Errigal finish strongly to coast away from the Plunketts

Pomeroy 0-7  Errigal Ciaran 0-18

THE opening game in this season’s Division One took place at Plunkett Park on Friday evening with reigning Tyrone and Ulster champions Errigal Ciaran justifying their favourites tag with a comfortable win in the end.

In the opening period, the Plunketts gave as good as they got with Ryan Loughran and Peter McGoldrick to the fore as they only trailed by the minimum at the short whistle. In the second half though the visitors assumed control as they limited their opponents to just two scores with man-of-the-match Eoin Kelly contributing 0-5 from midfield, a tally matched by substitute Tommy Canavan who had a major impact on the result when coming on.

Despite being without a number of regulars, this was a sign of the strength-in-depth of the winners who no doubt will be challenging for the top honours in 2025 again.

Midfielder Loughran opened the scoring for Pomeroy with Errigal Ciaran levelling matters in the fifth minute with a quality effort from out on the right wing from Thomas Mullin.

The home defence were working hard to keep their opponents at bay and they countered well for team captain Ronan Duffin to go past a few challenges to split the posts. In the 11th minute, Errigal Ciaran almost scored a goal but Dara McGinley’s shot came back off the bar although moments later they did equalise through Bryan Horisk.

Pomeroy were then penalised for breaching the three man up rule and Daniel Blake tapped over the resulting 20 metre free from in front of the posts.

And when Pauric Traynor won the next kickout he found Kelly who took a fine score with his left for a 0-4 to 0-2 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

The visitors were showing signs of getting on top but Pomeroy still looked dangerous when breaking forward with McGoldrick sending a low shot whizzing across the goalmouth. Kelly then went past three players to land an excellent score but Pomeroy responded with Marty Coyle converting a “45”.

The Plunketts were enjoying a good spell but they hit a couple of wides before McGoldrick kicked an outstanding score with his left after coming out of the corner.

Pomeroy now had their tails up and a good ball from Coyle found McGoldrick who turned sharply to dissect the posts to leave it all square. The next kick out though was won by Kelly and he began a move that resulted in Thomas Mullin fisting the ball over the bar on the last action of the half for a 0-6 to 0-5 lead.

Errigal Ciaran signalled their intentions straight from the restart as McGinley exchanged passes with Tiarnan Colhoun to score after only 18 seconds. Kelly then converted a “45” and when Pauric Traynor scored as well the gap was now four with only eight minutes of the second half played and Pomeroy were in trouble.

Canavan kicked an excellent point from out on the left wing before Errigal Ciaran were penalised for leaving only two players up and McGoldrick knocked over the resulting free to leave it 0-10 to 0-6 at the three quarter mark.

In the 47th minute Loughran took a good catch up front and turned sharply but with a goal on the cards he blazed over the bar with what proved to be his side’s last score of the contest.

Within two minutes of that the game was as good as over as a contest as Canavan and Kelly both weighed in with two pointers. In the closing five minutes the winners turned the crew with Traynor, McGinley and Canavan (2) all on target to give them a convincing win in the end.