Errigal shake off Moortown to book semi-final berth

Errigal Ciaran 2-8

Moortown 0-6

By Niall Gartland

DEFENDING champions Errigal Ciaran remain firmly on track as they struck at the right moments to derail the challenge of Moortown at Loughmacrory on Saturday.

While the lashing rain didn’t completely ruin the game as a spectacle, it certainly didn’t help matters and the first-half in particular was forgettable fare with Errigal carrying a 0-4 to 0-2 lead into the second-half against the rank outsiders.

Errigal made their move in the 36th minute when Peter Harte darted through a Moortown defence that had been caught off guard by a wayward kick-out. Harte’s not a man to take the wrong option and he played the ball off to Ruairi Canavan who had only one thing on his mind – bang and the ball was in the back of the net.

It was a defining moment in the context of the game albeit Moortown (who didn’t muster a point from play) briefly threatened a comeback when Shea Lawn and Peter Devlin knocked over a few frees. Errigal shut the door almost as soon as it had opened with Harte landing a crucial point from play that was by no means a gimme and a late goal from substitute Bryan Horisk.

So the defending champions are one step closer to the big two in-a-row, something that hasn’t been achieved in a fraction under two decades. It’s difficult to know what to read into their latest win – it was a curious sort of game where you never sensed that Errigal were in any real danger – and while the pitch at Loughmacrory held up well, the incessant rain meant it wasn’t a day for exhibition style football.

Facing into a stiff breeze, it took Errigal 10 minutes to get up and running with Ruairi Canavan finding his range after enterprising play from Cormac Quinn, who had a good game having recently recovered from a hamstring problem.

Moortown had packed 14 men into their own half so it was difficult enough for Errigal to find their way through, albeit they doubled their advantage when Ruairi Canavan assisted his elder brother Darragh in the 14th minute.

To be fair Moortown did break up field on a number of occasions and they dropped in a couple of testing efforts (mostly by accident) which were dealt with by Errigal goalkeeper Darragh McAnenly.

The Loughshore side mustered their first score of the afternoon, a free from Shea Lawn, but Errigal were still playing most of the football with Mark Kavanagh, deputising for the injured Ben McDonnell, Odhran Robinson and Joe Oguz all seeing their fair share of ball in the hotly contested middle sector.

Moortown found some joy when marquee players like Ryan Kelly and Brian McLernon took the game to their opponents, but Errigal still looked the more threatening in attack and led by 0-4 to 0-2 at the break following a free from Tommy Canavan and a late point kicked soccer style over the bar by Darragh Canavan after a defence-splitting pass from Peter Og Macartan.

Errigal made a few tactical adjustments at half-time, shunting Odhran Robinson into the full-forward line, and they brought a bit more zip to their overall play on the other side of the break, scoring 1-2 in the space of seven minutes. Tommy Canavan tagged on two good frees, while they got a crucial goal to open up some breathing space with Ruairi Canavan making no mistake from close-range after Peter Harte availed from a misplaced Moortown restart.

It looked like the holders were set for a comfortable enough final 20 minutes but Moortown to their credit threw off the shackles and went at Errigal for a period which yielded three pointed frees.

Trailing by only three points with 51 minutes on the clock, Moortown had given themselves a fighting chance, but Errigal were having none of it.

Peter Harte scored the point of the day, clipping it over from a difficult angle and under pressure, and they subsequently pounced for a second goal with sub Bryan Horisk finishing neatly to the net after a fine cross-field pass from Peter Og Macartan. Tommy Canavan scored his fourth of the day, this time from play, and that was that, Errigal had officially booked their place in the semi-finals of the championship.