GAA FOCUS: Kilrea victory comes at a cost

This was a tough, no holds barred encounter given that both teams will be in championship action in a weeks time.

The win for Eoghan Rua came at a cost however as corner back Sean McWilliams, who was having a tremendous game, and the influential Sean Leo McGoldrick both retired with injuries.

Kilrea also lost their full forward and county man James Kielt to injury. With the championship coming up next weekend all three players must be in the doubtful category to start in their respective ties. Kilrea made the better start on home soil as Charlie Kielt pointed from a free after just four minutes but following a foul on Declan Mullan, Gregory Bradley levelled matters.

The home side briefly took the lead again through a James Kielt point from a free but a superb individual goal from Colm McGoldrick who slalomed past a number of players before drilling low to the far corner of the net had Eoghan Rua back in front again by the end of the first quarter.

Barry McGoldrick extended the visitors' lead with a point before a period of stalemate seen the sides slug it out around the middle third without raising a flag.

The exchanges were feisty around the middle with James Donaghy and Charlie Kielt for Kilrea going head to head against Coleraine's Niall Holly and Paul Daly.

The scoring drought was ended five minutes before the break when Colm McGoldrick latched onto a quickly taken free from his brother Sean Leo before being hauled down for a penalty that was drilled to the net by Barry McGoldrick.

The sides then exchanged points in a frantic finish to the half with Kilrea coming back strongly. Points from Michael Quigg and Charlie Kielt left the home team four points adrift at the break, 2-3 to 0-5.

Early in the second half pressure on the Kilrea defence forced a turnover that resulted in Gregory Bradley adding to Coleraine's lead. Two points from frees by Charlie Kielt brought Kilrea to within just three points ten minutes into the second half.

Richard Carey edged Eoghan Rua four clear and in a period of pressure the visitors should have extended their lead but Declan Mullan and Niall Holly both sent wide from good positions.

Kilrea almost made Coleraine pay for their profligacy as Charlie Kielt finished off a superb move the length of the field and then James Donaghy pointed to leave just two between the sides going into the last ten minutes.

The temperature began to rise as the tackling became even more intensive with one or two players sailing close to the wind. Just after Barry McGoldrick edged Eoghan Rua three clear Benny Quigg seen his piledriver of a shot crash off the Coleraine bar and away to safety, a bit of a let off for the visitors.

Gregory Bradley had Eoghan Rua four clear with three minutes left with Kilrea spurning three chances for points going into added time. Liam Morrow's fine point deep into added time came too late to affect the outcome as Eoghan Rua held on for a fine away win that keeps them very much in top four play-off contention.

The visitors were solid at the back with corner men Sean McWilliams, before he went off injured and Barry McTaggart in good form while full back Ciaran Mullan had a good battle with James Kielt in the centre, Kielt too retired injured from the game at half-time.

Kilrea's half forwards Liam Morrow and Lee Kennedy were very busy throughout while Benny Quigg impressed when he came into the fray in the second half.

For Eoghan Rua Ciaran Lenehan worked hard throughout while Colm McGoldrick proved a real handful for Kilrea full back Aidan Rainey, McGoldrick capped a fine day's work with a stunning first half goal. Free takers Barry McGoldrick for Eoghan Rua and Charlie Kielt for Kilrea were very accurate throughout punishing the respective defenders indiscretions with aplomb.

Both clubs will, however, have an anxious wait to see if the players who sustained injuries, Sean Leo McGoldrick and Sean McWilliams for Eoghan Rua and James Kielt for Kilrea, can recover in time for next Sunday evening's championship encounters, Kilrea v Ballinderry and Eoghan Rua v Slaughtneil, both games in Lavey.

Eoghan Rua Ryan McGeough; Sean McWilliams, Ciaran Mullan, Barry McTaggart; Cormac Trolan, Barry McGoldrick, Ciaran Lenehan; Paul Daly, Niall Holley; Declan Mullan, Sean Leo McGoldrick, Ciaran McGoldrick; Richard Carey, Colm McGoldrick, Gregory Bradley.Ciaran McGoldrick. Subs used: Anton Rafferty for S L McGoldrick (inj), Bernard Mullan for S McWilliams (inj)

Eoghan Rua scorers: Barry McGoldrick (1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-2 frees), Colm McGoldrick (1-0), Gregory Bradley (0-3, 0-1 free), Richard Carey (0-2).

Kilrea: Paul Morgan; Michael McWilliams, Aidan Rainey, Nicky O'Neill; Eamon Darragh, Jonathon Nelson, Brian g McAlary; James Donaghy, Charlie Kielt; Liam Morrow, Michael Quigg, Eamon Morgan; Lee Kennedy, James Kielt, Eoghan Rogers.

Sub: Benny Quigg for E Rogers

Kilrea scorers: Charlie Kielt (0-6, 0-4 frees), James Donaghy (0-1), James Kielt (0-1, free), Liam Morrow (0-1), Michael Quigg (0-1).

Easy for Ballinderry

Leaders Ballinderry collected a couple of easy points at the weekend as their opponents for last Sunday, Lavey, failed to field, the Gulladuff side's interests obviously focused on the upcoming championship.

Meanwhile Slaughtneil, Eoghan Rua's championship opponents, continued their fine league form with a good win over Glenullin, 2-9 to 1-8 to stay clear in second place.

Eoghan Rua's win over Kilrea keeps them in third place while in a bottom of the table clash Loup did their hopes of avoiding one of the two relegation play-off places no harm with a 0-13 to 0-7 win over fellow strugglers Swatragh who are now a point adrift at the bottom.

