Darren O'Hare notched both Antrim's goals in the first half

Antrim 2-9 1-10 Cavan

Antrim claimed a deserved Ulster Championship victory over a poor Cavan outfit at Casement Park although the Saffrons had to cling on grimly in the closing stages.

The Saffrons should have had the match wrapped up early in the second half but a series of missed chances meant Cavan's late rally almost won the day.

A Cavan victory would have been an injustice on an Antrim side that had produced some fine football in the opening half.

Darren O'Hare, son of team manager PJ O'Hare, palmed both Antrim's goals in the first period with the second three-pointer crucially coming in first half injury-time to leave the Saffrons eight clear at the interval.

O'Hare was a handful for the Cavan defence throughout and it was a surprise that Antrim didn't utilise his effectiveness more often by firing in a few more high balls towards the Breffni goal.

Antrim played some fluent running football in the opening half.

Kevin Madden kicked four first half frees - a couple of which were aided by the breeze.

O'Hare's opening goal came in the 10th minute when he flicked Madden's long ball past Aaron Donohue.

Kevin McGourty tries to grab Pearse McKenna

Cavan did have a couple of goal chances with Larry Reilly flashing a shot inches wide in the 18th minute and the off-form Mickey Graham also squandering an opportunity before half-time.

Eleven wides summed up a lamentable first half from the Cavan team with only Mark McKeever displaying the required sharpness.

Cavan would have been content to have gone in 1-6 to 0-4 adrift at the break but O'Hare's second goal in injury-time suddenly produced an Antrim lead that looked insurmountable.

Instead of building on their superiority, Antrim made the mistake in the second half of trying to hang on to their advantage.

By the 47th minute, Cavan had reduced the Antrim advantage to six points but Mickey Graham then missed a glorious chance to put Antrim under real pressure.

Cavan were reduced to 14 players in the 52nd minute when Larry Reilly picked up a second yellow card after a silly altercation with Tony Convery who was also cautioned.

With 10 minutes left, Antrim remained six ahead at 2-9 to 0-9 and Madden then should have made the game safe but his pointblank chance was brilliantly blocked by Donohue.

Late O'Reilly chance

Five minutes from time, Cavan were reduced to 13 players when Paul Brady had to leave the field through injury with all substitutes already used.

Antrim substitute Ruairi O'Loan wasted another chance to settle the match two minutes from the end of normal time when it seemed easier to score.

As the match entered injury-time, referee Michael Monaghan dismissed Antrim player Mark McCrory after one tackle too many on McCabe.

The burly midfielder, by now operating at full-forward, kicked the point and with five minutes of injury-time announced Cavan sensed a chance to claim an unlikely comeback win.

With Cavan now putting the Antrim defence under huge pressure, McCabe palmed the ball to trim Antrim's lead to two points with two minutes left.

Even after that, Jason O'Reilly was presented with a half-chance for a goal but his shot sliced wide much to Antrim's relief.

Antrim: S McGreevy, G Adams, C Brady, N Ward, S Kelly (0-1), T Convery, A Finnegan, M McCrory, M McCarry, J Quinn (0-1), K Brady, K McGourty (0-2), P McCann, D O'Hare (2-0), K Madden (0-5). Subs: R O'Loan for J Quinn.

Cavan: A Donohoe, C Collins, T Prior, J Jordan, A Forde, P Reilly (capt), M McKeever (0-1), D McCabe (1-5), S Maguire, P Brady, L Reilly (0-1), P McKenna, M Graham, P Brady (0-1), P Gilligan. Subs: F Reilly (0-1) for S Maguire, S Brady for M Graham, P Smith (0-1) for P Galligan, J Reilly for Paddy Brady.