Eoghan Ruadh Through To Ulster Final

Saturday 26.10.2019

Club

Dungannon Eoghan Ruadh Senior Hurlers made history on Saturday when they defeated Keady in the semi final of the Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship on a final score of 1-16 to 0-15.

In what was a truly memorable game the Tyrone champions recovered from a poor start to defeat the favourites with Damian Casey once again leading the way in scoring terms. The Dungannon ace hit twelve of his team’s points with four of his scores coming in open play.

Defensively Mark Winters and Stephen Donnelly formed an almost impenetrable wall through the middle which the Keady forwards found difficult to breach. Team captain Conor Mc Nally, Sean Donaghy, Duibhir Marshall and Josh Ferguson worked tirelessly particularly after the break to deny the Keady front men time and space. Their hunger for the loose ball was a key factor in the final outcome.

Keady started brightly playing into the breeze and moved three ahead after five minutes with points from Caoimhin Rafferty, Conor Corvan and Odhran Fullerton. Eoghan Ruadh took a while to settle but with Martin Devlin, Casey and Tiernan Morgan leading the line they were soon in front. Points from Casey (4) and Martin Devlin had the Tyrone side one up with eleven minutes on the clock. Eoghan Ruadh could have been further ahead but for a brilliant save from Keady goalkeeper Joby Burke who denied Branan Molloy with an outstanding stop. That was one of three top class saves made by the keeper which helped keep the Armagh side in the game during a very competitive first half.

A fine passing move involving Casey, Matthew Mulgrew and Kiefer Morgan resulted in a goal that was to prove crucial to the outcome of the game.Paul Green and Corvan pointed for Keady but Casey was in outstanding form and sent over four superb points to send them in at the break 1-9 to 0-8 ahead.

Eoghan Ruadh suffered an injury blow minutes before the break when key man Martin Devlin was forced off due to injury. However his replacement Padraig Mc Hugh slotted seamlessly into the engine room and made a huge contribution to his team’s cause.

The Tyrone champions faced into a very strong wind after the turnaround but out fought their opponents throughout a very tough second period. Tiernan Morgan and Mattie Mulgrew chipped in with points as Eoghan Ruadh matched Keady every step of the way.

Fionntán Donnelly was very accurate from placed balls for Keady hitting four fine second half points. However with the game in the melting pot and time running out the free taker sent a forty five metre free wide. That would have narrowed the gap to a single point but the miss was magnified when Eoghan Ruadh broke up the field and Casey extended his team’s lead to three before Kiefer Morgan sealed the victory with a fine point.

Next up for Eoghan Ruadh will be the final in two weeks time against St Endas of Antrim who today defeated Bredagh after extra time in the other semi final.