By 
Clonoe 1-18
Saval 0-12
By Michael McMullan
The scoreline says it all. From the moment Declan McClure had the ball over the bar, within the first 10 seconds, Clonoe were never behind.
Here are the key points. The O’Rahilly’s had nine different scorers. Declan McClure ruled the skies, Ryan Morrow marshalled Pat Havern, keeping him on the fringes. Fintan McClure linked the play.
Mickey O’Neill was unbeatable in goals. Rhys Donnelly was another kick-out target. PJ Lavery and Conall Coyle marshalled the Clonoe defence, limiting any potential for kicks to unlock the door. Shea Coney’s goal was unstoppable.
When Clonoe’s lead was trimmed back to four, Declan McClure plucked two Saval kick-outs they harvested two two-point scores from. It doubled the lead after 39 minutes. That was the final momentum shift and the game had an inevitable look well before Conor Dourneen’s final whistle.
Danny McNulty got married over the weekend and was unavailable. His place went to Eoin Mansell with Conall Coyle coming into the defence ahead of Michael O’Neill.
Clonoe had won all previous 19 league and championship games but this was the club’s first ever win in Ulster, having won five Tyrone senior and intermediate titles.
Fintan McClure won possession from the throw-in, feeding Declan McClure, who started at centre-forward, and he had the ball over the bar.
Darragh McGrath won the first Saval kick-out and Connor McAliskey added a second point before the clock had ticked into the second minute.
The trend continued with Rhys Donnelly winning a kick-out leading to a score from Tommy Taggart and Clonoe were three points ahead.
It 13 minutes for Saval to win one of their own kick-outs and 29 minutes before Clonoe lost one of theirs. That was the territorial story of the first half.
Shea Coney looked to kick the ball on every Clonoe move from he was involved in. He won a long Savan kick-out in the 12th minute. They transferred the ball to James Taggart. Clogged up in the corner, the ball was recycled out around with Declan and Fintan McClure involved in the move. When the latter played the ball into Coney, he hammered the ball to the top corner of the net for a 1-4 to 0-0 lead.
Saval got their first score from Daniel McCarthy in the 16th minute but with Mickey O’Neill always having an uncontested kick-out option, Clonoe continued to build from the back.
Clonoe needed a Rhys Donnelly block to prevent a Joe McAloon half chance for goal and for goalkeeper O’Neill to react to keep the ball out after he had initially let a Pat Havern two-point attempt slip from his hands.
Daniel McCarthy, Pat Havern and Brendan Tumilty scored for Saval but Clonoe were still on control, leading 1-9 to 0-4 at the break.
Pat Havern hit the first score of the second half and with a total press on the Clonoe kick-out they had their brief spell of control.
A two-point free from Dan McKernan was added to by a close-range free and Saval were within four points by the 36th minute.
It took an excellent O’Neill kickout, down the wing to Rhys Donnelly, to get Clonoe on the attack for Eoin Mansell to slot over. From then, the game changed again.
Saval goalkeeper Peter Murphy landed two kick-outs on top of Declan McClure. He fielded both. One led to a two-point free for McAliskey and two-pointer from play, off the boot of Fintan McClure.
With the score now 1-14 to 0-8, Saval needed goals to eat into the margin.
They did have the chances but Mickey O’Neill’s three saves pour water on any sense of a comeback.
It was O’Neill’s footwork that did much of the work and how he judged the angles. He was strong to turn away Daneil McCarthy’s powerful drive.
His second save, from Brendan Tumilty was from a similar position only with plenty of bodies around him and he judged his angles to perfection.
The this save was the best of all. Ronan McCarthy got inside the cover and opted for height and power but O’Neill dived to his right, beating the ball away.
Pat Havern did manage frees in the final quarter but without goals, Saval were never getting back into a game they chased from the opening seconds.
Ryan Quinn added 0-3, including a two-pointer, as Clonoe eased their way to a semi-final spot. On the evidence of it, it’ll take a quality team to beat them.
Scorers
Clonoe: Connor McAliskey (0-6, 2f, 1tpf), Tommy Taggart (0-3, 1 45), Ryan Quinn (0-3, 1tp), Shea Coney (1-0), Fintan McClure (0-2tp), Eoin Mansell, Declan McClure, PJ Lavery, Ryan McCabe (0-1 each).
Saval: Pat Havern (0-4, 2f), Daniel McCarthy (0-3, 1f), Dan McKernan (0-3, 1tpf, 1f) and Brendan Tumilty (0-1).
Teams
Clonoe: Mickey O’Neill, James Taggart, Conall Coyle, Shane Hughes, Shea Coney, PJ Lavery, Darragh McGrath, Declan McClure, Ryan Morrow, Rhys Donnelly, Connor McAliskey, Ryan McCabe, Tommy Taggart, Eoin Mansell, Fintan McClure.
Subs: Ryan Quinn for E Mansell, Pascal McClure for T Taggart Michael O’Neill for C Coyle, Daire Devlin for R McCabe.
Saval: Peter Murphy, Corey McCullough, Jarlath McCarthy, Daniel Fearon, Ronan McCarthy, Curtis Sands, Dara Havern, Pat Havern, Daniel McCarthy, Joe McAloon, Kealan Rice, Dean Rice, Brendan Tumilty, Dan McKernan, Niall Devlin.
Subs: Kevin Turley for J McCarthy (12), Ryan Rice for C McCollough (20), Odhran Goodman for C Sands (43), Darragh Saul for D Havern (53).
Referee: Conor Dourneen (Cavan).
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