Ulster Club IFC preliminary round: Steelstown Brian Og’s 0-13 Cloughaneely 1-8
DERRY senior star Ben McCarron weighed in with 0-6, five from frees, as Steelstown Brian Og’s deservedly defeated a gritty 13-man Cloughnaeely side in an entertaining clash in O'Donnell Park.
John Fitzgerald and Paul Sweeney saw red for the Donegal side in the final quarter as they trailed by 1-6 to 0-10.
Steelstown tacked on a few points, but Cloughaneely dug deep and almost snatched victory in the 63rrd minute when Lee O’Brien’s punched effort came off the post amid gasps from the Cloughaneely fans.
But it would have been a steal, as the Derry side were well worth their victory.
McCarron, who was black-carded in the 59th minute was just relieved to get the win that they made hard work of, despite being the better team for long periods.
“Yes, it is good to get the win and we had an extra week to look at them," he said.
“They have Jason McGee, who is an established county player and have quality players throughout their team and we knew we were in for a battle today and that is exactly how it turned out.
“It was a big thing for us winning Derry for the first time and because of that we decided that we were going to give this a real go.
“It was a massive challenge, and we got the rub of the green and we are just grateful that we got over the line.
“We have a team with loads of pace, and we created a lot of chances and didn't take all of them but we managed to get there."
Cloughaneely got the only goal of the game from Paul Sweeney in the 22nd minute and led by a goal five minutes from the break.
However, Steelstown showed their worth with three points on the trot to level matters at the break,1-5 to 0-8.
Steelstown had the better start and were well worth their 0-5 to 0-3 lead by the 20th minute with McCarron and team captain Neil Forester on the scoreline and 18-year-old Donnacha Gilmore delivered a man of the match performance from wing-back.
And they remained the better team in the second half.
The second half was only 10 seconds old when Blake McGarvey put Cloughaneely back in front.
But that was only one of three points they landed in the second half.
McCarron levelled it again with a super effort from 35 metres before Cahir McMonagle put the Derry side back in front.
Disaster struck for Cloughaneely when corner-forward John Fitzgerald became the first of two players to be sent off in the 45th minute.
Gareth Logue and Eoghan Bradley increased the winner’s lead before Jason McGee made it 0-12 to 1-7 from a Cloughaneely free.
But there was a further blow for the Donegal men when full-forward Paul Sweeney was also lined on a second yellow card in the 52nd minute.
To their credit, 13-man Cloughaneely went for broke and laid siege to the visitors' goal, as they trailed by 1-8 to 0-13 with the last kick of the game.
Cian McFadden landed the ball deep in the Steelstown square and Lee O’Brien’s punched effort seemed to be goalbound but rebounded off the crossbar, much to Steelstown's relief.
Steelstown: E Heraghty; O Fox, K Lindsay, D Baker; D Gilmore, J McAleer, E Concannon; O McMenamin, R Devine (0-1 45); G Logue (0-1) N Forester (0-2), B McCarron (0-6, 0-5 frees); M Foley, C McMonagle, E Bradley (0-2)
Subs: R Maguire for O Fox (27), Murray for M Foley (37) S O’Connor for R Devine (45) M McKinney (0-1) for G Logue (53)
Cloughaneely: S McClafferty; N Sweeney, Cian McFadden, M Fitzgerald; Ciaran McFadden, L O’Brien, C McGeady; J McGee (0-4, 0-3frees), D McGeever; C Gallagher, M Harley, C Coyle (0-1 free); B McGarvey (0-2) P Sweeney (1-1, 0-1 mark) J Fitzgerald. Subs; M Maguire for C Gallagher (45), D Ferry for C Coyle (54).
Referee: C Dourneen (Cavan)
