Last Wednesday night the Div 1 team finished off the season with an away win at Ahoghill at a perfectly presented floodlit pitch. The Malone men fielded a young team augmented with the recently honeymooned Richard Smyth, for whom married life seems to be improving his football. Playing uphill in the first half the Belfast boys wasted too much possession and were punished on the counter. McGrady from frees and Loughrey from play did keep the scoreboard ticking, while the men in red and black counter-attacked on the left wing. With Ben Synott and Andy Sweeney switching spots the balance of power returned to the visitors and they edged themselves into the game. The loss of Loughrey at the break may have meant bad news for the Malone men but Conor Mackle added a bit of balance up front and substitute Ronan McGrady showed the type of form that has earned him rave reviews from the Antrim under 17 development panel with three well taken points from play. A typical poacher’s goal from Chris McCann with six minutes left saw captain Mark Sweeney control the game in the final minutes from midfield. The last point of the game came from Jack Dowling who knocked over from the 21 after a sweeping move down the right.
This proved to be a good end to the season and saw the Malone road men jump three league places in Division 1. There was much to encourage those charged with taking over the Div 1 management role next season. The under 21’s play in October in the championship and with a lot of hard work can look forward to a reasonable run based on the performance of those playing on Wednesday night.
TEAM: M Salters, Ciaran Mackle, R Smyth, D McAuley, B Synott, B McMahon, G Bogue, M Sweeney, J Dowling, A Sweeney, R O’Neill, B Leonard, C McGrady, C McCann, J Loughrey Subs: Conor Mackle for J Loughrey, M Malone for G Bogue, R McGrady for B Leonard, R Mackle for A Sweeney.
Men of the match: R Smyth and R McGrady
