Senior League
Pearse Og 3-16 Tir na nOg 0-8
Pearse Ogs inflicted a heavy defeat on Tir na nOg in Ballycrummy this afternoon.
The home team played some magnificent football in the first half but took their time getting into it, hitting four early wides before Ronan Clarke hit three points on the trot to get his side going.
Strangely enough, Clarke was hauled ashore after 15 minutes with the Ogs cruising. There was no apparent injury.
Sean Hughes got the Ogs’ first goal, following up with a rebound on an initial Anto Duffy shot.
Chris Rafferty got the second with a rasping goal after a marvellous bit of build-up involving five players.
Brian Mallon finds his way curtailed by Gerard Barton. Credit: LiamMcArdle.com
Darnell Parkinson was even afforded the luxury of missing a penalty – rather a superb save from the goalkeeper.
The Ogs lead 2-8 to 0-4 at halftime with all their scores coming from play.
Tir na nOg showed little ambition in the second half but Brian Mallon was lively, chipping in with a number of scores for his side.
Parkinson made up for his missed penalty with a goal two minutes from the end to give his side a handsome 17-point win.
Killeavy 0-11 Granemore 2-9
Granemore picked up their first points of the campaign with an away win over a profligate Killeavy.
The visitors started the better and it was their two goals each side of the break that made the difference.
Jason O’Neill scored the first one – a rebound that fell in to his path and he made no mistake with the finish.
Killeavy controlled the middle of the park through the impressive James Donnelly and went a point up shortly into the second half, however, they missed the chance to capitalise on a dominant period, kicking four wides in succession.
Granemore re-grouped and equalised through the impressive Declan Doyle. He was at the heart of the second goal, exchanging well with Pete Carr who slotted home.
Paudraig Hollywood, tasked with quelling Steven McDonnell, was Granemore’s standout player, however, Killeavy will rue a missed opportunity as they remain without a Senior League point.
Wolfe Tones 2-7 Annaghmore 0-9
Wolfe Tones picked up a valuable win at home to Annaghmore today.
First half goals from James Doyle and Niall Geoghegan made the difference and left the scores 2-5 to 0-5 at the break.
Annaghmore couldn’t manage to close the gap, despite their superior possession, but did restrict the Tones to just two second half points.
James Martin, Michael Crealey and James Lavery were the best players for the victors who will now be looking to bring a bit of form into their next match at home to local rivals and high flying Maghery.
Crossmaglen 1-16 St Paul’s 0-9
Crossmaglen were never really troubled in against St Paul’s today.
Conditions were ideal for the game and again playing with the advantage of the breeze it was Cross’ who established the early supremacy and by half-time had built up a substantial seven point lead. The margin could have been greater but for over-elaboration in attack and a poor final pass. St Paul’s only managed a single point.
On the resumption, and playing with the breeze, the Lurgan men were much better. Exchanges were more even with each side recording nine scores with a second-half Rangers goal adding gloss to the scoreline.
***Elsewhere, Maghery made it two wins from two after disposing of Carrickcruppen on a scoreline of 2-16 to 0-13. ‘Cruppen are one of four senior teams waiting to pick up their first win of the campaign and have a difficult looking game away to Armagh Harps next Friday night.
Armagh Harps themselves picked up another two points in a high-scoring game (2-17 to 2-14) with Dromintee, leaving the city side perched on top of the table alongside Crossmaglen. Harps started slowly and went 1-01 down before registering their first score. Both teams then traded scores to the half where Dromintee went in three in front. A blistering start to the second half saw Harps score 1-02 without reply and they were never to concede this advantage. Captain Gareth Swift produced another man-of-the-match performance scoring a massive 1-12.
St Patrick’s who dished out a comprehensive beating to Forkhill, who were on a high following last week’s victory over Sarsfields.
A Eugene Casey goal within 30 seconds of the throw in turned out to be a portent of things to come at St Patrick’s Park. Leading by 12 points midway through the first half, thanks in part to a Gareth Mackin goal, St Patrick’s were dominant throughout with two second half Robbie Tasker goals ensuring an added gloss to the margin of victory.
On Saturday evening Ballymacnab kept their unbeaten record in the Senior League following a comprehensive demolition of Sarsfields. Two goals from Brian McCone and one from James Gray were the difference as the ‘Nab ran out 11 point winners.
