Murray fires up Antrim promotion bid

ANTRIM 0-17 LONDON 0-13

RYAN MURRAY fired Antrim back to winning ways as they came from behind to beat London in Ruislip yesterday.

The Saffrons trailed by 0-8 to 0-7 after a stop-start first-half, but dominated the final 20 minutes, with corner-forward Murray kicking eight points to keep them in the promotion hunt.

The Exiles kept their noses in front thanks to Ryan Elliott, Liam Gavaghan and Adrian Moyles, who scored a combined 0-7.

Antrim eventually discovered their shooting boots and two Paddy McBride frees drew them level, but Fearghal McMahon pointed from the final play to put the Exiles in front at the interval.

Antrim moved up a gear as CJ McGourty began to pull the strings, while Murray found his range.

The Saffrons scored five unanswered points as London went 20 minutes without a score, and while the home side made it a three-point game in injury-time, a late McGourty effort sealed the spoils. SCORERS – Antrim: R Murray 0-8 (2f), CJ McGourty (2f), P McBride (2f) 0-3 each, P McAleer, J Laverty, C Duffin 0-1 each.

London: A Moyles (2f), L Gavaghan (2f) 0-3 each, F McMahon, M Gottsche (2f) 0-2 each, R Elliott, R Jones, C Doran 0-1 each.

ANTRIM – C Kerr 6; P Healy 6, P Gallagher 7, N Delargy 6; K O’Boyle 7, M Sweeney 6, J Laverty 7; S Burke 7, P McAleer 7; M Fitzpatrick 6, C Murray 7, P McBride 7; CJ McGourty 7, C Duffin 6, R Murray 8. Subs: K Healy 7 for Sweeney (ht), R Johnston 6 for Burke (51), P Branagan 6 for Healy (53), R McCann 6 for Gallagher (58), S McVeigh (on too late for rating) for Laverty (64), S Beatty (on too late for rating) for Duffin (69).

LONDON – G McEvoy 7; Colin Dunne 7, M Mangan 7, C O’Neill 6; M Walsh 6, R Jones 7, A Moyles 7; A McDermott 6, J Moran 6; E Murray 6, L Gavaghan 7, S McManus 6; R Elliott 7, M Gottsche 7, F McMahon 7. Subs: C Doran 6 for Murray (51), Ciaran Dunne 6 for McManus (54), G Byrne 6 for Mangan (60), J Daly 7 for Elliott (60), M Carroll (on too late for rating) for Moyles (64).

REF – E O’Grady (Leitrim)