Aghaloo end Derg’s promotion prospects

Aghaloo 2-11  Castlederg 0-9
IT WAS a poignant afternoon at O’Neill Park as the home club marked the passing of their 1974 Junior Championship winning captain Mickey McCaughey earlier in the day with a minute’s silence ahead of Aghaloo re-igniting their promotion hopes with an eight-point win over Castlederg.

Conditions were poor for the play-off, and, while the home side were always in the driving seat after rattling up an early lead, Castlederg were on their coattails until Niall McElroy’s 51st minute goal pulled his side clear. McElroy’s second goal from the penalty spot put the icing on the cake.

Aghaloo will now face Glenelly for the right to play Cookstown but they will be well aware that this was an important outing as they eventually put behind them their Junior Final loss.

They certainly came out of the blocks flying by scoring six points in twelve opening minutes before a straight red card for Ruairi McGlone on the quarter hour altered the narrative of the contest.

The St Eugene’s came back, threatened but never took advantage of the extra man and had Conor Ramsey red carded themselves late on. By then the game was well and truly up.

The hosts dominated the early exchanges as Gerard Daly’s long ranger opened the scoring within five minutes. McElroy and Donnelly continued their early progress with good points. Harry McGinn tagged on an excellent point with McGlone finishing well from forty metres before Donnelly put the hosts six points up as Castlederg struggled to get a hold of the ball.

An off the ball incident saw the O’Neill’s reduced to 14 players with McGlone red carded and that seemed to invigorate the visitors. Within a minute Padraig McGeary was on hand to clear Paddy Lynch’s effort off the line as Daire Corry’s long range free split the posts on twenty two minutes for the Derg’s first point.

As Aghaloo hit a third and fourth wide Blaine Lynch swung over a brace of points sandwiched between a Donnelly free while there was four points between the teams as McElroy fired over from a tight angle and Paddy Lynch done well through the centre for Castlederg’s fourth point.

St Eugene’s started the second half with purpose, Corry tagging on a close range free to leave a score between them.

Stewart Douglas flashed over a point on the run as he drove toward Brian Coyle’s goal at the other end but again the hosts squandered chances and were punished.

Adam Traynor and Padraig Keyes hit points for them as they really threatened however they never took advantage of the extra man and they were rocked back when quick movement from the back produced their first goal. Douglas’ long ball from the right found Mc Elroy through the centre who finished with confidence past Coyle.

Traynor kept the Derg in the contest with a fine point from long range as the visitors made changes. Goalkeeper Coyle went into attack with Ryan McLaughlin going between the posts with five minutes of normal time remaining.

Donnelly and McElroy tagged on Aghaloo points before Maguire was felled and McElroy duly obliged from the spot.
There was a late black card for Donnelly, a red for Ramsey and a late Brian Coyle point although it had no effect on the outcome as Aghaloo romped home with plenty between the sides.

The Scorers
Aghaloo
Niall McElroy 2-3, Tiarnan Donnelly 0-4, Gerard Daly, Harrry McGinn, Ruairi Mc Glone and Stewart Douglas 0-1 each
Castlederg
Daire Corry 0-2, Blaine Lynch 0-2, Adam Traynor 0-2, Paddy Lynch, Padraig Keyes and Brian Coyle 0-1 each