Scotstown (Monaghan) 2-20 Newbridge (Derry) 2-20
(Scotstown win 4-2 on penalties)
Wow- imagine witnessing such an epic battle on the cusp of December. The intercounty scene may be a distant memory but the likes of Monaghan and Derry finest doing battle was a sight to behold.
And how this game held us in the palm of its hands as the tide turned and turned again before Scotstown squeezed through to a final meeting against Down’s Kilcoo after neither regulation or extra time could prise these teams apart at the Athletic Grounds on Sunday.
Not even severely inclement conditions could stop this joust from warming the cockles of spectators’ hearts as the pair went hammer and thongs about achieving a final place.
Then when sang froid was required at penalty shoot-out time, county custodian Rory Beggan and his club and county colleagues Jack McCarron, Kieran Hughes and Darren Hughes all held their nerves to slot home from the spot as Newbridge missed two of their chances to bow out so cruelly at this stage.
If you include the time spent playing in the previous week’s abandoned game due to unsafe playing conditions, it means that the clubs saw almost two hours of action against each other - knowing all the while that the winner would face a more rested Kilcoo in the Ulster final.
Spare a thought this week for a ‘captain fantastic’ who ended on the losing side. Twice skipper Sean McAteer had levelled for his side in ordinary time and extra-time to force penalties, but all his good work was undone at the shoot-out stage where the more experienced Farney men seemed to handle the pressure much better.
Sometimes though you must salute the vanquished for their valour as much as the victory for their nous in knowing how to advance.
Newbridge fought like a lion to get back into this game on so many occasions that you felt they might be the ones to sneak it in the end…whenever that came.
Imagine being eight points behind in a football match of this stature with only six minutes left to play and finding the resources to force extra-time thanks to scoring a goal and five points without reply? All this after being nine points in arrears at the interval.
Heart-breaking for this squad and their fans but this is one helluva tough championship to win and this experience against Scotstown will stand to them should they manage to get out of Derry again in the coming seasons.
Every time they pegged back the Monaghan lads, they seemed in turn to find a new way to get ahead as they advanced to their ninth final.
They have a tall order awaiting them as on Saturday week, they go back to Armagh to face the mighty Kilcoo, who are the preeminent current side in this competition.
How much this match has taken out of the legs of Scotstown remains to be seen but certainly the veterans were to the fore such as the Hughes brothers Darren and Kieran, while Beggan also saved a penalty as well as scoring at the death.
But let’s not forget the contribution of the younger fry such as Micheal McCarville and Tommy Mallen who between them were responsible for 2-5 of their team’s total - with McCarville ahead on 1-3 in the scoring stakes.
Scotstown: Rory Beggan (0-4, 0-1 tp, 1 tpf); D Connolly, R O'Toole, D McArdle; D Murray, S Carey (0-1), D Hughes (0-2); M McCarville (1-3; 1tp), G McPhillips; M Maguire, K Hughes, F Maguire (0-3); T Mallen (1-2), Jack McCarron (0-2, 0-1f), Mattie Maguire (0-3, 1 tp) Subs: N Sherlock for Max Maguire 51, C McCarthy for F Maguire 53. Max Maguire for Mallen 65, J Hamill for Connolly h/t e/t, J Carey for Mattie Maguire 76.
Newbridge: N Rocks; C McGrogan (0-2, tp), S McGrogan, M McGrogan; P McMullan (1-0), C McGrogan, P McGrogan; C McGrogan (0-1), C Doherty (1-0); C McBride, M Doherty, E Young (0-2, 0-1f); C McAteer (0-4, 1 tp), Se Young (0-4, 1 tp), O Doherty (0-6, 2 tp) Subs: O McGlone (0-1) for McMullan 45, D McColgan for McBride 47, K Burke for Mark Doherty 54, Mark Doherty for E Young 76, S McAteer for McGrogan 79.
Ref: J McQuillan (Cavan).
Slaughtneil advance
to hurling semis
Slaughtneil (Derry) 0-23 Naomh Eoin (Antrim) 0-10
Derry champions, Slaughtneil, are raising the bar for the county in the hurling world thanks to this second Ulster Hurling Championship in a row following a fairly facile 13-point win over Antrim champions St John’s in Armagh on Saturday
In their first final for over half a century, the Antrim boys started well before their confidence became undermined by a series of poor wides.
