Eoghan Ruadh Lose Out To Ballinascreen In Minor Final

Wednesday 30.09.2020

Club

Eoghan Ruadh travelled across the Sperrins to take on Ballinascreen in the final of the Derry Minor Hurling Championship but lost out after the home side produced an impressive closing ten minutes to pull away and win 0-17 to 0-10.

The Tyrone club will look back with regret at the three or four goal scoring chances that they failed to take advantage of over the hour but ultimately they were beaten on the night by a quality side.

The Dungannon lads however will point to a key moment midway through the second half when Cian Ferguson was hauled to the ground twenty yards from goal just as he was setting his sights on hitting the net. A goal at that stage for Eoghan Ruadh would have made the final quarter a lot more interesting but sadly for the Dungannon lads their opponents finished the stronger and ran out convincing winners in the end.

Ballinascreen opened the scoring in the first minute with a lovely finish from Lee Colville but the outstanding Ronan Molloy cancelled that out with a fine finish two minutes later.

However once the ‘Screen lads settled to their task they outscored Eoghan Ruadh seven points to one inside the next ten minutes. Lee Colville , Eoin Mc Callion, Jack Conway and Aodhan O’Hagan were hugely impressive for the Derry lads with their speed on the ball as they maintained a steady supply of possession into their forwards. O’Hagan, Colville, Conor Murtagh, Mc Callion (3) and Dermot Burns were the men with the scores for the Derry lads.

The Eoghan Ruadh defence found themselves under considerable pressure early in the game but Fionn Devlin, Cian Mc Crory and Harry Morgan forced several turnovers and made a number of fine blocks with excellently timed tackles. The first half water break came at just the right time for Eoghan Ruadh and from the restart until half time they outhurled their opponents scoring five points to their one to go in at the break trailing narrowly 0-9 to 0-7. Cian Ferguson (4) and Ronan Molloy were the men on target for the Ruadh. The Tyrone side were indebted to goalkeeper Conall Molloy  who plucked one from under the nose of the Ballinascreen full forward Colville just before half time to deny the Derry lads a certain goal.

The second half lacked the fluency of the first with defences on top and scores hard to come by. Colville stretched his team’s lead in the second minute of the half but Eoghan Ruadh then enjoyed their best period of the game adding three unanswered points to tie the game at 0-10 apiece midway through the second period. Once again Ferguson (2) and Molloy shared the scoring for Eoghan Ruadh.

The game was there to be won by which ever side wanted it most and unfortunately  for Eoghan Ruadh it was the Ballinascreen lads that seized the initiative.

Eoin Mc Callion converted a brace of frees before Conor Murtagh extended the lead to three. The Tyrone lads needed a goal but Ballinascreen shut up shop denying Eoghan Ruadh any further clear cut scoring chances. Ryan Henry, Colville and the outstanding Mc Callion wrapped up the scoring to claim the title on a final score of 0-17 to 0-10.

Eoghan Ruadh Scorers: Cian Ferguson 0-7, Ronan Molloy 0-3