All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final: Derry 1-8 Galway 0-16
AS ‘the fields of Athenry’ rang out, Galway’s fabulous football overture had led a memerising jig and reel around Croke Park to silence a Championship favourite and secure a first All-Ireland final hit for 15 years.
Derry were so rarely in tune, timing off, captain Kieran McKeever sent off, Joe Brolly taken off.
Arch-marksman Padraic Joyce penned the decisive lines, eight points, five off the free chance mark, with the superstar of the Galway game, Jarlath Fallon, pitching in with four scores from open play.
A crowd of almost 39,000 applauded the performance, space strangling in defence, sharp as razors in the opportunist zone, uncompromising in the heat of battle, alive to every break and glint of the main chance.
The contrast was surprising, if not startling.
Although they had not set the Championship alight with any consistent degree during the provincial qualifying rounds, Derry’s arrival at the All-Ireland semi-final stage was dressed in a suit of anticipation, of expectation.
Yesterday, for them, raggedness and an exit draped in the cloak of under-achievement.
Another year, another title trail turned cold.
Derry: Eoin McCloskey; Kieran McKeever (capt.), Sean Martin Lockhart, Emmet McKeever; Paul McFlynn (0-1), Henry Downey, Gary Coleman (1-1); Anthony Tohill, Enda Muldoon; Gary Magill, Dermot Dougan, Eamonn Burns (0-3, two frees); Joe Brolly, Seamus Downey, Enda Gormley (0-2, both frees).
Subs: Joe Cassidy (0-1) for Brolly (42 mins), Dermot Heaney for Magill (44 mins), Geoffrey McGonigle for Dougan (64 mins).
Galway: Martin McNamara; Tomas Meehan, Gary Fahy, Tomas Mannion; Ray Silke (capt.), John Divilly, Sean Og de Paor; Kevin Walsh, Sean O’Domhnaill (0-1); Michael Donnellan (0-2, both frees), Jarlath Fallon (0-4), Fergal Gavin; Derek Savage, Padraic Joyce (0-8, five frees), Niall Finnegan (0-1).
Sub: Shay Walsh for Gavin (51 mins). Referee: John Bannon (Longford). Attendance: 38,569.
ooooooOOOOOoooooo
Tennents Antrim SFC: St Paul’s (holders) 1-3 Cargin 0-7
Cargin dump the champions
ST PAUL’S bid to win three Antrim Senior Football Championship titles on the trot went up in smoke in the dusk at Casement Park when a late late Sheeney McQuillan long-range free drifted between the posts. Cargin, in charge throughout and with the best player on view – Paul Craig – in their ranks, relied heavily on midfielder McQuillan’s free taking – in all he scored five – but over all they were the dominant force.
They were four points ahead at the end of the first quarter, St Paul’s not finding the range until John McManus pointed 21st and 22nd minute frees.
Then, when Joe Quinn goaled following a great three man passing move – the best of the game – the champions held a 1-2 to 0-4 interval lead.
Three second half points from the boot of McQuillan in nine, 19 and with the final kick of the game gave the reigning league champions victory and a semi-final clash against south west neighbours Dunloy.
It was late action too from Rossa to give them a second bite of the cherry.
Three points back as the game entered the final minute, Joe McCaffery finished off an excellent Paul Close cross for the only goal of the game.
Lamh Dhearg led 0-5 to 0-2 at the break and two Frank Wilson points and another from Paddy Tumelty put them in a strong position soon after the break.
A Paul Close 50th minute goal from a pinpoint Gavin Bell cross gave Rossa some hope but, when two more Wilson points and another from Colm McCabe put the Hannahstown men three ahead in the 59th minute, Rossa looked dead. Buried, however, they were not and McCaffery’s goal gave them a 2-5 to 0-11 draw and another chance, on Wednesday evening, and a possible semi-final clash with St John’s.
Meanwhile, St John’s, despite an injury to Paddy Curran before a ball was even kicked, must thank Brendan Mackin for his two goal act.
A sixth minute punched effort from the full forward, followed by another from corner forward Enda McKenna at the beginning of the second quarter, took them to a 2-4 to 0-4 interval lead.
A slow start from the south west side – their first score came 18 minutes into the game from Martin Mulholland – left them always fighting an uphill battle and, while they did rally in the second half to come within three points, 2-5 to 0- 8, their forwards did not look sufficiently convincing.
Mackin’s second goal came nine minutes from time and was the score which killed off a youthful but inexperienced Glenravel, 3-9 to 0-9.
Dunloy, on the other hand, with three second half goals, were in a class above Glenavy and, but for the efforts of goalkeeper Donard Shannon, might well have won by a landslide.
It ended 4-11 to 1-4 after Emmett McCorry and Malachy Molloy had exchanged first half goals.
Ahead 1-5 to 1-1 at the break Dunloy went on to greater things with corner forward Benny McGarry hammering home two goals and late substitute Seamus McClements claiming another one.
McGarry with 2-1 and Gary O’Kane on six points were the main instruments in Glenavy’s demise.
Scorers:
Cargin: S McQuillan (0-5); D McPeake & D Gallagher (0-1 each)
St Paul’s: J Quinn (1-0); J McManus (0-3)
Lamh Dhearg: F Wilson (0-4); C McCabe (0- 3); M Boyle, P McCambridge, P Tumelty & K Finnegan (0-1 each)
Rossa: P Close (1-3); J McCaffery (1-1); G Armstrong (0-1)
St John’s: B Mackin (2-1); E McKenna (1-2); G Heaney & E McAtamney (0-2 each); J Wilson & P Nolan (0-1 each). Glenravel: M Mulholland (0-4); C Higgins & M McQuillan (0-2 each); S P O’Hagan (0-1).
Dunloy: B McGarry (2-1); G O’Kane (0-6); M Molloy & S McClements (1-0 each); S McIlhatton, G O’Kane, N Elliott & L Richmond (0-1 each)
Glenavy: E McCorry (1-1); C Devlin, C O’Neill & C Hamill (0-1 each)
ooooooOOOOOoooooo
SONIA O’Sullivan proved herself the scourge of European distance runners when winning her second gold medal in the Nep Stadium in Budapest last night.
Having destroyed a world-class field when capturing the 10,000m title last Wednesday night, O’Sullivan was again in a rampant mood winning the inaugural 5,000m race in 15 minutes 6.50 seconds.
The time was unimportant as O’Sullivan, gold medallist in the 3,000m four years ago before the distance was increased to comply with international regulations, sat on the shoulder of this year’s number one performer and last year’s World Champion, Gabriela Szabo.
It came as no surprise when on the final bend O’Sullivan flashed past the favourite’s right shoulder and opened up a winning margin of almost two seconds.
