By 
ULSTER MINOR CLUB TOURNAMENT PRELIMINARY RD
Portglenone 0-18 Ardboe 5-12
TYRONE champions Ardboe will face Armagh’s Dromintee in the last eight of the FonaCAB St Pauls Ulster Minor Club Tournament this weekend after they saw off Portglenone 5-12 to 0-18 in the preliminary round at Colaiste Feirste in west Belfast on Sunday afternoon.
After an evenly fought first half the Rossas turned on the style after the break, with Darragh Muldoon, Darragh Devlin (two) and Ruairi O’Neill all finding the net.
A close range Darragh Devlin free had Ardboe up and running before Conor Burns popped over the equaliser.
Burns edged his side ahead 60-seconds later and things got better for the Ports when a breach was called by referee Neil McGeown and Odhran Doherty opted for a successful two-pointed attempt.
They had further joy when Tomas Duffin sent a high shot over and a second pointed score came from play courtesy of Conor Burns had his side 0-7-0-1 ahead by the 13th minute.
Ardboe kicked into life with Ruairi O’Neill dropping a shot over and Darragh Devlin added his first from play.
Devlin kicked his second free of the half and a further placed ball was successfully converted after Darragh Muldoon was fouled.
Burns added a further score after his side forced a sideline and Ryan McKeever clipped possession into his path, only for Darragh Devlin to instantly respond from play.
The game’s opening goal arrived after 26 minutes, a quick flowing move through the hands saw Darcy Mallon with the opportunity and he poked home to the net to give Ardboe a slender 1-6 to 0-8 lead.
A point followed after Edan McCartney sped forward and produced the score, but in first half injury time a free outside the arch by Odhran Doherty tied the game up at the break with the score, 0-10-1-7.
Despite playing against the breeze, Portglenone hit the opening score of the half and it was a fourth two-pointed score from Doherty, this time from play from a difficult angle.
Their advantage was immediately halved when Ruairi O’Neill clipped over his second point of the afternoon and moments later free-taker Devlin nailed a two-pointed placed ball.
Devlin then turned provider for his side’s second goal. He played a delightful long pass to Darragh Muldoon to gather and fire to the net.
Muldoon added a point a few minutes later after gathering and shooting over.
To their credit the Casements chipped away and were back to within three points with a quarter of an hour remaining.
A dangerous burst from Thomas Douthart ended with a point and then Odhran Doherty converted a free.
Portglenone were then hit with a hammer blow as Darragh Devlin blasted home a third goal in the 47th minute to make it 3-11 to 0-14.
Back-to-back close range Doherty frees had closed the gap, however ten minutes after netting his side’s third; talisman Darragh Devlin floated shot found the net and it was game over with three minutes remaining.
The pattern continued again with Doherty landing another two converted frees on the spin, only for Ardboe to reply with another goal. Jamie Concannon played a one-two with Devlin and opted to palm the ball across for the other Ruairi O’Neill to have the simplest of tasks in touching the ball to the net.
Teams and Scorers
Portglenone: J McAtamney, C McKenna, O McAtamney, J McVeigh, Cillian McDonnell, Christy McDonnell, T Douthart (0-1), O Doherty (0-11, 0-9f, 2×0-2ptf), T Duffin (0-1), R McKeever, T Convery, C Burns (0-5, 1×0-2pt), E McErlean, F McAleese, P McCloskey. Subs: C Morgan for C Burns (35), R McAleer for T Duffin (51), T Duffin for E McErlean (54), P O’Boyle for P McCloskey (60+3).
Ardboe: S McConville, R Forbes, C McKeown, PJ Quinn, D Mallon (1-0), D McKeown, JP Doris, E McCartney (0-1), J Concannon, Ruairi O’Neill (1-0), Dylan Devlin, J Muldoon, D Muldoon (1-1), Darragh Devlin (2-8, 0-6f, 1×0-2ptf), Ruairi O’Neill (0-2). Sub: O Coleman for Dylan Devlin (58).
Referee: Neil McGeown (Armagh)