By 
DRUMRAGH 0-10 FINTONA 2-19
DOUBLE-chasing Fintona flexed their attacking muscles to demolish Drumragh in a surprisingly one-sided Junior Championship quarter-final at O’Neills Healy Park on Friday night, ace attacker Conor McGillion leading their scoring onslaught.
Even though the Sarsfields shuffled their pack beforehand, reintroducing a raft of players who have seen little game time through injury, they proved no match for the potent Pearses who had this one effectively wrapped up by half-time.
McGillion stole the individual accolades with 1-6 to his name, but the platform for victory was laid by an energetic and diligent half-back line, Pauric Kelly, Niall Murray and Jared Brogan all impressing, while Oran Hughes and Diarmuid Martin also caught the eye further up the field. Skipper Ronan Maguire and young Lorcan McGrath kept plugging away for Drumragh to the finish, but they emerged a distant second best on the night.
Even though Ryan Baxter swung over the opener for Drumragh, they quickly dropped 0-3 to 0-1 in arrears, with veteran Aaron McCarney converting a brace (one free) and the lively Brogan cutting inside to find the range.
Kian Murphy provided an excellent response at the other end but any hopes that a pattern was being set for another ding-dong contest between these neighbours quickly evaporated as Fintona dominated the second quarter.
McGillion and Peter Colton each nipped into a pocket of space to fire over, and even though their captain Peter McGlinn limped out of proceedings, his replacement Padraig Goodman was quickly up to speed around the middle.
A series of costly turnovers plagued the Drumragh approach work and after McGillion fisted over a score, the first goal arrived in the 26th minute from another devastating counter-attack. McGillion’s pass put Oran Hughes in the clear and he finished high past keeper James Colgan.
With Goodman, Martin and Hughes again afforded acres of space to slip over scores, Fintona had surged well clear, though Drumragh were buoyed by an excellent Tommy Mullin two pointer before the break- Half-time Fintona 1-9 Drumragh 0-4.
A triple change at the interval underlined the Sarsfields plight and an excellent Niall McCarney score suggested they still had the fire in their belly to mount a fightback.
A further McCarney free and sharp McGillion score on the turn quickly dispelled such a notion, though Maguire did float over an excellent point.
After McGillion wriggled through to add another to his personal tally, he then raised a green flag in the 43rd minute to seal the deal, Goodman with the pinpoint pass and the forward did the rest with a lovely low shot to the net.
McCarney tagged on a free at the other end but was then sent off, picking up a black card subsequent to an earlier booking to further compound Drumragh’s misery.
A flurry of late Fintona points, the likes of McGillion, Martin, Eugene Colton (twice) and McCarney each knocking over scores, moved the Pearses completely out of sight, despite a brace of quality consolation points at the close from Maguire and McGrath.
Scorers
Drumragh: Niall McCarney (0-2,1f), Ronan Maguire (0-2), Tommy Mullin (0-2,tp), Kian Murphy (0-2), Lorcan McGrath, Ryan Baxter (0-1 each)
Fintona: Conor McGillion (1-6), Aaron McCarney (0-5,4f), Oran Hughes (1-1), Diarmuid Martin (0-2), Eugene Colton (0-2), Jared Brogan, Peter Colton, Padraig Goodman (0-1 each)
Teams
Drumragh: James Colgan, Blaine Feeney, Carraig McKenna, Alex McGlinchey, Lorcan McGrath, Gareth Haughey, Niall Maguire, Eoin Montgomery, Michael Roche, Aaron Montgomery, Daniel O’Neill, Ronan Maguire, Ryan Baxter, Tommy Mullin, Kian Murphy. Subs used: Conor Gormley for D O’Neill (h-time), Frank Cassidy for G Haughey (h-time), Niall Maguire for M Roche (h-time), Ryan Montgomery for T Mullin (47), Oran Devlin for A McGlinchey (47)
Fintona: Oisin Watson, Liam Griffiths, Mark McGlinn, Marius Monaghan, Pauric Kelly, Jared Brogan, Peter McGlinn, Conor McGoldrick, Eugene Colton, Oran Hughes, Diarmuid Martin, Conor McGillion, Peter Colton, Aaron McCarney. Subs used: Padraig Goodman for P McGlinn (22mins), Caolan Donnelly for O Hughes (47), Tiernan Watson for C McGoldrick (50), Eoghan Hegarty for M Monaghan (54), Conan Hegarty for C McGillion (56)
Referee: Andrew McKenna (Eskra)
