Mixed Fortunes For Tyrone Sides In Ulster Club Series

Sunday 17.11.2019

Championship Football

Dungannon Eoghan Ruadh became the third Tyrone side to lose out on penalties in the Ulster Club series when they came up short in the shoot out with Antrim side Naomh Eanna at Celtic Park on Sunday.

Galbally on the other hand produced their best performance of the season to see off the challenge of Donegal champions St Nauls and make it through to the Ulster Intermediate final where they will face Monaghan champions Magheracloone.

Eoghan Ruadh opened strongly with early points from Damian Casey and Terry Mc Intosh before a quick fire 1-2 from the Antrim side had them in front after nine minutes. The Tyrone champions dominated the remainder of the half with goals from Lorcan Devlin and Kiefer Morgan helping them reach the break leading 2-10 to 1-6. Ace forward Damian Casey finished the half with six points.

Naomh Eanna were much improved after the break with key men John Mc Golderick and Ruairi Donaghy getting the scores that had them back in the game with twelve minutes remaining.

Dungannon struggled for scores throughout the second period and when Joseph Maskey narrowed the gap to a single point with five minutes remaining the momentum looked very much with Naomh Eanna. Mc Golderick tied the game at 2-13 apiece before Tiernan Morgan once more pointed to put his team in front with the clock ticking down. Unfortunately for Eoghan Ruadh Mc Golderick once more showed nerves of steel to take the game to extra time with the equaliser.

Both sides still had chances to win it but the referee’s long whistle meant two ten minute periods of extra time. Once again Casey proved his worth to the team with four superb points in the opening ten minutes to put his team in a strong position at the break.

Naomh Eanna were the better side after the restart in extra time as once again Mc Golderick got the scores that saw the game finish level and the title decided on penalties.

Both goalkeepers were in tremendous form as only one of nine penalties were converted but unfortunately for Eoghan Ruadh it was the Antrim side that got the all important score.

It really was harsh on Eoghan Ruadh after their display and they will look back on this one with more than a tinge of regret at the number of missed chances they had over the course of the eighty plus minutes.

Galbally on the other hand had no such bother with their semi final opponents as they produced a top quality display laced with pace, skill and workrate to see off Donegal side St Nauls. The Tyrone champions were quick out of the blocks and Conor Donaghy, Daniel Kerr and Cormac Donnelly caused mayhem in the Donegal defence.

Meanwhile the Galbally defence turned the ball over repeatedly as they restricted St Nauls to only five first half points. By that stage scores from Cormac Donnelly, Liam Rafferty, Conor Donaghy (3), Daniel Kerr (2), Mark Donnelly and Sean Murphy had the Pearses five in front as the half time break beckoned. However there was still time for further drama as Cormac Donnelly got on the end of another Galbally fast break to finish to the net and help his side reach the break 1-9 to 0-6 in front.

The St Nauls lads came out for the second half fired up but Galbally, with Ronan Nugent, Enda Mc Garrity and Conor Quinn dominating the play hit six points inside the opening ten minutes of the second half.

Peadar Morgan and Stephen Griffin did their best to keep the Donegal lads in the game but Galbally were just playing on a different level. Kerr, Donnelly, Donaghy, Murphy and Mulgrew all added scores as veteran Kieran Mc Crory and goalkeeper Liam Óg Mc Auley made sure their team kept a clean sheet with several fine blocks and goal line stops.

With such a large lead the blues were able to run their bench but even with a number of changes the pace never slackened and the quality never dipped. Tge final tally of 1-22 in no way flattered Galbally as they progressed to meet Magheracloone in the final.