Antrim 2-11 London 2-9ANTRIM ESCAPED from Ruislip on Saturday with their championship campaign still intact, but the London players and management felt the visitors had a helping hand from referee Pádraig Hughes.

Following their two-point loss, Exiles captain Seán McVeigh was heavily critical of some of the Armagh official’s decisions and insisted that he shouldn’t have been appointed to take charge of a game involving his neighbouring county.

When Aodhán Gallagher found the net for Antrim in the 19th minute of the first half, they led by five points despite playing against the wind. But London responded with two goals to give them a 2-5 to 1-5 interval lead.

Antrim evened the scores courtesy of early second-half points from Conal Kelly, Tomás McCann and Conor Murray, but with 10 minutes remaining, a superb free from Mark Gottsche saw London move into a two-point lead.

Substitute Kevin Niblock then came to Antrim’s rescue with a goal that edged them in front, although the offload from McCann looked like it might have been thrown instead of hand-passed.

McCann then kicked a point to seal a narrow and fortunate win for Liam Bradley’s side, who were second best for most of the game.

ANTRIM: C Kerr; A Healy; R Johnson; K O'Boyle; T Scullion; J Crozier; J Loughery (0-2); M McCann; A Gallagher (1-0); C Murray (0-2); M Sweeney (0-1); C Kelly (0-1); T McCann (0-5, 0-4 frees); M Magill; M Johnson. Subs: K Niblock (1-0) for Magill (48 mins); P McBride for Sweeney (55); D O'Hagan for Healy (61); M Armstrong for Murray (69).

LONDON: E Byrne; S F Hannon; S Mulligan; D McGreevy; J Scanlon (0-1); G Crowley; T Gaughan; L Mulvey; S McVeigh (0-2); S Kelly (0-1, free); K O'Leary; C McCallion (1-0); M Mullins (0-1); M Gottsche (0-2, 0-1 free), E O'Neill (1-2). Subs: P McGoldrick for Kelly (41 mins); B Osbourne for McGreevy (45 mins); P Finn for Crowley (52); M Carroll for Mullins (63); N Egan for O'Neill (66).

Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).