Minors out of luck as monaghan claim senior glory

Derry 1-11
Cavan 0-11

Paul Fitzpatrick
at St Tiernach's Park

 

The Cavan minor footballers, who had been so impressive in their two victories in the Ulster Championship, saw their hopes of regaining the Fr Murray Cup dashed by a physically-strong and ruthlessly efficient Derry side at Clones this afternoon.

Cavan had played a dashing brand of attacking football in their wins over Monaghan and Antrim but Derry, employing a packed defence, closed down the Breffni attack and picked off their chances with impressive accuracy.

Cavan got off to an excellent start when wing-back Dillon Raythorne fired over a terrific point from 40 metres on the left wing just a minute in. The Templeport man got on the end of another good move, following great work from David Brady and Thomas Edward Donohoe, to repeat the trick moments later as Cavan doubled their advantage.

The Blues were in control at this early stage and were unlucky to see shots from Thomas Edward Donohoe and Robbie Fitzpatrick clip the wrong side of the upright. Derry drove on though and a Tiarnan Flanagan goal helped them into a 1-8 to 0-5 half-time lead.

A six-point deficit against a defensive, counter-attacking side was a nightmare position for Cavan to find themselves in before the break – they needed quick scores on the resumption to force the Oak Leafers out of their defensive shell but they didn't arrive.

For all the courage and endeavour Cavan showed in chasing the game, the second half was littered with poor handling and decision-making by the eventual losers.

After a tit for tat third quarter, Thomas Edward Donohoe teed sub Conor Smith up for a well-taken point before David Brady floated over a sweetly-struck 45.

With Luke Fortune, who had swapped with Donal Monahan, beginning to edge the battle with McGuigan, a comeback seemed possible but Cavan's handling was still sloppy and they were turned over far too often. Their shooting did not help – Cavan kicked 10 wides over the hour.

McGuigan got on the end of a move to slot over but Cavan responded with a fantastic 45-metre point from Donohoe.

And when Raythorne sold a dummy off his right and clipped over with the left for his third point, suddenly there were just four in it – 1-11 to 0-10 – and Cavan seemed right in the hunt.

Try as they might, though, Cavan couldn't break through for the goal they needed in the dying seconds. Conor Smith – one of three Killygarry forwards to feature – sent over his second point, again coming from a break off Brady, operating now at full-forward, but Derry defended staunchly in the closing stages.

Cavan: Fergal O'Rourke, Patrick O'Reilly, Donal Monahan, Luke Fortune, Dillon Raythorne (0-3), Shane Fortune, David Wilson, David Brady (0-2, 45, 1f), Conor Brady, Darragh Gannon (0-3, 2f), Paul Leddy, Ryan O'Neill, Dara Kennedy, Thomas Edward Donohoe (0-1), Robbie Fitzpatrick
Subs: Conor Smith (0-2) for Fitzpatrick (h/t), Rhys Clarke for Leddy (h/t), Lewis Fay-Cooper for S Fortune (48 mins), Stephen Smith for O'Neill (55 mins), Eoghan Cooney for Donohoe (57 mins)

Derry: Callum Mullan-Young, Niall Keenan, Conor McGrogan, Conor Maunsell, Oisin Duffin, Michael McEvoy, Eoghan Concannon, Patrick Kearney (0-3), Jack Doherty, Patrick Coney, Shea Downey (0-1), Conor Glass (0-1), Tiarnan Flanagan (1-0), Barry Grant (0-1), Shane McGuigan (0-5)
Subs: Feargal Higgins for Grant (50 mins), Francis Kearney for Flanagan (55 mins)

 

Meanwhile, a tremendous performance from Monaghan saw them claim a 15th Ulster SFC title by one point against Donegal.

Malachy O'Rourke's side led by four at the end of a boisterous first half, with Conor McManus causing untold trouble for the Donegal defence.

 

Donegal kicked five wides in the opening ten minutes of the second half, and while McBrearty pulled back a couple of points from frees,Monaghan's Owen Lennon and McManus both landed brilliant scores.

Donegal lacked shape and ideas, with speculative shots from distance sailing wide of the posts, and when they did attempt to work the ball closer to the posts, they invariably ran in to ferocious tackles from Karl O’Connell, Fintan Kelly and Colin Walshe.

Michael Murphy moved to full forward with ten minutes to play, his side trailing by three points

McBrearty pulled back three points, one a delightful long range effort, but many other attempts came to nothing as they racked up their 11th wide of the half.