Augher coast through to quarter finals…

Saturday 20.08.2011

Club

Augher joined Kildress in the last eight of the 2011 intermediate football championship when they surged to a twelve point victory over Clann na nGael, 2-13 to 0-7, in the opening tie at Killyclogher earlier this evening.
The St Macartan’s were 1-8 to 0-3 ahead by half time and were never in danger of being caught by a Clann na nGael side that was without the injured Brian Dooher and then had to contend with a numerical disadvantage following the dismissal of Paul Conwell eleven minutes into the second half.
The signs were promising for Augher, and ominous for Clann na nGael, as early as the 10th minute after Augher’s three early points from Jamie Donnelly, Raymond McElroy and Kevin Hackett were followed up by a well taken penalty by Liam Connolly after Aidan Cassidy had been fouled.
Brendan Conway had opened the Clann scoring in that opening spell after Adrian Ball had missed an early goal chance, and the North Tyrone men added further points before half time through Stephen O’Neill and Gareth McDermott, but by that stage Augher were already well clear of their opponents. With Finbarr McQuaid, Aidan Cassidy and Jamie Donnelly all in splendid form, Augher had carved out an eight point lead by half time, with Aidan McElroy and Martin McElhatton adding their names to the scoresheet.
Jamie Donnelly increased Augher’s lead on the resumption but Clann na nGael gave themselves a glimmer of hope with three points in a row courtesy of Stevie O’Neill and Gareth McDermott (2). But their hopes were quickly dashed when they were reduced to fourteen men in the 41st minute with the dismissal of Paul Conwell.
Augher were very comfortable for the rest of the match as Jamie Donnelly brought his personal tally to six points and Kevin Hackett hit the back of the Clann net in the 54th minute to bring his own tally to 1-2. A couple of superb points from Darragh Donnelly and Raymond McElroy added further gloss to the scoreline for Augher, rendering Stephen O’Neill’s late point as a mere consolation score on a very disappointing night for Paddy Ball’s outfit.
So Augher go marching on impressively into the quarter finals and on the evidence of this display they will take a bit of beating in the next round…