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Antrim will play in the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2021 after standing his ground at Croke Park to repel the brave Kerry and secure the Joe McDonagh Cup title.
In the fourth and far more significant gathering of the counties this year, The Saffrons maintained their 100 percent record on the side of Fintan O’Connor to return to the top flight of the hurling.
The good performances in both the first and third quarters were significant from Antrim’s perspective, as was the scoring power of Ciaran Clarke, who scored 0-11.
Clarke scored 0-08 from free practice, while the introduction of the talisman Neil McManus in the third quarter after the injury was also crucial, as Cushendall’s man contributed 0-04.
A great day for everyone associated with @AontroimGAA throwing. pic.twitter.com/4YTnnntEwh
– Sunday’s game (@TheSundayGame) December 13, 2020
Kerry will be happy to see Antrim’s back after Darren Gleeson’s men denied him in two 2020 finals, the Division 2A League final and this McDonagh decisive, as well as in the group stage of the League and the championship.
This two-point loss was the closest Kerry got to Antrim in those four encounters, though, in truth, they were always chasing the game despite the narrow margin.
Antrim led by six points at the hour mark and could afford to be outscored 0-07 to 0-03 in the final stages and still break the winning line.
They resisted the temptation to include the talisman McManus from the start despite taking his place among the substitutes after a hamstring injury.
McManus suffered that setback in the Kerry League final loss in mid-October and missed all of his McDonagh Cup group matches.
Antrim managed without him in those games and initially hinted that they would have little trouble again in his absence as they rose 0-06 to clear 0-02 from the water break.
The Saffrons were dominant and Clarke was their point man with four of those six points, two of which came from set balls.
Half would be based on two bizarre moments, the first of which occurred two minutes after the water break and resulted in a goal from Kerry.
Antrim winger Matthew Donnelly should have dealt with a speculative ball from Shane Conway from the wing, but he somehow missed his catch, leaving Mikey Boyle in space to devour the loose ball and hit the net.
Conway scored a free-kick for Munster’s men shortly after and suddenly the sides were tied at 0-06 to 1-03.
Kerry was clearly energized by the gift of the goal and a tit-for-tat game played into the interval with the teams tied three more times.
The Kingdom took the lead for the first time within three minutes of injury time when Michael O’Leary opened his account with one point.
But Antrim was unlucky enough not to have scored a goal moments earlier during the second notable episode of the half.
Niall McKenna’s shot looked ready to roll over the goal line, but goalkeeper John B O’Halloran was deemed to have returned in time to clear the ball before all had crossed the lime.
Kerry led 1-07 to 0-09 at halftime, but clearly it was anyone’s game and a point from Clarke seconds after the Antrim restart was leveling up again.
Antrim reasserted its authority during the third quarter and scored six straight points to put real light between the teams for the first time.
McManus launched himself off the bench in the 45th minute and in three minutes he split the posts with a bold effort from the right wing.
The momentum was all from Antrim and they would have preferred to continue building their 0-16 to 1-8 lead rather than stopping for another water break.
The save seemed to favor Kerry, who pinched two points after the restart, but three more on the trot for Antrim left six in the game with 10 minutes remaining.
They needed that cushion, as it happened because Kerry refused to budge and, with a heavy hit from his bench, cut the deficit to just two points in one stage.
However, they couldn’t get any closer, as Antrim held on with McManus’ consecutive discount points from free practice which proved to be the safe scores.
Antrim: Ryan Elliott; Phelim Duffin, Matthew Donnelly, Stephen Rooney; Joe Maskey, Paddy Burke, Gerard Walsh; Eoghan Campbell, Keelan Molloy; Niall McKenna (0-02), James McNaughton (0-01), Michael Bradley (0-01); Daniel McCloskey, Conor McCann (0-01), Ciaran Clarke (0-11, 0-08f).
Subs: Conal Cunning (0-02) for McCloskey h / t, Neil McManus (0-04, 0-02f, 0-01 65) for Molloy 45, Donal Nugent for McCann 45, Conor Johnston for Bradley 64, Aodhan O’Brien for McKenna 70.
Kerry: John B. O’Halloran; Bryan Murphy, Tomas O’Connor, Eric Leen; Jason Diggins, Fionan Mackessy, Michael Leane; Brandon Barrett, Paudie O’Connor (0-01); Michael O’Leary (0-02), Shane Nolan, Shane Conway (0-09, 0-08f); Daniel Collins (0-02), Mikey Boyle (1-00), Maurice O’Connor.
Subs: Barry O’Mahony for M O’Connor 42, Padraig Boyle (0-01) for P O’Connor 49, Colm Harty (0-01) for M Boyle 55, Brendan O’Leary (0-01) for Barrett 61 .
Referee: Liam Gordon (Galway).
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