Encouraging victories for under-age teams

After defeats against Kilrea and Lavey the under-14s faced Castledawson in their third Feile na ng outing looking for their first win of the campaign.

Eoghan Rua took an early lead through a Ciaran Tosh point from a free but in the seventh minute Castledawson went ahead with a fortuitous goal. The Coleraine boys responded well to that setback with a fine point from Tosh and then midway through the half Barry Daly got in behind the Castledawson defence to sidefoot into the net.

It was end to end football at this stage as Castledawson came back again with a point to reduce the leeway to the minimum. Just before the break Eoghan Rua grabbed their second goal as Stephen g McMullan stole in to strike a low drive to the net, the home side going in 2-2 to 1-1 ahead at half-time.

Castledawson were quickest out of the blocks in the second half with a point but just five minutes later the game changed with a double goal blast from Eoghan Rua. Paddy Mullan took a quick free kick to find Stephen g McMullan in space down the right, his cross found James Maguire in front of goal and he made no mistake to rifle home.

Moments later, Paddy Mullan lofted a long range shot into the Castledawson square that deceived the goalkeeper and trickled over the line for a goal.

That score knocked the heart out of the visitors and gave Eoghan Rua a real boost. Three points in a row from Paddy Mullan (2) and Stephen g McMullan put Eoghan Rua in total command. The visitors had a player sent off for a second yellow card offence but the damage had already been done on the scoreboard, Ciaran Tosh icing the Eoghan Rua win with a fifth goal.

This was a solid performance by the young Eoghan Eua side with plenty of enterprising football on show.

Eoghan Rua: Conor Mitchell; Conor Boyle, Joe McCann, Aidan Brankin; Shea McLaughlin, Ronan Gaile, Shea Eastwood; Ciaran Tosh, Joseph Lundy; Dermot Lynch, Hal McGonigle, Barry Daly; Stephen g McMullan, Niall Browne; James Maguire. Subs used:Paddy Mullan, Oliver Ferris Eoghan Rua scorers: Ciaran Tosh (1-2, 0-1 free), Paddy Mullan (1-2), Stephen g McMullan (1-1), James Maguire (1-0), Barry Daly (1-0).

* Eoghan Rua’s Under-18 footballers opened their competitive season with a shock 3-11 to 2-8 win away to Banagher in the first round of the Carlin/Duffy Cup.

The first half was a very close affair with the Coleraine side taking a 2-5 to 1-5 lead into the break. Eoghan Rua’s first half goals came from a long range Ruari Leonard effort while Liam Frizelle got in for the second. Banagher started the better in the second half and reduced the gap to a single point but a well taken goal midway through the second half from Eoin Daly pushed Eoghan Rua six clear.

With all of their forwards getting onto the scoresheet Eoghan Rua were able to see out the last quarter as they traded point for point over that period.

This was a very good win on the road for Eoghan Rua who will meet the winners of Glack and Craigbane in the second round.

Eoghan Rua: Aidan Loughrey,; Sean Frizelle, Gregory Rafferty (0-1); Pearse Dallas, Liam McGoldrick, Brendan McKillop; Paul Wells, Ruairi Lenord, Eoin Cunning, Liam Frizelle, Conor Doherty-Green, Eoin Daly, Fearghus Butler. Subs: Ruairi Mooney, Eoin McKillop , Scott Adamson, Declan Sheils. Eoghan Rua scorers: Eoin Daly (1-3), Liam Frizelle (1-2), Ruari Leonard (1-0), Eoin McKillop (0-2), Eoin Cunning (0-1), Ruari Mooney (0-1), Gregory Rafferty (0-1), Declan Shiels (0-1).

McGoldricks

boost for Derry

DERRY get back to National Football league action this weekend with a tough trip to the All-Ireland champions Kerry on Sunday afternoon.

Kerry have made a poor start to the season losing their first two games, Dublin beat them 1-12 to 1-10 while Cork had three points to spare, 1-12 to 0-12, in their last outing.

Derry meanwhile, have won one, they beat Tyrone at home 1-18 to -12 before losing their second game away to Dublin 1-11 to 0-7.

Both these teams will obviously be keen to pick up full points as getting dragged into a potential relegation quagmire this early in the campaign will not be on their agendas.

The Derry panel will receive a boost this week with the return of the McGoldrick brothers Barry and Sean Leo who have been on a trip for the last four months or so taking in such places as Australia, New Zealand and South America.

Along with another Eoghan Rua player, Ciaran Mullan, who was called up to the panel for 2010, their fitness for the league fray will no doubt be assessed over the coming days and weeks, its unlikely that any of the Coleraine players will feature this weekend.

Another Eoghan Rua player, Declan Mullan, may be in contention to play against Kerry, the three week lay-off will have given his injury problems some time to improve.

The former county minor impressed in his substitute role against Tyrone in the first league game of the season but he has not featured since due to a leg injury.

Kerry will be missing a number of players from their All-Ireland winning side from last year including a few notables on a permanent basis.

Tadgh Kennelly has returned to Aussie Rules and the Sydney Swans, the club he won the AFL Premiership with in 2005, while another of Kerry’s rising young stars, Tommy Walsh, has accepted an offer to try to make it big down under with St Kilda.

Probably of more significance than either of the aforementioned has been the announcement, although not totally unexpected of Darragh O S, the man that has been central to Kerry’s reign of success over the last decade.

The big midfielder will be a huge loss to Kerry as he has been their talisman in so many championship games.

A Kerry team in transition may provide Derry with a real opportunity to grab both points but the Oak Leaf side is also a ‘work in progress’ and may not quite be far enough along the road to seal victory in the ‘Kingdom’ this Sunday afternoon.