ST EUNAN’S COLLEGE, Letterkenny, used the elements to overcome St Ronan’s from Lurgan in this afternoon’s Danske Bank Treanor Cup (Ulster Colleges U-15B½) semi-final.
St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny 3-10 St Ronan’s, Lurgan 0-3
Tyrone’s GAA Centre of Excellence is known to be a windy spot on occasion and this afternoon there was a considerable gust at Garvahey.
The St Eunan’s College side – managed by Colm McFadden and Chris Carr – were playing against that considerable breeze in the first half.
Kicking for points was something of a lottery and the best way to make any ground was by keeping ball in hand.
On the face of it, a 1-2 to 0-2 advantage by half-time was something in itself. Whatever early nerves there might’ve been were settled early when Conor O’Donnell rounded goalkeeper Caolan Cush to score a seventh minute goal following Cormac Finn’s pass.
St Eunan’s were controlling the pace of the game but finding it difficult to work the ball into scoring positions. O’Donnell did add two more points before the break, while it took St Ronan’s until the 23rd minute to score – with Andrew McAlinden on target.
Jack Conlan added another for the Armagh team before half-time, by which point St Eunan’s were three points up, 1-2 to 0-2.
With the elements at their back and it to be seen in the first half that wing-back Gerry Downing was taking the kick-outs for St Ronan’s, St Eunan’s knew there was a potential avenue of encouragement by pushing up and trying to pen in.
Michael Gallagher came off the bench to kick a fine score before an excellently worked second goal for St Eunan’s on 38 minutes.
Pauric McGettigan sprayed a ball wide to Conor O’Donnell, who in turn played to Dylan Doogan, who finished to give his team a 2-3 to 0-3 lead.
Five minutes later, O’Donnell was again claiming the assist – this time following a fantastic diagonal ball from the left wing to Daragh Ellison to score St Eunan’s third goal.
St Ronan’s were struggling to get out at this stage with the wind almost impossible to kick into and St Eunan’s used that to their advantage.
Finn scored three, O’Donnell with a 45, Ellison got two and Shane O’Donnell all scored late on to confirm St Eunan’s passage to the final.
St Eunan’s College: Eoghan Jordan; Brendan Horgan, Anthony Gallagher, Conor O’Donnell; Ronan McCann, Cormac O’Kane, Oisin Cassidy; Conor Cullen, Shane O’Donnell (0-1); Daragh Ellison (1-2), Pauric McGettigan, Conor McKinney; Dylan Doogan (1-0), Cormac Finn (0-3), Conor O’Donnell (1-3, ’45’). Subs: Michael Gallagher (0-1) for Cullen (34), Oran Winston for Doogan (51), Keenan Diver for McCann (54), Ryan McFadden and Ronan Frain for C O’Donnell and McGettigan (59).
St Ronan’s: Caolan Cush; Steven Branagan, Adam Loughran, Callum Quinn; Curtis Hallissey, Andrew McAlinden (0-1), Gerry Downing; Ethan Kearney, Daniel Hannon; Caelan Kearney, Jack Conlon (0-1), Mark Cooper (0-1); Rioghan Crawford, Tiernan Harbison, Diarmaid Loney. Subs: Desmond McCorry for Hannon (12 black card), Declan Doone for Quinn (35), Colm McQuade for Crawford (50), Michael McStravick for McCorry (56), Ronan Lavery, Ronan McCrory and Ronan Maguire for Loney, Cooper and C Kearney (58).
Referee: Stephen McNamee (Tyrone).
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