Ballinderry 1-10 Naomh Conaill 1-7
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Ballinderry made the most of the wind at their backs in the opening exchanges with Finty Bell opening their account with a free after less than two minutes. Bell quickly followed with another score after a superb long ball from Aaron Devlin. Matt Quinn added two impressive scores sandwiched between a booming score from Canice Rocks to leave the Shamrocks five points up after eleven minutes.
Midfielder Ciaran Brennan opening the scoring for the men from Glenties. The Lough shore men added a goal from the penalty spot on fifteen minutes with Lee Martin converting after Finty Bell had been tripped. The Donegal men kicked into life after this with Dermot Molloy getting off the mark with a free after some good pressure from the front men.
This didn’t stop the Derry champions who played some superb football with the first half wind at their backs and Daniel McKinless scored a stylish effort after a superb long pass in from Aaron Devlin on twenty four minutes to leave the score 1-6 to 0-2. The Donegal men kept in touch with a pointed free from Molloy and a point after Ciaran Thompson’s goal bound effort was expertly tipped over by Stephen Cassidy before Finty Bell responded with two frees to leave the half time score 1-8 to 0-4 for the Shamrocks.
Ballinderry did enough to hold on in the second half, despite the Glenties men mounting a strong challenge with the wind at their backs. Matt Quinn added an early point to further the first half lead but Naomh Conaill scrambled a goal through Jamie McHugh on the 38 minute mark after a Dermot Molloy shot dropped short.
Molloy added a free in the forty-second minute mark to leave the score at 1-9 to 1-5. A fourteen-minute scoreless period followed before Quinn popped up again to restore the Shamrocks' five-point lead. It was left to Dermot Molloy to have the final say as he added a free and a forty-five late on as Naomh Conaill pushed for goals. Ballinderry will go through to their semi-final with significant momentum having won two matches in the tournament and will be happy with the work oftheir defence when it was most needed, repelling the goal attempts of the Glenties side.
Ballinderry Scorers: Finty Bell (0-4, 0-3f), Matt Quinn (0-4), Lee Martin (1-0 pen), Canice Rocks (0-1), Daniel McKinless (0-1). Naomh Conaill scorers: Dermot Molloy (0-5, 0-3f, 0-1 '45), Jamie McHugh (1-0),
Ciaran Thompson (0-1), Ciaran Brennan (0-1).