Naomh Colum Cille Lift Junior Hurling Crown.

Sunday 18.08.2013

Club

Seamus O’Hagan inspired Naomh Colum Cille to the Tyrone Junior Hurling championship title, at Omagh this afternoon, when the East Tyrone men secured a comfortable seven-point victory over defending champions Strabane.

The Cille’s midfielder was in stunning form, as he contributed 0-11 to the winning tally on a day, they had solid displays throughout the field. Ryan O’Neill, Mike O’Gorman and Chris Cross excelled in midfield and, with John Connolly providing invaluable support to O’Hagan, the challengers proceeded to dominate for lengthy periods. Rory O’Neill proved to be the ideal target man, with the energy of Brian Taggart also causing problems for the North Tyrone men.

NCC threatened to run away with the game, as they used the wind to great effect to establish a 5-0 lead by the 9th minute. O’Hagan, Rory O’Neill, Connolly and Taggart all pointed before O’Hagan steered over a 65 after Shamrock’s goalkeeper Niall Gallagher had produced the first of several saves during the game.

Gerard Gilmore got Shamrock’s up and running on 12 minutes, but despite struggling Shamrock’s were still in contention as half time approached. Eddie Shiels and Alex Murphy managing points to augment free conversions from Gilmore before three O’Hagan efforts helped the Cille’s into a 10-5 half time advantage.

Strabane put the issue back into doubt three minutes into the third quarter, when Ronan Lafferty, one of three late replacements to their starting formation scrambled home a goal. Twice Gilmore landed frees to keep the pressure on, but NCC remained disciplined and focussed throughout.

John McGuigan, Shea McKiver, Taggart and O’Hagan pushed them into a 0-15 to 1-8 lead by the 45 minute mark and, after Gilmore posted Strabane’s final score soon afterwards, their challenge collapsed. Michael Kearney collected a straight red card from referee Mark Taggart leaving the champions elect to close the game out with points from O’Hagan and substitute Niall Campbell.

Teams and Scorers
N Colum Cille – Paul Maguire, Christopher Cross, Ryan Mor O’Neill, Ryan Duff O’Neill, Niall O’Neill, Mike O’Gorman, Jack Ryan, John Connolly, Seamus O’Hagan, Brian Taggart, Shea McKiver, John McGuigan, Shay O’Neill, Rory O’Neill, Paul O’Neill. Substitutes used – Niall Campbell for Ryan, Sean O’Hagan for P O’Neill, Aidan Taggart for McGuigan

SCORERS – Seamus O’Hagan 0-11, Brian Taggart 0-3, John Connolly 0-1, Shea McKiver 0-1, John McGuigan, Niall Campbell 0-1, Rory O’Neill 0-1

Shamrock’s – Niall Gallagher, Neill Holmes, John O’Connor, Gavin McNamee, Ciaran O’Neill, Conor Gallagher, Conal McGlinchey, Mark Kane, Gerard Gilmore, Damien McGettigan, Gary McGettigan, Michael Kearney, Eddie Shiels, Ronan Lafferty, Alex Murphy. Substitutes used – Dermot Donaghy for Kearney, Kearney for Donaghy, Paddy Quigg for D McGettigan

SCORERS – Gerard Gilmore 0-7, Ronan Lafferty 1-0, Alex Murphy 0-1, Eddie Shiels 0-1

Referee – Mark Taggart, Tattyreagh