Raphoe edge close game in Antrim

The first half was a well fought battle between two evenly matched teams, but Raphoe had the better chances to get a commanding lead going into half-time with Jonny Long, George Patterson and Stephen Cleverly all having good opportunities.

Raphoe broke the deadlock when a Keith Meehan ball into the circle fell to Tommy Orr after the Antrim defence failed to clear their lines, Orr found Long on the left of the circle and his shot come cross was deflected into the goal by James Wilson, getting his first goal of the season.

Raphoe have had better second half’s this season and were hoping to build on their slim advantage, sadly it was quite the opposite as Raphoe had a dreadful second period.

To quote the Raphoe coach Rodney Bates, “Halloween may be over, but you boys put on a horror show in that second half.”

Antrim controlled the second half, mainly due to the fact that Raphoe lost the heads and composure on the ball, with Simon Goudie, John Watt and Jonny Long seeing cards, leaving the team down to nine men at one stage. Antrim got back on level terms when their captains struck home with power.

Antrim finally converted one of the many short corners they had on the day. This pushed Antrim on to try and get a winner and they came close a few more times, with Evan Lyttle stopping a good drag flick and Davy Moore getting the slightest of touches to deflect it away from goal.

Raphoe managed to get the winner when they caught Antrim on the counter with less than three minutes to go. Raphoe worked the ball well down-right mid and passed it into Tommy Orr who slipped it to Jonny Long who tried to place the ball past an onrushing Antrim keeper, but the keeper saved it.

However, it fell straight to Orr who calmly slotted it past the defenders on the line.

Raphoe had two minutes to hold out for a win they didn’t deserve based on their second-half performance. Antrim pushed to get something out of the match which they deserved, however, they ran out of time.