There were four games played in the Brian McCormick Sports and Leisure Division 1 yesterday evening. The surprise of the day was in O’Donnell Park where Baile na nGalloglach, pointless until yesterday, took both league points off St Eunans. A Kane Barrett goal made it 2-4 to 1-4 halfway through the tie and Milford never surrendered the initiative thereafter. In Bundoran, Realt na Mara got a dream start with a point in 13 seconds from Cian McEniff and a goal from his brother Michael a minute later but that was as good as it got with a Naomh Michael masterclass for the remainder of the half as they hit 1-14, and just one wide, running out convincing 1-16 to 2-7 victors. Conor McGinty goaled with almost the last kick of the game as Glenswilly beat MacCumhaills by 1-9 to 0-9 in a tumultous tie with three playes seeing red cards. Our feature match with week was in Pairc Naomh Fhionnain where Cloich Cheann Fhaola entertained Naomh Conaill.
Cloich Cheann Fhaola 0-12
Naomh Conaill 4-9
Naomh Conaill continued their winning ways when they visited Falcarragh on Saturday evening in “goals win matches” style against Cloughaneely. The visitors never looked to be in any danger and dominated the 1st half. They had notched up 1-1 within 5 minutes thanks to Charles McGuinness. Cloughaneely worked hard to regain ground with Ciaran McGeady producing some great runs to supply the forward line of Cillian Gallagher and John Fitzgerald who managed to knock over 2 points each in the first half.
Cloughaneely missed the presence of Jason McGee around midfield and struggled with the breaking ball on occasion. Cloughaneely were hit with another blow in the 16thmin when an Anthony Thompson free hit the post with Charles McGuinness winning the rebound and off loading to Nathan Byrne who found the back of the net. Naomh Conaill were quick to follow this up with their 3rd first half goal; Paul McGuinness sent a long ball in to Ciaran Gallagher who found himself one on one with the keeper and neatly pocketed the ball. Further points from Gallagher and Eunan Doherty before the end of the half left an 11 point margin between the sides for part 2.
Cloughaneely had a great goal opportunity to start the 2nd half when a Martin Maguire free fell in front of the goal mouth but Naomh Conaill defended well to clear it. Naomh Conaill showed no indications of slowing down as they netted yet another goal; this time from Kevin McGettigan who was brilliantly supplied again by Paul McGuinness. Cloughaneely’s 2nd half substitutes of Shaun McGarvey (for Míchael McHugh) and Kevin Mulhern (for Martin Maguire) made a good impact to the team. Cloughaneely managed to hold the visitors scoreless for a period of 20 mins as McGarvey, Fitzgerald and Mulhern contributed 7 points unanswered. Despite best efforts it was difficult for the home side to recover from the goal rush and Naomh Conaill walked away worthy winners on the day.
CCF: Shaun McClafferty, Niel Kelly, Cian McFadden, Fionn McGinley, Michael Fitzgerald, Mark Harley, Ciaran McFadden, Ciaran McGeady, Martin Maguire, Ciaran Scanlon, Míchael McHugh, Darren Ferry, Aidan Doohan, John Fitzgerald (0-4, 2F), Cillian Gallagher (0-2)
Subs: Shaun McGarvey (0-5, 3F) for Míchael McHugh (HT), Kevin Mulhern (0-1) for Martin Maguire (36:80)
Naomh Conaill : Stephen McGrath, Sean Roarty, Kevin McGettigan (1-0), Hughie Gallagher, Eunan Doherty (0-2), John O’Malley, Eoin Wade, Jack McKelvey, Seamus Corcoran, Anthony Thompson (0-2), Paul McGuinness, Brendan McDyre (0-1), Nathan Byrne (1-0), Ciaran Gallagher (1-2), Charles McGuiness (1-2, F)
By Sinéad Breen Donegal PRO Sun 5th May