f), Ryan Murray 0-4 (2f), Peter Healy, Conor Murray and CJ McGourty 0-1 each.
Wicklow: Seanie Furlong 0-4 (3f), Mark Jackson, Darren Hayden 0-3f each, Dean Healy and Rory experienced guys the younger lads will learn.
“I can’t talk about sendings off. I’m just immensely proud of all the players, every one of them, I’m immensely proud of them and the way they played because it was adverse conditions.
John Evans said that every single player who featured for Wicklow played their part and worked their socks off. He was especially happy with the younger members of the squad.
“Conor Healy, Conor Byrne, Daniel Keane, Mark Jackson was superb, right throughout, Ross O’Brien there came in at centre back and controlled it, showed a lot of maturity and, of course, what can you say about Rory (Finn) and Dean (Healy), they really played to the full of their ability. At the end of the day, Cathal Magee was in there as well, wonderful experience for him, and any guy that came off had given it all and I was extremely happy with it,” he added. Finn 0-1 each.
Chris Kerr; Peter Healy, Patrick Gallagher, Niall Delargy; Kevin O’Boyle, Mark Sweeney, James Laverty; Sean Burke, Michael McCarry; Paddy McAleer, Stephen Beatty, Conor Murray; Paddy McBride, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Ryan Murray. Subs: CJ McGourty for M McCarry (48), Ricky Johnston for S Burke (56), Kristan Healy for M Sweeney (69).
Mark Jackson; Ciaran Hyland, Jamie Snell, Harry Wilson; Pat Burke, Dean Healy, Ross O’Brien; Rory Finn, James Stafford; Darren Hayden, Mark Kenny, Cathal Magee; John Crowe, Seanie Furlong, Conor Healy. Subs: Eoin Murtagh for P Burke (29), Daniel Keane for C Magee (45), Theo Smyth for M Kenny (45), Conor Byrne for D Keane (61, inj.)
Niall McKenna (Monaghan)