The Carniny men were eager to get their season kicked off after a cancelled game in the Zala Sports cup on Saturday. The Reds knew they would have a tough game on their hands against the Ahoghill men who made the Division 2 play off final last season.

Carniny were unsettled in the opening stages in this match with Ahoghill setting a high tempo and keeping the pressure on the Carniny men, giving them little time on the ball. In the early stages the home side looked the more likely to score with the Carniny back four having to be on top form to thwart any attack. But as the game edged towards the half way mark Carniny had got to grips with the game. They were buoyed even further when five minutes from the break a John Costello throw was flicked into the box by Benji Agnew for Adam Barr to poke home from close range to make it 1-0 to the visitors.

Coming out after the break Carniny were playing with more confidence and began to attack the home side more with Agnew and McComb causing problems down the flanks. McKinney for the home side was carrying the ball out from the back for the home side looking for a way through. but the now organised midfield trio of Taggart, O'Flaherty and Heron were blocking the way through to their forward line. After forcing a few corners Ricky Hanna latched on to a cleared ball on the edge of the box to hit home on the half volley past the defence on the goal line to double the visitors lead. This put a bit of urgency into the home side and they were managing to find a way through the Carniny midfield but still couldn't get past the Carniny back four of Costello, Hanna, White and Waring. In the closing minutes the visitors had to survive a scare when Ahoghill fired a shot off the underside of the bar and Niall Shannon in the Carniny goal was on hand to pull off a super, quick reaction save to keep his clean sheet and see Carniny come away with a 2-0 win at the final whistle.

A good start for the newly promoted Carniny in their first ever season in Division 2 of the BSML.