There were wins at Loughmacrory on Saturday for neighbours Clan na nGael and Gortin. The Clansmen defeated Drumquin in the junior championship convincingly 3-10 to 0-9 with Stevie O’Neill leading the way on a day when he bagged two goals for his team.
Gortin were pushed all the way by a dogged Kildress side before they emerged two point winners on a final score of 0-11 to 0-9.
Clan an nGael went into their game as favourites and made the perfect start with a brace of early goals. The first inside the opening minute came from Damien Ball while Stevie O’Neill hit the first of his brace three minutes later.
Drumquin never really recovered from those early body blows and although Cormac Rodgers and Frankie Mc Alynn narrowed the gap to two points with thirty minutes on the clock former county man O’Neill ended their comeback when he fired an unstoppable shot to the net on the stroke of half time to send his team in at the break leading 3-2 to 0-6.
The North Tyrone men remained in total control after the break and eased to a comfortable ten point victory with Gareth Mc Dermott, Joe Ball, Danny Ball and Damien Ball all landing points for the winners. Frankie Mc Alynn and Cormac Rodgers carried the scoring threat for Drumquin.
Kildress made the better start in their Intermediate championship clash with Gortin. Playing into the breeze they created several good early chances and after a fine point from Matthew Mc Guigan they led 0-2 to 0-1 on eleven minutes.
Rodger Keenan’s side worked hard to get to the pace of the game but found their opponents a tough nut to crack. Brian Mc Garvey, Ruairi Keenan and Peter Keenan drove their team mates forward at every opportunity and with Sean Og Mc Aleer showing unerring accuracy from frees they reached the break three in front leading 0-6 to 0-3.
Early second half points from Mc Aleer and Peter Clarke extended the Gortin lead but Kildress responded with five of the next seven points. Des Tracey, Conor Mc Aleer, Philip Lennon, Martin Grimes and Frank Mc Gurk were all on target as the gap was reduced to two.
Kildress went for broke and created several good chances to take points. Gortin were forced to dig deep but with Mc Garvey and the two Keenans leading the way they sealed the win with a fine score from the boot of Ruairi Keenan.
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