Slaughtneil on the other hand were slow out of the blocks but once they got going, you could see they meant business and long before the final whistle, it was obvious there would only be one winner.
While also spluttering in attack, the winners’ defense stood firm and proved too much of an obstacle for the Antrim team’s forward unit.
With that basis for the champions to rely on, they finally began to pull away midway into the second half after leading by four points at the break.
Sé Cassidy produced a magnificent score on the cups of the short whistle and then when intercounty dual player Brendan Rodgers struck a brace of white flags with Cormac O’Doherty chipping in with his third free, the daylight began to appear between the teams.
Another heroic dual player Chirssy McKaigue landed a monster point on the spin the signal that the title was staying put no matter how hard the Johnnies worked to undermine their opponents.
Further scores by Prionsias Burke and the impressive Cassidy eased the margin out further and when O'Doherty landed a point to bring him into double figures, the writing was clearly on the wall.
The Ulster champions can now look forward to a game against Galway champions Loughrea in the All-Ireland semi-finals where they will feel they have every chance of advancing to the final, which will be contested against either Waterford kingpins Ballygunner or the winner of the Leinster final against Ballyhale Shamrocks of Kilkenny or St Martin’s of Wexford.
Slaughtneil: O O’Doherty; F McEldowney, P McNeil, C McAllister; R Ó Mianáin, M McGrath, S McGuigan; C Ó Mianáin, C McKaigue (0-1); M McGuigan, Sé McGuigan (0-2), E Cassidy (0-1); B Rogers (0-2), C O’Doherty (0-10, 0-8f) S Cassidy (0-5, 0-2f) Subs: C Coyle for McGrath, G Bradley for Sé McGuigan, P Burke (0-1) for C McKaigue, P McCullagh for E Cassidy.
St John’s: D Nugent; R McNulty, C Johnston, J Bohill; C Morgan, P McCallin, E McGurk; S Wilson (0-1), A Bradley; M Dudley, C Johnston, C Bohill; D Carson, S Shannon, Oi Mac Manus (0-9, 0-7f) Subs: C Hanna for McCallin.
Ballygunner (Waterford) 0-21 Éire Óg (Clare) 1-9
Ballygunner came, saw and conquered without ever putting on the ritz in this disappointing encounter at Semple Stadium on Sunday.
The Clare team never really got going and while they matched their opponents stride for stride early on, Ballygunner, driven on by the elusive Dessie Hutchinson, powered away from Éire Óg to end up winning by nine points in the end.
In doing so, they became the province’s top hurling club in this competition as they recorded their sixth title to forge ahead of Cork’s Blackrock in front of just over an attendance of 3,000.
Winning their fifth title in seven seasons shows the ability of this group to come out fresh season after season and with Hutchinson scoring seven gems from play in a man of the match performance, he and his teammates sent a signal that they are intent on going all the way now in the All Ireland series.
The Gunners led by 0-12 to 0-4 at the short whistle and the gap widened thanks to further points from Patrick Fitzgerald and a Pauric Mahony free.
They appeared to take their foot of th gas slightly after that, allowing Éire Óg the chance to find scoreboard respectability with a flurry of points and a late penalty goal.
Ballygunner: S O’Keeffe; A O’Neill, I Kenny, T Foley; H Ruddle, Philip Mahony, R Power; C Sheahan (0-1), P Leavey; M Mahony (0-1), Pauric Mahony (0-5, 0-4f), P Hogan (0-3); D Hutchinson (0-7), P Fitzgerald (0-4, 0-1f), K Mahony Subs: M Hartley for Pauric Mahony (46), C Power for K Mahony (54), E Cuddihy for Fitzgerald (58), E O’Brien for Foley (59), B O’Keeffe for Ruddle (60+5).
Éire Óg Ennis: D Stack; L Corry, C Russell, F Treacy; R Loftus, A Fitzgerald, J Collins; O Cahill (0-1), D Reidy; D Moroney (0-1), D McNamara, T Kavanagh; D Russell (1-6, 1-0 pen, 0-6f), S O’Donnell (0-1), M Cleary Subs: R Mulcahy for Corry (37), J O’Dwyer for McNamara (46), D O’Brien for Kavanagh (46), C Perrill for Cahill (51), E O’Regan for Reidy (56).Referee: A Tierney (Tipperary).