Ballinascreen moved into fourth place ahead of Lavey with a big win over Newbridge, 3-18 to 0-9 the score. Glen remain in trouble at the wrong end of the table following their 1-11 to 0-9 loss to Banagher who are now all but clear of any relegation worries in mid-table.

Dungiven warmed up for their championship knock-out clash with Glenullin with a fine 3-10 to 3-7 victory over Bellaghy.

Focus on the championship in Derry

It's championship action all the way in Derry this weekend with a number of very interesting games down for decision, none more so than the meeting of Eoghan Rua, Coleraine and Slaughtneil on Sunday evening in Lavey at 7.00pm.

These sides met at the same stage of the championship last year when Eoghan Rua pulled off a shock win sending the Emmetts spinning out. There is no doubt that they will be seeking a small measure of revenge for that defeat and they are currently in the sort of form that will see them going into Sunday's challenge in confident mood.

Both clubs league form has been very good this season with Slaughtneil in second place and Eoghan rua just two points behind them in third, both teams having played 12 games.

Slaughtneil will go into Sunday's clash injury free, a position they were not in when the sides met last year, while Eoghan Rua have concerns over corner back Sean McWilliams and county player Sean Leo McGoldrick.

League form suggests this one will be tight but with Slaughtneil having virtually a clean bill of health and a bit of revenge on their mind they will be favourites to go straight through to the quarter-finals while Eoghan Rua may have to go the qualifier route as they did last year.

The senior football championship (SFC) and intermediate football championship ( IFC) fixtures for the weekend are as follows:

SFC: Thursday, July 29th in Bellaghy at 7.15pm Glen v Lavey.

IFC: Thursday, July 29th in Banagher at 7.15pm: Foreglen v Drumsurn

SFC: Friday, July 30th in Glenullin at 7.15pm Bellaghy v Ballinascreen

IFC: Friday, July 30th in Foreglen at 7.15pm: Faughanvale v Claudy

IFC: Saturday, July 31st in Greenlough at 2.00 pm: Castledawson v Dolans

and at 3.30pm: Newbridge v Swatragh

SFC: Saturday July31st in Celtic Park, Derry at 5.30pm: Banagher v Slaughtmanus

and at 7.00pm: Dungiven v Glenullin

IFC: Sunday, August 1st in Slaughtneil at 2.00pm Ballerin v Moneymore and at 3.30pm SFC: Sunday August 1st in Slaughtneil at 3.30pm Loup v Magherafelt

SFC: Sunday August 1st in Lavey at 5.30pm: Ballinderry v Kilrea

SFC: Sunday August 1st in Lavey at 7.00pm: Coleraine v Slaughtneil

Camogs go for title victory

Eoghan Rua's senior camogs will be going in search of a first ever premier championship title this Sunday when they take on surprise packets Ballinderry in the final.

A very busy day of championship action lies ahead for followers of the Eoghan Rua club on Sunday 1st August as in the afternoon their senior camogie team will feature in an historic first ever Premier championship final against Ballinderry at Ballerin, throw-in 3.00pm while their footballers take on Slaughtneil later that same evening in Lavey at 7.00pm.

Eoghan Rua camogs reached the final following a comprehensive 4-14 to 2-5 win over Bellaghy while Ballinderry shocked Lavey with a six point winning margin.

The Coleraine side all but sealed their final berth when they raced into a 2-8 to 0-2 half-time lead with goals from Grace McMullan and Aisling Carey.

Grainne McGoldrick continued in her rich vein of scoring form as she fired over five first half points, she finished with 1-8 to her name while Grace McMullan added two points and midfielder Jane Carey drove forward for a fine point.

Bellaghy got the first point of the second half through Grainne McGuckin but the Eoghan Rua response was emphatic as Grace McMullan raced through to hammer home her second and the eventual winner's third goal.

There really was no doubt about the outcome even at this early stage of what was a tepid second half. Eoghan Rua continued to control matters as Jane Carey, Grainne and Meabh McGoldrick added points.

Meanwhile the Eoghna Rua defencewas very solid, young wing backs Eilish McNamee and Maria Mooney very Tidy clearing their lines while Maureen Heneghan, Maeve Dillon, Kelly Maybin and Adelle Archibald all worked hard . A fourth goal from Grainne McGoldrick seven minutes from time completely sealed the deal with late goals for Bellaghy from Grainne McGuckin and Brenda Doherty simply putting some respectability on the scoreline.

Ballinderry have had the 'Indian sign' on Eoghan Rua when it comes to finals as they three times they denied the Coleraine club in the Intermediate championship before Eoghan Rua eventually broke through beating Ballinascreen.

Both clubs have moved up the grades since then and now meet in Sunday's novel pairing. With Ballinderry dumping the county, Ulster and All-Ireland champions Lavey out in the semi-final they will hold no fears going in to the final Eoghan Rua.

Indeed their record in the head-to-heads against Eoghan Rua in search of final glory will only add to their confidence.

On the strength of their fine win over Lavey Ballinderry will be slight favourites while Eoghan Rua having gone one step further than they did last year, they bowed out tamely to Lavey in the semi-final, will be hoping to raise their game again.

Ballinderry will present a well organised challenge and will rightly go in as favourites but this Eoghan Rua side are well capable of providing yet another shock in what has been an exciting Derry premier championship to date. Throw-in on Sunday in Ballerin is 3.00pm.