Loughmacrory Ladies secure Junior title after busy few days

LOUGHMACRORY secured promotion after a hectic seven days of football that saw them beat Glenelly in a Junior league semi-final, before seeing off Castlederg in Sunday night’s final at Newtownstewart 1-12 to 1-6.

The St Eugene’s required extra time to eventually beat Drumragh in a thrilling Thursday night semi-final and despite the quick turnaround they certainly put up a big challenge in the final against the Lough girls.

There were six points between the sides at the final whistle with Loughmacrory leading throughout. Bronagh Gallagher’s goal in the first half had them five ahead at the break with Mia Kelly in top form in nets to deny McSorley, McCallion and Devlin.

Loughmacrory always held the upper hand. Aisiling Logue and Laura Duff were excellent while Claire Gallagher orchestrated affairs down the centre. Lisa Melly top scored with 0-6 with Kerri Ward, Cora McElduff and Duff also registering as they sealed the title and promotion to Intermediate level.

St Macartan’s continued their remarkable record in the Tyrone ACL when they booked their place in the Senior final with a 3-9 to 1-6 victory against Trillick. A goal from Dearbhla Gallagher kept the Reds very much in the game with St Mac’s leading by two points at the break.

The second half saw the perennial league champions pull away with Chloe McCaffrey, Slaine Mc Carroll and Cathy Maguire among the goals, and Tara O’Hagan and Niamh Quinlivan adding points. Trillick battled hard with Emma McCarron and Cathleen Kelly getting on the scoreboard and they always carried a threat.

The Macs will now face old rivals Errigal Ciaran in the League decider this Sunday in Fintona with the potential for a Championship meeting still on the cards. Errigal defeated Carrickmore by six points in their semi-final meeting but despite the loss Carmen will take plenty of positives from this contest ahead of their Championship outing against Omagh.

The irrepressible Aoife Horisk got 1-3 for Errigal while veteran Shannon Cunningham had a superb outing hitting a handful of points. Three sin bin spells for various Carrickmore players played a big part in the eventual outcome.

After losing a player in the opening quarter to a card Carrickmore were always on the back foot and found themselves nine points down at the break.

Maria Canavan and Emily Loughran tagged on Errigal points while a well taken Bronagh Mc Aleer goal sealed the win. Gemma Begley and Sorcha Gormley were key score getters for Carmen with Aideen Mellon and Caoimhe Coyle having good games in defence.

Familiar opponents are lined up then for Sunday’s decider with two experienced managers, Ryan McMenamin and Darren Swift plotting their side’s course. St Macs have won twelve Senior League titles in a row and after the loss in the County final last year to Errigal there’s that added motivation to this final for ‘Ricey’s charges.

That 2023 County decider produced one of the best Championship finals in years so there will be an air of expectation ahead of this latest clash with more silverware on the line.

Errigal will want to prove that last year’s campaign was no one-off and manager Swift certainly has the quality to call upon as they set out to end the St Macartan’s ACL reign of domination.

Meanwhile Coalisland will be just one step away from history this Sunday when they face Kildress in the Tyrone Intermediate League Final. The Fianna can claim a place in senior football for the first time ever and come into the decider on the back of an excellent semi-final victory against Edendork.

The Wolfe Tones edged past a fancied Clonoe by just two points 1-14 to 1-12 to tee up what promises to be an intriguing contest between two sides focused on reaching the top flight. Coalisland saw off the Tones in the 2021 Junior League final but due to a Covid restricted season only the County champions were promoted.

The Fianna made up for it last season winning the double and they have been boosted this year with the inclusion of Emma Jane Gervin and Niamh Hughes in their ranks.

They produced some of their best football of the season to ease past the St Malachy’s in the semi-final.

In the other last four tie Kildress and Clonoe played out a tense encounter. The Rahillys led at the break thanks to a goal from Aine Hughes. Five points down heading into the second half Kildress rallied and Emma Gillen’s goal proved key, with points from Sarah Lennon, Eilis Keenan, Nicole Keenan and half a dozen from Jodie McCrory sealing a two point win.

Clonoe’s Orlagh Gavin turned in another top class performance finishing the game with seven points and the Rahillys will now regroup for their Championship opener.