Antrim make it 3 out of 3 in The Joe McDonagh Cup, beating Carlow on a scoreline of 2-22 to 1-22.
Carlow started as they meant to go on in Corrigan Park, Belfast this afternoon.
Carlow were on the hunt for points and to heal some wounds inflicted by Kerry in Round 2 of the competition last weekend.
After 2 minutes, it was one point a piece with Carlow’s first score coming from Marty Kavanagh.
With damp conditions and a large Antrim crowd to contend with, Carlow made the most of this opportunity to redeem themselves.
There was a goal opportunity for Conor Kehoe 5 minutes in but it just skimmed to the left and wide.
The energy from Carlow was in complete contrast to last weekend with very impressive movement from the barrowsiders.
Marty Kavanagh,Fiachra FitzPatrick and Dermot Byrne all got themselves on the scoresheet for Carlow within the first 10 minutes.
Just as things appeared to be going well for Carlow, Conal Cunning snuck a goal past Brian Treacy.
Cunning was by far Antrim’s stand-out performer, storming it from corner forward.
Antrim stalwart Neil McManus is always a goal threat and hit the net with 10 minutes left to be played in the 1st half.
After 20 minutes it was Antrim 2-5, Carlow 5 points but the score didn’t reflect the heroic work being carried out from 1 to15.
Chris Nolan then sent Carlow fans wild with a goal inside 20 metre line. Marty then followed up with another score from a placed ball.
That narrowed the gap to just 1 before the break.
2nd half
Carlow made a really good start to the second half and went ahead 5 minutes after the game recommenced.
Every carlow player made a good contribution but Chris Nolan, John Michael Nolan and Marty Kavanagh were exceptional.
The referee had a good game but made one major error when he penalized a Carlow player for throwing the ball when nothing illegal took place.
Antrim took full advantage of the opportunity to go ahead and struck the ball between the posts.
It continued to be tik for tac right until the very end.
The game ended on a scoreline of 2-22 to 1-22 but Carlow can hold their heads high as it was a game of high intensity and great spirit.
