Eglish See Off Ardboe Challenge To Reach Minor Final

Thursday 08.08.2024

Championship Football

Eglish are through to the final of this year’s Grade One minor football championship having seen off the challenge of Ardboe in the semi final at Carrickmore on Wednesday evening winning deservedly on a score line of 6-10 to 1-14.

Played in front of a large crowd the Eglish lads carried a much greater scoring threat as their ability to create scores from turnover ball proved decisive in the end. From an Ardboe point of view they will rue their wayward shooting over the course of the hour but they can have little cause for complaint as they were beaten by the better side on the night.

Two early Ronan Bradley points helped settle Eglish before Conor Devlin opened the Ardboe account after eight minutes. The sides swapped points before Eglish burst through for a well crafted and well taken goal from the boot of the impressive Turlough Muldoon to make it 1-3 to 0-2 as the men in black began to dominate possession.

Just when it seemed Eglish were going to pull away Ardboe hauled themselves back into the game. In the space of six minutes the loughshore lads hit 1-4 without reply to lead 1-6 to 1-3 and Eglish looked rattled. The goal came from Conor Devlin with the points coming from Darragh Devlin, Conall Morgan and marauding full back Davin Mc Keown.

The sides swapped points once more but as the pace of the game quickened Eglish were awarded a penalty following a challenge on Turlough Muldoon. Full forward Bradley finished it to the net and added a further point to send the sides off at the break with Eglish leading 2-5 to 1-7.

Eglish clipped over points from the outstanding Conor Holmes and Ronan Bradley after the restart to extend their lead before the big full forward hit the net for his side’s third goal to send them six clear. The teams added two points apiece before a run of three consecutive points gave Ardboe hope at the midway point of the second half.

It was then that Eglish really turned the screw intercepting defensive clearances and making Ardboe pay with goals from Bradley and Dominic Oliver. Ardboe did manage to add further points to their total but a flurry of cards saw them reduced in numbers and Eglish added a sixth goal to leave the final score 6-10 to 1-14 in favour of the boys in black.