NAOMH COLMCILLE PRESERVED their Division 3 status, but not before the beads of sweat were visible upon the brows of Francie Martin’s team.
Naomh Colmcille 2-06 Carndonagh 1-06
Goals by Willie Gillespie and Ryan McKinley (pictured above) had them six up with six minutes remaining, but by the end they were clinging by the very lunulas of their fingernails.
From somewhere, eight minutes of added time were played by Robbie O’Donnell, the referee.
In that time, Pauric Doherty netted a goal for Carndonagh and, with Naomh Colmcille down to 13 men – they had Michael Lynch black carded and Mark Dowds sent off as he picked up a clean sweep of yellow, black and red cards – Carn laid siege.
Naomh Colmcille prevailed, but in those late moments their nerves howled in the Convoy wind.
Their opening goal had come in the 39th minute.
Michael Friel – superb throughout for the winners – delivered the assist and it was from his ball into the danger zone that Gillespie fisted past Darragh O’Neill for the crucial goal.
McKinley took an angled pass from Lynch before finding a space through which he catapulted himself and slotted home the second.
It was only in the closing stanza that the pot came to the boil here.
Fergal Doherty fired Carndonagh into an early lead, but that was cancelled out when Daniel Clarke slotted over after Joe Donaghy’s quick-thinking saw him take a quick free into Clarke’s path.
Doherty had sailed over from way out on the right-hand side for the game’s opening score, but dropped short from what appeared a more routine position soon after,
Carndonagh came armed with a large defensive screen and it took some time for Naomh Colmcille to get their co-ordinates right.
Some patient play, involving Donaghy, Clarke and Eddie Gillespie, concluded with corner-back Michael Friel getting up for a neat score that put his team into the lead.
Ciaran Devine made it a two-point game from close range, but the men in red and white just couldn’t pull clear.
With Ryan Kelly and Caolan Doherty back manning the engine room, Carndonagh made for a much tighter affair than their previous game against Naomh Colmcille, when they lost by ten in a Championship quarter-final back in September.
That game, almost two months ago now, was Carndonagh’s last outing, not that you’d have thought that by the way the evening developed.
A pair of Willie Gillespie points helped Naomh Colmcille into a 0-5 to 0-3 half-time lead, but Carndonagh gave them a real scare five minutes into the second half.
Gerard Doherty got on the end of Richie Cunningham’s ball in and directed past Gary McDaid, the Naomh Colmcille goalkeeper, only to see a punched effort crash off the post.
It was just the wake-up call that Naomh Colmcille – still looking every inch the side that had been rocked to the core by their 25-point loss in the Intermediate final last month – needed and when Gillespie goaled they had enough to spare.
But only just.
They still needed a second three pointer, scored by McKinley, as Carndonagh pulled one back when Pauric Doherty found the eye of a needle in a crowded goalmouth to score in added time.
The clocked ticked and ticked some more and it was in the eighth minute when a halt was called, with the kitchen sink having been launched upon Gary McDaid’s goal.
Naomh Colmcille: Gary McDaid; Ricky Hegarty, Alex Devenney, Michael Friel (0-1); Gerard Curran, John Fullerton, Paul Friel; Ciaran Devine (0-1), Ryan McKinley (1-0); Daniel Clarke (0-1), Willie Gillespie (1-2), Mark Dowds; Matthew Crossan, Joe Donaghy (0-1, 1f), Eddie Gillespie. Subs: Michael Lynch for Donaghy (51), Oran Hilley for M.Friel (57), Stephen Gallagher for McKinley (59), Conor Grant for E.Gillespie (59), E.Gillespie for Lynch (black card, 60).
Carndonagh: Darragh O’Neill; Michael Nelson, Dermot McGonigle, Ryan Davenport; James Monagle, Pauric Doherty (1-1), Danny Monagle; Ryan Kelly (0-1), Caolan Doherty; Richie Cunningham, Gerard Doherty, Aaron McCarron; Liam Shields, Fergal Doherty (0-3, 3f), Matthew McLaughlin (0-1). Subs: Cathal O’Kane for C.Doherty (51), Cathal Doherty for McCarron (57).
Referee: Robbie O’Donnell (Naomh Muire)
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