Fintona pass first Ulster test in fine style

Ballyhegan 1-6  Fintona 1-16

FINTONA breezed through to the last eight of the Ulster Junior Football Championship with a dominant display against Armagh representatives Ballyhegan on Saturday afternoon at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds.

Ballyhegan, beaten in their own championship final by Clann Eireann IIs, made their way to Ulster as seconds teams can’t enter the competition, but Fintona, who have only tasted defeat once throughout the entire season, proved much too strong.

A Ballyhegan black card on the 14th minute mark made their increasingly tough challenge an unsurmountable one, but the Davitts can have no complaints as Ryan Rafferty hauled down Peter McGlinn at centerfield.

Both sides had plenty of chances in front of the posts, sharing 25 wides between them, and could have hit the net more times than once apiece.
Fintona’s efficiency in front of the uprights, having chalked up a large tally of 13 wides along with three missed goal opportunities, will give Martin Greene’s men something to work on ahead of their quarter-final next weekend.

Aaron McCarney, top scorer on the day with a personal haul 0-6, opened the scoring but his saw his effort matched moments later by Ballyhegan centre half back Peter McGrane.

Three on the bounce from McCarney, Oran Hughes and Pauric Kelly drove the Tyrone men ahead before Rafferty, a late addition to the Ballyhegan starting line-up, was shown the line for a black card offence.

During that ten-minute spell, Fintona outscored their opponents 3-1 but James McCormack narrowed the gap for the home side just before half time whistle sounded as Ballyhegan trailed by five, 0-8 to 0-3.

Barry Murphy’s men were handed a huge lifeline at the start of the second period when midfielder-turned-full forward Mark Hughes captured James McKeever’s pass and blasted the ball past the helpless Cathal Gillespie.

But Fintona rattled off the next four points from Jared Brogan, McCarney (2) and McGlinn, before finding the net themselves. McCarney, who seemed to hop the ball twice before passing, fed Conor McGillion, who fired low and hard to the net.

McCormack exchanged pointed efforts with 18-year-old Caolan Donnelly, who darted up the field for his second point, before a further brace from McCormack, the only time Ballyhegan scored two-points in succession, narrowed the margin to seven.

Both sides had further goal chances as Hughes made the crossbar wobble while for Fintona, substitutes Zak Devine and Thomas McGrath saw their efforts denied by keeper Joesph McKeever and the upright.

Corner back Brogan and McGillion raised further white flags in the final moments to give Fintona a ten-point winning margin and they’ll now face Down champions Drumaness next weekend for a spot in the last four.

THE SCORERS
Ballyhegan
J McCormack 0-4 (2f), M Hughes 1-1, P McGrane 0-1.

Fintona
A McCarney 0-6 (5f), C McGillion 1-2, O Hughes 0-2, J Brogan 0-2, C Donnelly 0-2, P Kelly 0-1, P McGlinn 0-1.

THE TEAMS
Ballyhegan
J McKeever, A McNally, P McQuade, M McCann, R McCormick, P McGrane, C Morgan, M Hughes, C Williamson, M Hamill, R Rafferty, J McCann, J McCormack, J McKenna, J McKeever.
Subs: J Hughes for M McCann, K McCann for R McCormick, P Nixon for J McKenna, S Morgan for M Hamill, R McKeever for A
McNally.

Fintona
C Gillespie, C McGowan, M McGlinn, J Brogan, C Donnelly, N Murray, P Kelly, C McGoldrick, P McGinn, A Donnelly, E McCarroll, P Martin, O Hughes, C McGillion, A McCarney. Subs: T McGrath for A Donnelly, T Gavin for P Kelly, L Maguire for O Hughes, Z Devine for C Donnelly, C Watson for P McGlinn.