Urney swoop late to take derby victory

ALL-COUNTY LEAGUE DIVISION THREE ROUND-UP

Glenelly 1-12 Urney 1-13

GLENELLY and St Columba’s met in a lively North Tyrone derby that was won late on by a block buster drive from Johnny Lafferty.

Lafferty’s free kick found the net off the bar and gave the St Columba’s a narrow success just as it looked like the St Joseph’s were going to keep the league points at home. The sides had been level over the break and Cormac McKeown’s goal then helped strengthen Glenelly’s position as Garrett O’Neill, keeper Conor McAneney, Lorcan McCullagh and Eammon McConnell led the St Joseph point tally.

Johnny Lafferty’s eight points and Jake McAleer scores kept the St Columba’s in close pursuit before Lafferty tagged on a thumping major to his collection and with it the victory for Urney. Glenelly got very close and next up for the St Joseph’s this weekend is the Championship

Fr Rocks reach 32 points

Cookstown 1-13 Drumquin 2-2

THE Fr Rocks completed an unbeaten 16-game campaign and finished with a full quota of 32 points in the process following this home win over Drumquin on Sunday.

Cookstown are heading to intermediate football as league winners but they were pushed close by Fintona all season who are booked for the runners-up spot ahead of their closing fixture this weekend. Drumquin took to the field with a play-off place in their sights but the Tones were unable to keep tabs on Cookstown’s added point scoring returns here.

Drumquin’s brace of goals emanated from Frankie McAlynn but the guests were unable to reproduce the scoring frequency of recent games on this occasion. Karol McGuigan netted for the Fr Rocks and Matthew Carberry maintained his steady supply of scores throughout the summer by picking off some points alongside Michael McElhatton and company.

Pearses secure runners-up spot

Fintona 2-14 Errigal Ciaran 2-4

FINTONA secured league win number 14 on Saturday evening to rubber stamp second place in the table behind Cookstown following a great effort throughout this summer by the Pearses.

Errigal Ciaran III have been doing pretty well this year again and they staged a spirited showing against the Pearses. The away goals were scored by Sean McCann and Michael Quinn, with Ronan McRory, Barry Donnelly and Daniel Blake(0-2) getting the points.

Conor McGillion, Aaron McCarney, Peter McGlynn and Niall Murray scored early home points. McGillion tagged on three scores, two via placed efforts. Aaron McCarney pointed and McCarney then drove low to the away net on 28 minutes. This was followed one minute after by a well-finished Caolan Donnelly goal and an Errigal three-pointer to leave the interval score reading 2-8 to 1-1 in Fintona’s favour. Caolan Donnelly, Conor McGillion and Aaron McCarney then scored second half point braces to wrap up the win.

Aghaloo keep run going

Aghaloo 3-16 Killyman 2-7

THE St Mary’s of Killyman headed for Aghaloo but it was the host side who got the better of this dress rehearsal contest in the league before the two teams meet shortly for a championship first round tie.

Aghaloo emerged with the win to seal a play-off position but the St Mary’s will take encouragement from their 2-7 score tally. Sean Donnelly delivered both the Killyman goals as the visiting side tried to stay within range of Aghaloo. In addition, Enda McGahan and Cathal McGahan sent over the bulk of Killyman’s points between them.

Enda McGarrity, Jody McGlone and Niall Henderson provided the home goals here, with Henderson also slotting over three points and McGarrity getting one. James O’Hara, Stewart Douglas and Miceal Muldoon were the other chief point suppliers for Aghaloo as these two teams look forward to that upcoming championship encounter.

Sarsfields make play-off progress

Donaghmore III 0-5 Drumragh 4-22

DRUMRAGH strengthened their play-off push when running out clear-cut victors over Donaghmore III on Saturday evening.

The Sarsfields netted on four occasions and landed 22 points into the bargain as well. Sean McCaul and St Patrick team-mates kept trying hard but Drumragh were turning the scoreboard over at a regular rate. The win takes Drumragh into a promising position ahead of their closing game of the main league programme this weekend.

Martin Taggart led the score account for Drumragh by registering two goals and four points. Malachy McManus(1-2) and Oran Devlin(1-1) also supplied goals along the way for their team. The Sarsfields had twelve different score providers as the points flowed via Gareth McGrath(0-3), Niall McCarney(0-3), Kevin Marron(0-2) and Andy Colgan(0-2). There were single scores for Shane Cleary, Gareth Haughey, Barry Fitzgerald, Ronan Maguire and Shane Devine.

Win boost for Clann

Castlederg 0-13 Clann na nGael 0-16

THE St Eugene’s and Clann na nGael served up a close contest at Marius McHugh Park where the visitors just shaded matters in the penultimate round of league games.

Adam Traynor scored four points on the day for Castlederg as Daire Corry and Darren Traynor each chipped in with three. Single points were supplied by Mattie Traynor, Ben Harper and Paddy Porter. The St Eugene’s will soon be in championship action against opening round opponents Errigal Ciaran.

Clann na nGael are awaiting the outcome of this weekend’s championship preliminary round contest comprising Glenelly and Augher to see who they then play. They got a winning boost in this league game after a well contested tussle. Shea Browne and Robbie Conway claimed eleven of the away scores between them as the league schedule heads for its closing round of fixtures.

Late Lafferty belter turns tie

Glenelly 1-12 Urney 1-13

GLENELLY and St Columba’s met in a lively North Tyrone derby that was won late on by a block buster drive from Johnny Lafferty.

Lafferty’s free kick found the net off the bar and gave the St Columba’s a narrow success just as it looked like the St Joseph’s were going to keep the league points at home. The sides had been level over the break and Cormac McKeown’s goal then helped strengthen Glenelly’s position as Garrett O’Neill, keeper Conor McAneney, Lorcan McCullagh and Eammon McConnell led the St Joseph point tally.

Johnny Lafferty’s eight points and Jake McAleer scores kept the St Columba’s in close pursuit before Lafferty tagged on a thumping major to his collection and with it the victory for Urney. Glenelly got very close and next up for the St Joseph’s this weekend is the Championship

St Macartan’s secure the victory

Brocagh 1-5 Augher 0-15

THE St Macartan’s returned to Augher from the loughshore with both league points at hand and in so doing kept their name in the pot for a possible play-off place.

Sunday’s victory means that Augher now have 20 points and a sixth spot in the league table ahead of the concluding round 17 fixtures. The St Macartan’s, though, have their preliminary round championship contest with Glenelly this Saturday to concentrate on. Brocagh were well in the mix over half-time in Sunday’s league meeting after Eoin O’Neill found the net and Mickey Hughes scored a couple of points.

Aidan Dorman, Niall McCloskey and Hughes got home points after the restart but it was Augher who enjoyed the better of the scoring exchanges in the last 30 minutes. Raymond McElroy, Finbarr McElroy and Dara Donnelly got among the away point returns to help seal victory for the St Macartan’s.

Home team hold off Roes

Derrytresk 2-13 Brackaville 0-11

SUNDAY’S game between the Fir an nChnoic and the Roes of Brackaville produced a well contested encounter that went the way of Derrytresk who scored two goals to help lay the platform for their win.

These two teams were keen to play well ahead of championship matters fast approaching and both can take positives from the encounter. Derrytresk’s win takes the Fir an nChnoic onto the 11-point mark in the table and they have two games to go. Brackaville are currently on 13 points with one fixture remaining.

Niall Gavin continues to lead the scoring stakes for Derrytresk during 2023, with Dale McSorley one of those doing likewise on behalf of Brackaville as both teams prepare to change into championship mode for their respective first round matches up ahead.