Herron goal urges Antrim on to win over Down

DOWN 0-15 ANTRIM 1-19

Antrim won this afternoon's all-Ulster clash at Portaferry to get their Allianz NHL Division 2 campaign off to a winning start.

Brendan Herron claimed the only goal of the game just before half-time and it was the catalyst for Antrim's win.

Paul Shiels was the scorer-in-chief for the Ulster champions.

The Dunloy ace landed 11 points in all, nine of them from frees.

Shiels and Herron cleaned up a lot of ball around centre-field, particularly after Down had Stephen Johnston dismissed in the 22nd minute.

Down manager Jim McKernan, who previously managed Antrim, was without a number of first-choice players including Gareth 'Magic' Johnson, Benny Ennis and Ciaran Courtney.

Paul Braniff led the home side's scoring with 0-10 (0-09f) but they had a distinct lack of firepower up front and with Shiels in dead-eye form, Antrim claimed a comfortable win.