Fintona fend off Down men to make the last four in Ulster

 Fintona 0-11  Drumaness 0-7

FINTONA have booked their place in the last four of the Ulster Junior Championship semi-final with a hard-fought deserved victory over Down side Drumaness at O’Neill’s Healy Park on Sunday

It can be hard to predict what exactly opponents will bring to the table in these novel provincial pairings, and Drumaness showed themselves to be a hardy and well-coached side.

As such it took the Pearses a bit of time to solve this particular puzzle, but they got better as the game wore on with players like Jared Brogan, Caolan Donnelly and Conor McGillion stamping their undoubted class on proceedings.

Now they’ll look ahead to an intriguing encounter with Monaghan represenatives Blackhill, who won the Ulster Junior Championship outright in 2018 and lost out in the final two years previous to that to the Rock. They have serious pedigree so it’s a big one for the Pearses.

As for yesterday’s game, Down Junior Champions Drumaness looked very sharp early on and got the first two scores of the game, their route one tactic yielding points from Tommy McConville and captain Gary Murdock.

Fintona by contrast were a little slow to settle, albeit they were playing into a fairly strong breeze. Half-back Caolan Donnelly took the bull by the horns with a punishing run through the heart of the Drumaness defence, winning a free that was converted by Aaron McCarney, their first point of the day with eight minutes on the clock.

Down teams don’t exactly have an enviable record in the Ulster Junior Championship but Drumaness looked a serious enough outfit and they tagged on their third point of the afternoon with Paul Gilchrist doing well to shrug off the attentions of two Fintona defenders.

The Pearses had looked vulnerable at the back in the opening quarter but it was a different story for the remainder of the half as they brought more bodies back into defence.

Full-back Mark McGlinn didn’t give Tommy McConville a chance to breath and the likes of Conor McGowan, Niall Murray and Paul Martin buzzed around ensuring that Drumaness’ attacks came to nought.

Fintona drew level at 0-3 apiece when McCarney scored a point from play following a clever interception from Caolan Donnelly, and they nudged ahead for the first-time when Peter McGlinn boomed over a point having played a neat one-two with veteran Pauric Kelly.

Drumaness had a good goal-opportunity but Paul Martin was on hand with a goal-line clearance from Oran Hughes, and Fintona got the last point of the half when McCarney scored his third point of the afternoon and his second free.

The Pearses led 0-5 to 0-3 at the break, a not entirely comfortable lead and Drumanee reduced the deficit seconds into the second-half via midfielder Oran Crew.

Fintona responded in kind with one of the points of the day from Conor McGillion and the game seemed to have opened up a smidgeon after a cagey enough first-half.

Drumaness spurned a few scoreable opportunities with their captain Gary Murdock playing a creative role for the Down side, but at least they were making chances and they were enjoying the lion’s share of possession.

The Tyrone Junior kingpins were struggling to impose themselves on the game despite their two-point advantage and they rang the chances with Marius Monaghan and Tom Gavin entering the fray in a double substitution.

Fintona mounted a few attacks that didn’t have the required end product until McGillion showed lightning pace to torch his marker and open up a 0-7 to 0-4 lead with just over a quarter of an hour remaining.

McGillion was playing great stuff and earned a free this time which was duly converted by McCarney.

The Pearses led by double scores and were starting to look increasingly comfortable in all sectors with Jared Brogan linking the play to great effect, and it was hard to see a way back for a Drumaness side looking largely bereft of ideas up front.

They did muster their fifth point of the day, coming from sub Callum Dougan, to keep Fintona on their toes. And with the clock ticking down, the Down side tagged on a free to leave only two points between the teams with 53 minutes gone.

Fintona needed another score or two and they knitted together a nice attacking move culminating in a free popped over by McCarney. The same man scored a fine point from play to leave it 0-10 to 0-6 with the Pearses displaying plenty of composure in the latter stages. Fintona were finishing with a flourish and Thomas McGrath palmed the ball over the bar with the game becoming increasingly stretched.

Murdock popped over a late free for Drumaness but it was too, little too late and Fintona can look forward to an Ulster Junior Championship semi-final berth against Blackhill in a fortnight’s time.

THE SCORERS
Fintona
Aaron McCarney (0-6, 0-4f), Conor McGillion (0-3), Peter McGlinn and Thomas McGrath (0-1).

Drumaness
Gary Murdock (0-3f), Paul Gilchrist, Tommy McConville and Oran Crew, Callum Dougan (0-1 each).

THE TEAMS

Fintona
Cathal Gillespie, Conor McGowan, Mark McGlinn, Jared Brogan, Caolan Donnelly, Niall Murray, Pauric Kelly, Conor McGoldrick, Peter McGlinn, Paul Martin, Eugene McCarroll, Liam Maguire, Oran Hughes, Conor McGillion, Aaron McCarney. Subs: Marius Monaghan for P McGlinn, Tom Gavin for Hughes, Aidan Donnelly for Kelly, Cormac Watson for McCarney, Thomas McGrath for Maguire.

Drumaness
Ryan Walsh, Ciaran Brennan, Jason Noade, Philip Cassidy, Ryan Connelly, Gary Murdock, Owen Madine, Oran Crew, Neil McAleenan, Owen Wright, James Ferris, James McClean, Daniel Bell, Tommy McConville, Paul Gilchrist. Subs: Callum Dougan for McClean, James McGivern for Wright. James McClean for Gilchrist, Callum Croskery for Bell.

Referee: Conall Roberts (Antrim)