Loughmacrory power past Ardboe

ACL Division One

Loughmacrory 4-22  Ardboe 2-11

LOUGHMACRORY produced a dominant display to ease past Ardboe in emphatic fashion on Sunday, running out 16-point winners in a contest they controlled from the outset.

Eoin McElholm, Pauric Meenagh and Ruari McCullagh led the scoring, but this was as much about a well-drilled team performance.

Ardboe, who had Matthew Bell red-carded late on, were well-beaten in the end.

Built on some excellent work at the back spearheaded by their goalkeeper Oisin O’Kane, Dara Curran, Gareth Donaghy and Shane Dobbs, the Lough were always on the front foot with a strong second half driving them to a big scoreline, not for the first time this season.

The game was well-handled by referee Martin Conroy, with a hatful of yellows also issued as well as the red.

McElholm hit 2-4, Meenagh 0-7 and McCullagh 1-6 in an excellent outing but this was more about a well organised team display with Aodhan Donaghy a key component too.

The visitors did have their moments. Caolan Mallaghan was a handful for the home defence, while Shay McGuigan and Oran Mulgrew did carry a threat.

But from early on there was never a doubt about the outcome.

A stunning goal just on the half-time whistle from McElholm nudged the hosts seven points ahead by the break after they had led by nine points after Gareth Donaghy had also finished to the net for the hosts’ second goal.

Cathal Donaghy had pointed early on for Loughmacrory and within three minutes Pauric Meenagh teed up McCullagh for an opening goal with quick movement on show.

Ardboe were on the back foot against a well-drilled Lough defence although when McGuigan won a kick out his quick transfer to Eoghan Devlin produced a much-needed goal for them.

That score was their last for 17 minutes as Loughmacrory took control. McElholm, a converted 45 from goalkeeper O’ Kane and a well-taken McCullagh point saw them into a four-point lead.

The Rossas found the going tough with several efforts dropping short as Dobbs and Donaghy kept things tight for the home side. Four quick points followed.

A long ranger from Gareth Donaghy, a brace of frees from Meenagh and another courtesy of the sharp McCullagh before Donaghy found the net to open the gap to nine.

A quick double of two-pointers from McGuigan and Oran Mulgrew closed the gap and McGuigan’s importance in the game grew. The midfielder was unlucky when a two-point free was touched over by O’Kane and Morgan was unlucky to just get a point for his effort moments later with Mallaghan going close for goal as an effort went over the bar. The moment of the game followed with the McElholm goal.

McCullagh did really well to hold off the challenge of Devlin. He moved the ball to Meenagh took the return before setting up young Mc Elholm for a cracker.

On the resumption they built on that advantage; Meenagh and Donaghy points followed within eight minutes of the half with a fourth goal.

At the other end O’Kane had made a fine double save and his quick delivery went through to Meenagh again and there was McElhom to slot past Mallaghan as Loughmacroy sailed 13 ahead again with Meenagh carving out a tidy point. A score of 1-1 from Mallaghan and Bell closed the gap as Ardboe hung in, but there was to be no comeback with O’Kane massive in the home goal with McGuigan and Mallaghan efforts easily dealt with.

The hosts dominated and they kept the scoreboard moving with Meenagh and McCullagh tagging on five points between them with McElholm opening their lead to 16 points.

To add to their woes, Bell picked up a straight red card to leave Ardboe with 14 men for six remaining minutes and while goalkeeper Mallaghan denied Rona Fox, both McElholm and McCullagh wrapped up the home scoring for a memorable and deserved big win.

Scorers

Loughmacrory: Eoin Mc Elholm 2-4 (1t/p), Ruari Mc Cullagh 1-6 (1t/p), Pauric Meenagh 0-7 (1t/p)Gareth Donaghy 1-2, Caithair Gallagher 0-1, Oisin O’Kane 0-1, Cathal Donaghy 0-1.

Ardboe: Caolan Mallaghan 1-1, Shay Mc Guigan 0-3 (1t/p), Cormac Morgan 0-3, Oran Mulgrew 0-2 (1t/p), Matthew Bell 0-2.

Teams

Loughmacrory: Oisin O’Kane, Dara Curran, Nathan Kelly, Arnold Macidulskas, Shane Dobbs, Ronan Fox, Gareth Donaghy, Aodhain Donaghy, Eoin Donaghy, Eoin McElholm, Caithair Gallagher, Oisin McCallan, Ruari McCullagh, Pauric Meenagh. Subs: S Conway for A Donaghy, T Duff for Dobbs, E Donaghy for C Donaghy.

Ardboe: Gary Mallaghan, Peter Devlin, Manus Teague, Conor Devlin, Eoin Canavan, Oisin Devlin, Shea Quinn, Shay Mc Guigan, Oran Mulgrew, Matthew Bell, DD Mulgrew, Conan Devlin, Cormac Morgan, Eoghan Devlin, Caolan Mallaghan Subs: C Morgan for M Teague, S Teague for C Devlin.

Referee: Martin Conroy.