ACL Div 1 round-up: Leaders Galbally power past Omagh

ALL-COUNTY LEAGUE DIVISION ONE ROUND-UP

 Galbally 2-14 Omagh 0-10

AN outstanding first half display at Pearse Park on Friday evening helped propel unbeaten league leaders Galbally to an emphatic win over visiting Omagh.

The Pearses completely dominated proceedings and already had the two league points safely in the bag by the short whistle after establishing a commanding 2-10 to 0-3 advantage. Daniel Kerr, John Hetherington, Conor Donaghy and Oisin McGee had all already chipped in with points before Kerr smashed home a brilliant 11^th minute goal.

It took Omagh until the 17^th minute to open their account via a Ronan O’Neill free by which stage they were already nine in arrears. Thomas Haigney then hit a fine brace for the St.Endas but Galbally upped the tempo again with scores from Mark Donnelly and McGee before Kerr and Marc Lennon carved open the Omagh defence for midfielder Ronan Nugent to finish to an empty net.

Enda McCaffery and O’Neill traded points with Donnelly and Sean Murphy in the third quarter before Omagh closed the gap a little. O’Neill, Conor O’Donnell an McCaffery all registered as they played a lot better in the second half. Kerr responded for Galbally but that was cancelled out by O’Neill and O’Donnell although it was only damage limitation at that stage with Donaghy concluding the scoring from a placed ball.

Donaghmore 0-15 Dungannon 2-11

AS expected this Championship dress rehearsal at Father Devlin Park between these two neighbours was keenly contested with the Clarkes two goals in the opening half ultimately proving to be the difference between the two sides at the final whistle.

Paul Donaghy gave the visitors the perfect start with a goal after only four minutes but Donaghmore responded to get their noses in front thanks to points from Tom Grimes, Noah Grimes, Lorcan Quinn and Joey Clarke. The visitors though hit a purple patch with halftime approaching with Donaghy and Conor McKee providing points before Ryan Jones bagged a last minute goal to leave it 2-7 to 0-9.

Keeper Quinn and substitute Niall McKenna exchanged early second half points with Donaghy before Ronan Cassidy and Noah Grimes helped halve the deficit. Dungannon only managed four points in the second half but it was still enough to keep them in front especially after Donaghmore lost Quinn to a second yellow card in the closing ten minutes. Cassidy and Conor Cush had late points for Donaghmore but it was Dungannon who secured local bragging rights.

Eglish 1-10 Pomeroy 1-15

EGLISH’S wait for their first points of the season continues after losing out to a Pomeroy side who were worthy winners at Connolly Park on Friday evening.

In the end five points separated the two sides but that scoreline perhaps flatters an Eglish side who scored their goal deep into injury time at the end of the game. Ethan Jordan had Eglish’s opening score but they were rocked in the 8^th minute when Hugh McNamee fired in a goal for the Plunketts. Ronan Duffin and Kieran McGeary tagged on points for the visitors with Seamus Muldoon and Matthew McGleenan on target for Eglish before the end of the opening quarter.

Pomeroy though looked the better side and they increased their lead thanks to scores from Lorcan Kilpatrick, Ryan Loughran and Leo Quinn. In the final five minutes of the half Eglish rallied with points from Jordan, Muldoon and Luke Donnelly but they still trailed 1-8 to 0- at the short whistle.

Ryan Bradley and Turlough Muldoon helped trim the gap on the restart but Pomeroy were always able to respond through Kilpatrick, Duffin and McGeary. Turlough Muldoon registered his second score of the half but Duffin then took his personal haul to 0-5 with McGeary just behind him with 0-4. Eglish finally did get a goal through Colm Byrne in the 64^th minute but it proved to be only of consolation value.

Errigal Ciaran 0-13 Ardboe 1-11

WITH home advantage at Dunmoyle the formbook suggested a win for Errigal Ciaran but Ardboe had other ideas with an injury time point from Calan Mallaghan giving them their first win of the campaign at the seventh time of asking.

Indeed it was scores at the beginning and end of the game that swung the balance in favour of the Loughshore men. The Rossas enjoyed a dream start to the contest when a long delivery into the Errigal Ciaran box wasn’t dealt with and Oisin Devlin pounced for a goal with less than two minutes gone on the clock. Tommy Canavan opened the home side’s account but by the 10^th minute Ardboe were four clear thanks to efforts from David Mulgrew and Shay McGuigan. A brace each from Ruairi Canavan and Peter Og McCartan closed the gap but the superb Mulgrew landed another trio of scores to enable the Rossas to lead 1-6 to 0-6 at the interval.

Tommy Canavan opened the second half scoring from a free but back came Ardboe with scores from Mattie Bell and McGuigan. Ruairi and Tommy Canavan both scored again before Cormac Devlin got his name on the scoresheet at the end of the third quarter.

Ruairi Canavan and McGuigan exchanged points from frees to still leave three between the sides with ten minutes left to play. Ruairi Canavan was in superb form for the hosts and he kicked three points in a row to bring his personal haul to 0-8 with normal time up. It looked like ending in a stalemate but Mallaghan had the final say with the winner two minutes into injury time.