Late arrival and early departure for London

The only delay in Antrim claiming their place in the Ulster final was the late arrival of the opposition. London chose to fly into Belfast just hours before the throw-in and with the inevitable airport back-up, it was 20 minutes after the scheduled start before they ran onto Casement Park.

Antrim, however, were in no mood for any sort of delay and had this game all but completed well in advance of the half-time whistle. At that stage they were 2-11 to 0-5 up and London could only dream in vain about the similar encounter last year when they actually made a match of it.

With Gregory O'Kane in a world of his own at full forward and Alister Elliott prepared to test his damaged knee in the corner, Antrim put over a graceful collection of points in the first 10 minutes and from there on never moved out of first gear. Elliott delighted the crowd with two equally imaginative goals before the interval as the entire full forward line scored at will.

London's hero last year, Timmy Maloney, managed a couple of points in the same period but when he went off injured in the second half, they were running completely on empty. Gregory O'Kane, meanwhile, added the third goal and worked on his nine-point total so that Antrim consistently moved ahead.

London somehow scrambled in a goal before the end courtesy of Fergal Horgan and newcomer Damien Hurley got his just reward for an solid performance at midfield with their final point.

Antrim ran out the time without testing the waters, looking ahead to the greater demand that lies ahead in the Ulster final on July 10th. As the crowds emptied out, it was only London themselves who seemed anyway interested in hearing the referee let the lonesome final whistle blow.