Ulster Senior Club Football Championship semi-final: Naomh Conall (Donegal) 0-12 Clontibret (Monaghan) 0-9
From Andy Watters at Healy Park
LAST year Gweedore impressed at this stage and at this venue, turning over Crossmaglen on their way to winning a first Ulster title. On Saturday night Glenties - another Donegal side packed with athletic, talented footballers all on the same page of the tactical playbook - did the same with a mighty impressive performance against misfiring Clontibret.
The Monaghan champions battled hard but they could have no complaints with losing to a Naomh Conall side that was backboned by the composed mastery of Leo McLoone and Ciaran Thompson in midfield and the ruthless finishing of young Donegal hopeful Eoghan McGettigan up front.
McGettigan top-scored with six points for the winners and although Conor McManus registered half-a-dozen himself for Clontibret he was double-marked and frozen out from play by Jeaic McKelvey and Ultan Doherty who both impressed in the well-drilled Glenties defence.
Clontibret manager John McEntee estimates that 15 points will be required to beat the Donegal outfit in the final and that will not be an easy mark to reach because they defend in numbers and keep the ball so well.
“They had a good solid defensive structure and we probably needed to be 6-1 up (to win the game),” said the Crossmaglen native.
“They got the dream start they wanted and then they could defend it and we just kept running into trouble. We forced it, we were trying too hard without being smart about it.
“They are a good team, they can defend and they know how to break defences down. I suppose we didn’t play how we wanted to play, we didn’t play to our standard and that’s the bit that would disappoint us.”
Clontibret were 6-1 down by the end of the first quarter and trailed by four points (0-7 to 0-3) at the interval. Three consecutive scores early in the second half closed the gap to two but McEntee’s men couldn’t sustain the pressure to bridge it.
“They’re great lads and they tried their best,” he said of his team.
“Sometimes things don’t go for you and they kept trying and it didn’t work out but on the day Glenties were the better side. We were beaten by a better team and we just have to accept that.
“They’ll take some stopping now. They beat Gweedore coming into this and then the Cavan champions and now ourselves all quite convincingly, there’s plenty in them and I suppose you’d have to score 15 points to beat them, they’ll be hard to beat.”
After 10 championship games this season, Glenties stand one win away from keeping the Seamus McFerran Cup in Donegal. The final whistle was the cue for hordes of delighted supporters to crowd around their heroes and there’ll be more in the stands in a fortnight’s time to support the club in its second Ulster final.
Marty Boyle, Leo McLoone, Anthony Thompson, Eoin Waide, Brendan McDyer are all veterans of the decider lost to Crossmaglen back in 2010, as was manager Martin Regan.
“It’s great to be back into it,” he said.
“Ulster finals are not easy got to and we’ll see if we can win it this time around.
“It’s business as usual for the next two weeks, we won’t do anything different. We’ll get the bodies right and start looking at the final then.”
Regan’s men went on the attack from the throw-in and McDyer had clipped the outside of the post inside the first minute before Eoghan McGettigan did open the scoring for the Donegal champions.
McManus replied for Clontibret but the Farneymen were five points behind by the 17th minute.
McGettigan (0-2) and his uncle Kevin posted three of them, McDyer and the influential McLoone got the others to leave Clontibret in real trouble.
AJ Gallagher had been keeping Clontibret full-forward Vinny Corey on a tight rein until his slip almost allowed Monaghan veteran Corey through on goal. He panicked and grabbed Corey’s ankle, dragging him down and was shown a black card by referee Mooney.
The loss of their full-back unsettled Glenties. There was a reshuffle as Kieran Gallagher came in and switched with Eoin Waide, who was withdrawn to defence and Ultan Doherty moved to full-back.
The Donegal men, who had been cutting Clontibret to shreds with seamless movement from their forwards and scything support runs from outside the 45, suddenly lost their way. They missed three chances, McManus converted two frees and it was 0-7 to 0-3 at the break.
Ciaran Thompson extended the lead early in the second half but three points on-the-spin from McManus (two frees) and Francis Hughes cut the gap to two and suddenly it was game-on. Glenties had lost the fluent urgency of the opening quarter but, with McLoone superb in midfield, they found it again and doubled their lead thanks to excellent scores from shooters Ciaran Thompson and Eoin McGettigan.
Dessie Mone replied for Clontibret but wave after wave of attacks were broken around the Glenties 45-yard line and another McGettigan-Thompson double left the Monaghan side five adrift with time running out.
They kept fighting. McManus and Darragh Hughes, with his first touch, left a kick of the ball in it as the game entered an additional three minutes. Clontribret tried to grab the goal they needed but Marty Boyle rose above Corey to clear a long, high punt into the Glenties’ square and the Donegal men held on for the win they deserved.
“These games are getting better every time, we’re enjoying every minute of them and we’re looking forward to the final now,” reflected manager Regan afterwards.
“I thought we were excellent in the first 15 minutes, we could have had a goal as well. We were in control until AJ got the black card and that did throw us a wee bit.
“It took us a few minutes to get things changed around because he’s been at full-back for every minute of the championship and we missed him going off.
“We were glad half-time came when it did and we got ourselves settled and readjusted and the boys gave everything out there in the second half.”
More will be required to win the final but, as McEntee observed: “there’s plenty in them”.
Clontibret: D McDonnell; C Doyle, C Boyle, L Savage; J Gormley, D Mone (0-1), C Greenan; F Hughes (0-1), K Lavelle; D Savage, MP O’Dowd, B Greenan; P Boyle, V Corey, C McManus (0-6, 0-5 frees)
Subs: R McGuigan for D Savage (24), D McDonnell for McGuigan (50), K Greenan (55), D Hughes (0-1) for Hughes (60)
Yellow cards: O’Dowd (14), Mone (37), C Greenan (48)
Naomh Conall: S McGrath; U Doherty, AJ Gallagher, K McGettigan (0-1); E O’Donnell, A Thompson, E Waide; C Thompson (0-3, 0-2 frees), L McLoone (0-1); B McDyer (0-1), E McGettigan (0-6, 0-4 frees), E Doherty; J McKelvey, C McGuinness, M Boyle
Subs: D Molloy for McDyer (54), S Molloy for McGuinness (55), D Gallagher for E Doherty (61)
Yellow cards: C Thompson (13), McLoone (13), C McGuinness (37), K Gallagher (59)
Black card: AJ Gallagher replaced by K Gallagher (23)
Referee: N Mooney (Cavan)
