Carmen hold off spirited Errigal to reach League Final

Errigal Ciaran 1-6 Carrickmore 0-10

CARRICKMORE qualified for the Division One League Final when they held off a spirited Errigal Ciaran comeback at Dunmoyle on Sunday afternoon to set up a decider with Dungannon this Saturday.

As expected the newly crowned Ulster champions fielded without any of the starters who helped them to a third Provincial triumph a week ago although they did feature a few players who came on in that victory over Kilcoo. Despite that they pushed Carrickmore all the way in difficult weather conditions.

Carrickmore had been inactive for eleven weeks and at times it showed while they were also forced to play with fourteen men from the seventh minute after ace attacker Danny Fullerton was straight red carded by referee Sean Devenney.

With the wind at their backs the St.Colmcilles built up a 0-7 to 0-2 interval lead but the hosts staged a second half comeback as they held their opponents scoreless for the opening twenty one minutes of the half. At that stage Carrickmore scored a couple of frees and those proved crucial as Errigal Ciaran substitute Tom Loughran grabbed the only goal of the game deep into injury time to set up a nervous finish for the visitors.

It was Fullerton who opened the scoring from a “45” in the fourth minute before his afternoon ended prematurely. Impressive full forward Rory Donnelly doubled their advantage but they had keeper Ryan McGarrity to thank for deflecting a shot from Dara McGinley onto the post in the 13^th minute. Sean Donnelly then split the posts from distance before a Lorcan McGarrity free made it 0-4 to 0-0 by the 17^th minute.

Errigal Ciaran opened their account in the 21^st minute through McGinley but the four point gap was quickly restored thanks to a Rory Donnelly free. Aaron McAnenly then got the home side’s second score of the afternoon but a well taken brace from play inside sixty seconds from Rory Donnelly kept the visitors at arms length as Errigal Ciaran kicked three wides in the closing stages of the first half.

Errigal Ciaran made a couple of changes for the second half with Ronan O’Sullivan and Brian Mullin both entering the action while corner forward Stephen McMenamin took over from Conor McAnenly in goals.

Mark Kavanagh reduced the deficit from a free and moments after he had struck the post from another placed ball he landed a wonderful effort from play from out on the right wing. All of a sudden the gap was down to three and that was reduced further in the 49^th minute with another well taken Kavanagh score after he had linked up with Brian Mullin and Ronan McRory.

Errigal Ciaran now had their tails up and sixty seconds later only the minimum separated the two sides after McRory got his name on the scoresheet. The momentum was all with the home side at this stage but crucially Carrickmore then hit three points in a row which ultimately won them the game with McGarrity converting two frees either side of substitute Ciaran Cuddy scoring with his first touch.

With a minute of normal time left to play Carrickmore were reduced to thirteen men when McGarrity was black carded having already picked up a yellow one. Errigal Ciaran piled on the pressure and four minutes into added time Loughran got on the end of a high delivery in from Kavanagh to punch to the net. There was still timer for one last attack but the Carrickmore defence turned the ball over and the final whistle sounded.

The Scorers

Errigal Ciaran

Mark Kavanagh 0-3 (1F), Tom Loughran 1-0, Dara McGinley 0-1, Aaron McAnenly 0-1, Ronan McRory 0-1

Carrickmore

Rory Donnelly 0-4 (1M, 1F), Lorcan McGarrity 0-3 (3F), Danny Fullerton 0-1 (45), Sean Donnelly 0-1, Ciaran Cuddy 0-1

The Teams

Errigal Ciaran

Conor McAnenly, Ryan Ward, Dermot Morrow, Aaron McAnenly, Dara McGinley, Peter O’Hanlon, Pauric Traynor, Eoin Kelly, Michael Quinn, Mark Kavanagh, Padraig McGirr, Tomas Mullin, Stephen McRory, Ronan McRory, Stephen McMenamin. Subs: Ronan O’Sullivan for Conor McAnenly, Brian Mullin for O’Hanlon, Tom Loughran for Stephen McRory

Carrickmore

Ryan McGarrity, Michael McCallan, Oisin McElroy, Seamus Sweeney, Rory Loughran, Lorcan McBride, Tiarnan McGarrity, Brian Conway, Cormac Monroe, James Donaghy, Sean Donnelly, Tiarnan Murray, Danny Fullerton, Rory Donnelly, Lorcan McGarrity. Subs: Aidan Woods for Conway, Ciaran Cuddy for Donaghy, Caolan Daly for Murray

Referee: Sean Devenney, Drumquin