Christopher’s 2-9 Donegal 4-14
The second Junior A football semi-final was a surprisingly
one-sided affair as Donegal handily defeated Christopher’s. There were 3 goals in the first half as the
Donegal forward line showed some great quickness and inter-passing, and 2
sendings off pretty much doomed Christopher’s to their fate as they were down 2
players a few minutes into the second half.
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| Eoghan McGettigan on the move for Donegal. |
Donegal took a commanding lead into the half time break thanks to
3 goals that rocked Christopher’s. The
first came early from Christy McLaughlin who side-footed from close range after
Ashley Carr found him with a hand pass across the face of goal. Donegal added a second from Eoghan
McGettigan, the Donegal U21 player rifled a shot to the near corner from inside
the 21, and late in the half it was Carr taking the third for himself.
Christopher’s looked sluggish compared to a sprightly Donegal, and
did themselves no favors after Murt Hunt was sent off following an off the ball
strike on Sean Winston. Even at this
early stage a goal would be required to get back into the game, and
Christopher’s could only match Donegal in the points column. Conor O’Keefe floated over a couple of lovely
efforts for Christopher’s, but Donegal’s McGettigan and Carr did likewise for
the northerners. There could have been a
fourth goal after McLaughlin was fouled in the box, but the wily corner
forward’s spot kick hit the top of the crossbar and over for a point.
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| Up for Grabs between Darren Grant and Killian Ryan. |
The second half saw Christopher’s almost in with a goal chance,
but after the referee blew for a free in another red card was shown, this time
to Mark Delaney. Christopher’s now down
2 players and 10 points. The hole got
deeper for Christopher’s after McGettigan hit the back of the net again a few minutes
later. At this stage with most of the
second half to play the game was more or less decided.
Dan Kenneally netted after a high ball into the box, and Chris
Moynihan put a lovely point over the bar, but the scores only served as a
teaser for what might have been from a Christopher’s viewpoint had they managed
to retain a full complement of personnel.
Donegal controlled matters for the remainder and basically saw out the
clock. The result sets up a north and
south final with Donegal meeting Cork, the last 2 champions on the Junior A
championship with Cork defending and Donegal the 2016 winners.
Christopher’s: Mark
Delaney, Mark Russell, Murt Hunt, Sean McHugh, Pat Kenneally, Tom Kinsley,
James Horgan, Killian Ryan, TJ Stenson, Chris Moynihan, Pat Kerrigan, Dan
Kenneally, Conor O’Keefe.
Donegal: Lee McCarron,
Declan McBride, Gavin Reilly, Sean Winston, Darren Doherty, Aidan McLaughlin,
Darren Grant, Mark Dunphy, Ciaran McDevitt, Rocky Ivers, Eoghan McGettigan,
Ashley Carr, Christy McLaughlin.
By Rory O'Donnell
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