Ardboe withstand Donaghmore fightback to book Championship quarter-final spot

Ardboe 0-17 Donaghmore 3-7

Ardboe withstood a Donaghmore comeback to book an LCC Senior championship quarter final date with Dungannon after they had the minimum to spare at Father Campbell Park in Coalisland on Saturday evening.

The Rossas had looked the better side at times in the first half but two well taken goals left Donaghmore leading 2-4 to 0-8 at the break. Having kicked the last point of the first half the Loughshore men had the first eight of the second half to leave them in control.

Again though Donaghmore struck for a goal and that gave them a huge boost and when they closed the gap to a single point they looked set to force extra time. They had three opportunities to get that equaliser but failed to take them as a relieved Ardboe side hung on.

Shay McGuigan and Ryan Cush exchanged early points before Cormac Morgan and Kyle Coney edged Ardboe two in front. A Cormac McCann point narrowed the gap but Ardboe were looking the livelier side and efforts from a Coney free and Michael Lynn put them 0-5 to 0-2 in front by the 10th minute.

Donaghmore though then enjoyed a good spell with Deasun Quinn converting a free before full forward Tiarnan Drayne burst through on a 40 metre run before firing low to the Ardboe net at the end of the opening quarter.

A point from wing half back Ciaran Gervin levelled matters but in the 23rd minute the St..Patrick's struck for a brilliant goal when Shea Hamill burst through from midfield to give Ardboe keeper Ronan Cassidy no chance with a thumping finish to the back of the net. Wing half-back Conall Devlin clipped over a point and while McCann responded from a free it was Ardboe who had the final say of the opening period with a superb effort from Oran Mulgrew to reduce the deficit to 2-4 to 0-8 at the interval.

Whatever was said to Ardboe at the break certainly had the desired affect as they looked a transformed side on the restart with their forwards in particular putting immense pressure on the Donaghmore defence which yielded mistakes. Two frees from the boot of Coney levelled matters before Ardboe took a lead that they were never to lose in the 36th minute when Coney and Michael O’Neill combined for Devlin to hit a brilliant team score. Michael Cassidy then pushed forward to land an outstanding point from out on the right wing before the impressive Coney split the posts with his weaker right foot.

Coney pointed from play before Tyrone colleague, David Mulgrew, scored from a mark as well as from play. The scoreboard at that stage read 0-16 to 2-4 and Ardboe looked to be cruising but with nine minutes left on the clock Donaghmore substitute Dermot McAleer halved the deficit with goal number three. All of a sudden Donaghmore were a different side with McCann knocking over a free before Peter McKenna left just a point between the sides with six minutes left to play.

A 13m free from Coney gave Ardboe a badly needed score but Donaghmore hit back instantly with Niall McKenna on target from play. There was still two minutes of normal time left to play plus injury time but that proved to be the last score of the game.

During that time Donaghmore looked the more likely to register but both Philip Donnelly and Conor Hegarty were wide from play while Ryan Cush was off target from a difficult free as Ardboe just about did enough to go through.

Ardboe scorers – Kyle Coney 0-7 (6F), Conall Devlin 0-2, David Mulgrew 0-2 [1M], Ciaran Gervin 0-1, Michael Cassidy 0-1, Shay McGuigan 0-1, Oran Mulgrew 0-1, Michael Lynn 0-1, Cormac Morgan 0-1

Donaghmore scorers – Cormac McCann 0-3 (3F), Tiarnan Drayne 1-0, Shea Hamill 1-0, Dermot McAleer 1-0, Peter McKenna 0-1, Niall McKenna 0-1, Deasun Quinn 0-1 [1F], Ryan Cush 0-1

Referee – Kieran Eannetta, Omagh