Clogher Come Up Short At Headquarters

Sunday 11.01.2026

Championship Football

Ballymacelligott 1-16 Clogher 0-13

Ballymacelligott added the All Ireland Junior title to their Kerry and Munster crowns when a strong second half display at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon saw the Kerry men emerge six point winners over Tyrone and Ulster kingpins Clogher.

Clogher led by two points at the break but within five minutes of the restart they trailed by the same margin and in truth the winners never looked back. They gained the upper hand in key positions throughout the field with man of the match Daire Keane in particular a constant thorn in the Clogher defence.

The winners began strongly despite playing against the wind and by the 13th minute they had established a 0-5 to 0-1 lead courtesy of points from Darragh Broderick (3), Adam Breen and Donal Daly.

Clogher took quite a while to settle but then hit a purple patch as the impressive Ciaran Bogue and Conor Shields both raised orange flags while Marc McConnell got a single. Bogue and Cillian Barkey fired over Clogher scores but Ballymacelligott replied through another Breen free to reduce the deficit to 0-10 to 0-8 at the break. Keane split the posts within twenty seconds of the restart and after Breen had levelled matters Jack Joy and Keane pushed the winners two clear. McConnell responded for Clogher but it was clear that Ballymacelligott had lifted their game a notch or two.

Breen curled over a free with Joy adding a fine effort from play while at the other end of the field Bogue and Ryan McCaughey failed to convert goal chances. They paid the price in the 55th minute when Daly fired to the net to seal victory. McCaughey converted a free while substitute Michael McCaughey blasted a goal chance over the bar deep into injury time but it was Ballymacelliot’s day as they emerged worthy champions.

Ballymacelligott: C Leen, E Creedon, D O’Shea, E Moriarty, C Dunne, T Brick, M Reidy (0-1), A Breen (0-4, 4f), D Broderick (0-3, 1 x 2ptf, 1f), A Sheehy (0-1), M McKivergan (0-1, 45), J Joy (0-2), N Collins (0-1), D Daly (1-1), D Keane (0-2). Subds: D Dunne for O’Shea, D Regan for Sheehy, J O’Keefe for Collins, S Rice for Moriarty, B Cassidy for Reidy

Clogher: R McElroy, S McCaffrey, E Mellon, Ruairi McCaughey, C Shields, (0-2 1x 2pt) J Callaghan, M Bogue, B McKenna, D Mellon, S Bogue, C Bogue (0-5, 1 x 2pt, 2f), C Barkey (0-1), Ryan McCaughey (0-2, 2f), M McConnell (0-2) V Lowry. Subs: M McCaughey (0-1) for Lowry, F McCaughey for McKenna, E McCarron for Barkey, D McKernan for McCaffrey

Referee: S Muhare, Laois