Gannon ease past Banbridge to clinch final berth

DUNGANNON’S route into the final of the Senior Cup proved much more comfortable than most would have predicted ahead of what, on paper at least, looked like a difficult assignment on the road at Energia All-Ireland 2A outfit Banbridge.

But with Jonny Gillespie’s men in the hunt for a place in the same division next season, they arrived at Rifle Park confident and with a relaxed attitude, treating the semi-final clash as something of a free hit against a team they might play at least twice in 2025-26.

“The scoreboard is probably a wee bit higher than we thought, but we were pretty good value for it, I thought,” observed the Dungannon head coach.

“We put them under a lot of pressure in the first half and we got enough return out of our set piece and that gave us the wee launch pad to put them under that pressure.

“We had no specific plan because we don’t play them and we wouldn’t know a whole pile about them, so we went in fairly relaxed and we just told the boys to go out and play and express themselves and work on stuff that has been annoying us.”

And that attitude paid dividends as they took control of the clash from the off and they didn’t let off until the final whistle.

Kyle Gormley scampered through the Banbridge defence for the opening try of the game on 17 minutes, which was converted by Ben McCaughey, before he scored and converted his own try on the half hour mark. Adam Milligan then grabbed Dungannon’s third try before the break, which McCaughey converted to give his side a 21-0 half-time lead.

Things continued in the same vain throughout the second half with Canada international Peter Nelson scoring a try converted by McCaughey before skipper James McMahon dotted down and McCaughey added the extras for the fifth and final time of the day.

Banbridge did pull two unconverted scores back in the final 10 minutes, either side of James Girvan’s try as Dungannon raced to a place in the Kingspan decider against either Ballynahinch or City of Armagh.

Before that, Dungannon face three vital games in their Energia AIL 2B season when they face Skerries, Sligo and Malahide to seal second place in the division and a place in the promotion play-offs.

Ahead of those games, Gillespie takes charge of Royal School Armagh in today’s (Monday’s) Schools Cup final against Wallace High School at Kingspan Stadium.