O’Neills Derry SFC Group A: Swatragh 2-8 Bellaghy 1-17
SOME 51 days after the Derry SFC began, Bellaghy won its first knockout game to snatch the last quarter-final spot in Group A and a meeting with neighbours Newbridge.
Damian Cassidy’s side had to go to Davitt Park, which hasn’t always been a happy hunting ground, bearing a fair weight of pressure on their shoulders.
He stood helplessly as Swatragh were awarded a stoppage time penalty, fearing they’d score it and that there’d be one last kickout to repel, knowing a draw would send Niall Conway’s men through at their expense.
Goalkeeper Peter Stuart saved them the worry.
He’s played soccer alongside Sean Kearney in Aghadowey across several winters and watched him score a dozen penalties in games and faced so many more in training.
It was advantage Stuart when they came face-to-face and it showed in the uncertainty of Kearney’s kick, turned away by the ‘keeper’s feet.
Swatragh were grasping for air by then. They’d been given a lift by Lorcan McWilliams’ 1-1 after his introduction with just 12 minutes to play, his brother Oisin still sidelined with the knee, the latest in a line of injuries that’s kept him out for two years.
Anton Tohill had carried a lot of their hopes. Bellaghy have been a team he’s had real joy against and he dominated the air, at one stage getting his hand to a kickout when he was outnumbered four-to-one.
He’d had an early goal chance saved by Stuart before he did net his second, punishing a bad turnover by Bellaghy in midfield to help the Swa go in level at 1-2 to 0-5.
Bellaghy did some good stuff, particularly in a third quarter that saw them take a command of the scoreboard that their overall dominance of the ball had merited.
But they’ll be worried too by the mistakes. The first Swatragh goal came off a bad turnover and the second came when Bellaghy tried to force a goal unnecessarily when Swatragh broke for McWilliams to net at the other end instead.
Somehow they were then caught one-against-two in the full-back line off a Swatragh kickout a few minutes later, when all they had to do to win was not concede another goal.
Ruairi McElwee was only fit for 20 minutes off the bench but made a difference inside. The most promising thing about them is the age profile of their attack. Declan Cassidy is a serious leader for them and in Charlie Diamond, Damon Gallagher and Ciaran Chambers, there’s obvious raw potential.
Those are all the things we were saying about Swatragh a few years ago but they’ve failed to kick on. That being eliminated from a group stage where four of six qualify doesn’t come as a huge surprise must be seriously disappointing.
So much of Bellaghy’s good attacking work was done by Kealan Friel and Karl McCallion, driving from the centre of defence.
Friel, playing at full-back on Francis Kearney, kept getting himself to full-forward and eventually it paid off when he punched home their goal from a dropping Damon Gallagher shot.
That gave Bellaghy their first bit of breathing space, leading 1-10 to 1-4 with 45 minutes gone. They sprang into life for a while, started creating and threatening to cut their hosts open.
They were seven up when Paul Cassidy went for goal on his left foot when the point was plenty. Swatragh came the length of the field for Lorcan McWilliams to cut on to his left and fire a brilliant goal in at the near post.
Sean Kearney had been their brightest spark in attack. The penalty probably came too late to really matter anyway and it was a pity it deflected from the energy he’d brought.
Swatragh’s directness isn’t always easy to cope with but in Karl McCallion and Kealan Friel, Bellaghy’s big physical profile down the middle of their defence was ideal.
Declan Cassidy stood up with a big second half. Regular watchers of Bellaghy see the best of someone who’s probably not had as much game time with Derry as his club performances suggest he should have.
The Tones were comfortable and dominant for so much of it yet were still biting their nails to the quick in stoppage time.
A Newbridge side that’s just travelled a bit more road, reaching two consecutive semi-finals and topping their group ahead of Magherafelt, will bring a big challenge in two weeks’ time.
MATCH STATS
Swatragh: F McGurk (0-1); T McKeagney, SM Quinn, D Bradley; A McLaughlin, SF Quinn, T Walsh; C McAtamney, A Tohill (1-0), P Kearney; N Coyle (0-1), S Kearney (0-3, 0-1f, 0-1 45′), C Murray; J Kearney, F Kearney
Subs: F Coyle for Bradley (48), L McWilliams (1-1) for A McLaughlin (50)
Bellaghy: P Stuart (0-2, 0-1f, 0-1 45′); C Milne, K McCallion, J Diamond; C McShane (0-1), K Friel (1-0), M McCleneghan, L Diamond; Paul Cassidy, O McErlean; C Diamond (0-6, 0-4 frees), D Cassidy (0-2), D Gallagher (0-2, 0-1 free); C Chambers (0-1), E Brown (0-1)
Subs: R McElwee (0-1) for McErlean (43)
Referee: B Quinn