BUNDORAN MISSED OUT on the Ulster Intermediate title in the most stomach-churning of ways at Owenbeg and the defeat is one that will knaw at them over the winter months.
Bundoran 0-07 Loughinisland 4-01
Without ever being at their best, Bundoran were the dominant team but, despite only conceding one point over the hour, they lost by six.
Loughinisland didn’t score for 42 minutes, but the Down side hit three goals in the final ten minutes to snatch the prize from under Bundoran’s noses.
Paddy McKenny drilled home in the 50th minute after good work by Aaron McClemments and Rory Mason.
It put Loughinisland 2-1 to 0-5 ahead, but Bundoran’s response was commendable with Alan Russell and Christy Keaney restoring parity.
Just when the wobbles were steadied, Loughinisland struck two sucker punches.
Mason’s free from 30 yards crept past Johnny Keenan’s right hand and into the top corner off the inside of the post.
It is a day that Keenan won’t forget, much as the Bundoran netminder will want to do just that. The afternoon quickly unravelled before him and was an ordeal by the conclusion.
With three between them and Loughinisland a man down after midfielder Damhan O’Toole was given his second yellow card in the 58th minute, there was still a chance for Bundoran.
That evaporated up into the Sperrins when Sean Cochrane got ahead of Keenan to connect with Conor Megoran’s ball in.
The scoreline was, as Jerome Johnston, Loughinisland’s manager, put it ‘like something from an under-10s game’ but it was they who left with the silverware and Bundoran headed for home wondering just how they’d left it behind them.
The beginning had felt as bad as the bad for Bundoran. ith barely two minutes on the clock when Loughinisland struck gold.
James Keaney’s pass was intercepted by Conor Killen. He sent Mason on his way and his ball inside was swept home by Seamus O’Hare despite the valliant efforts of a scrambling Keaney on the line.
Mason converted a free in the eighth minute that was the only addition to the Loughinisland tally for the remainder of the first half half.
At times, Bundoran were wasteful in possession, but for the most part of the opening half-an-hour Brian Gavigan’s side were on top.
The trouble was their sword needed sharpened.
Bundoran kicked six wides in the opening half but given the way their afternoon had begun they’d have been quite content to be on level terms, 0-4 to 1-1, by the end of a sometimes frustrating stanza.
Gary Clancy boomed over their first point and Russell polished off a fine tema move that saw the ball swoop from Keaney at one end to captain Tommy Hourihane at the other.
Hourihane offloaded for Christy Keaney to tee up Russell for a neat score.
Loughinisland looked threatening in possession, but Bundoran stood up well with Shane McGowan marshalling things well at the rear.
The warning lights flashed for Bundoran when Mason scampered through the shield to blast low to the net on 29 minutes, but he’d overcarried and the free given before the trigger was pulled.
Hourihane, from a position that went against the tight angle at which he stood, and Johnny Boyle, from 35 metres out, landed brilliant points that drew the Donegal side level at the break.
Jamie Brennan hadn’t played since injuring a hamstring in their Donegal IFC final win over Naomh Colmcille last month, but the Donegal Under-21 forward was sprung into action at half-time.
Brennan fired Bundoran in front for the first time, ten minutes into the second half, but with the wide count rising rapidly – they had 12 in all – there was always the chance that the Realt na Mara could be caught.
And that’s just what happened during those long, agonising last ten minutes when the prize slipped away and their chances of going onto the walls, framed alongside their predecessors from St Joseph’s, went with it.
Bundoran still have a promotion-relegation play-off against Four Masters to contest – where the prize is a place in next year’s Division One – but it could take some time for them to lose the haunting memories of this one.
Bundoran: Johnny Keenan; Diarmuid McCaughey, James Keaney, Pauric Rooney; Paul Brennan, Shane McGowan, Johnny Boyle (0-1); Ciaran McCaughey, Peter McGonigle; Niall Dunne, Gary Clancy (0-1), Alan Russell (0-2); Tommy Hourihane (0-1), Christy Keaney (0-1), Darragh Hoey. Subs: Jamie Brennan (0-1) for Dunne (half-time), Diarmuid Spratt for Hourihane (56), Fergal McKiernan for C.Keaney (60).
Loughinisland: Kieran Gordon; Paul Digney, Paddy Megoran, Raymond Nixon; Dean McLaughlin, Jonny Flynn, John McCarthy; Damhan O’Toole, Dan Gordon; Rory Mason (1-1, 1-1f), Conor Killen, Seamus O’Hare (1-0); Aaron McClements, Conor Megoran, Conor O’Toole. Subs: Paddy McKenny (1-0) for Killen (41), Sean Cochrane (1-0) for McLaughlin (50), Mickey Cochrane for Nixon (55).
Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan).