[standings league_id=1 template=extend logo=false]
View Senior fixtures and results here
Intermediate League
Grange 4-7 Clann Eireann 4-18
Clann Eireann and Grange shared eight goals between but it was the Lurgan men who were by far the better.
With a slight breeze to their advantage, Clann Eireann went in at the break with a massive 16 point lead.
An early James McDaid goal was followed up with two Paul McKenna efforts before half-time. The Grange, who were again missing Miceal Mckenna and Ethan Rafferty, could only muster three points in the opening 30-plus minutes.
Needless to say, the visitors improved in the second half and started well, notching up a quickfire goal and point to reduce the deficit to 12.
Their tactics were simply to pump long high balls into the full-forward and this was paying dividends before the hosts grabbed a degree of control once more.
Chris McCaffrey and Shea Heffron were that standout performers from a team that played well as a unit.
In truth Grange never really caused Clann Eireann much consternation after a flurry of scores midway through the second-half. They did manage to grab their fourth right at the death with a 14-yeard free that somehow got over the line but all in all, it was another bad day at the office for the Grange.
Shane O’Neills 3-13 Mullaghbawn 0-12
Shane O’Neill’s took a three point to two lead early on in this local derby before Mullaghbawn received a black card in the tenth minute.
A Shanes goal put them four points up with ten minutes to run in the first half.
Three impressive points from play in the closing stages of the first period gave the visitors encouragement for the second half. It was 1-4 to 0-5 at the break.
The deficit was cut to one point within ten seconds of the restart, but that was to be the closest Mullaghbawn would get to the Camlough side.
Shanes registered another goal and three points moving into the final quarter and to their credit, Mullaghbawn kept within touching distance with a combination of five frees and scores from play.
The final quarter was one-way traffic with the Camlough men tagging on a third goal, running out convincing winners in the end.
Keady 0-7 An Port Mor 0-11
Keady made a strong improvement on their opening day display at Whitecross, but still fell short today – as travelling side An Port Mor came out on top by four points.
An Port Mor punished Keady early on, taking a 0-05 to 0-01 lead, but Michael Dwyers soon levelled up, with Conor Hughes and Joby Burke both notching two points. Keady were dealt a major blow midway through the first half when Paul Murray received a straight red card.
Keady lost their way after Murray’s dismissal – although they continued to hold a lot of the ball, Dwyers just couldn’t convert their chances. Conor Hughes kicked their sixth point of the game, but that proved to be their last up until the closing stages.
An Port Mor pulled away in the second half and went ahead 0-11 to 0-07, a lead that never came under threat until Keady’s Ruari Smith broke through the An Port Mor defence, unfortunately for the Dwyer’s – his effort came back off the bar.
Conor Corvan kicked the final point of the game, but it was too little too late for Keady. The home side will rue those wasted chances, but will be content with the overall improvement from last week.
Whitecross 1-17 St Peter’s 0-7
Whitecross seniors played their second game of the league on Sunday past at home to St Peter’s of Lurgan. St Peter’s opened the scoring with a point in the first five minutes. Whitecross weren’t long replying with a great point from Barry Og McKeown.
St. Peter’s followed with a point, but McGuinness responded for Whitecross with a rally of points on top of a fantastic goal. More points in the first half came from Barry Og McKeown and Kieran McNulty, leaving Whitecross ahead 1-8 to 0-4 at half time.
Whitecross started the second half like they finished the first on the front foot with three unanswered scores from Barry Og McKeown along with points from Neil, Cathal and Ryan McSherry.
St. Peter’s answered with a point but McGuinness soon popped another over the bar. Whitecross goalie Tommy Canning made two great goal line saves including a penalty. Aidan Finnegan, who was also making his senior league debut today, scored a point to add to the winning scoreline of 1-17 to 0-6.
Whitecross showed a great performance on Sunday, manager Noel Marron will be more than happy with the commitment and effort from all his players.
***Elsewhere there was a big win for Middletown who beat Dorsey on a scoreline 1-17 to 1-8. A Martin Maguire goal after 16 minutes set Middletown up well, and they never looked like losing despite a Dorsey goal 44 minutes into the game. That was really as close as they came to causing an upset today.
Meanwhile Madden suffered somewhat of a shock defeat to Eire Og (2-8 to 1-10). Two goals for the Craigavon side propelled them to joint-top of the league while the Raparees will be hoping to rectify that result next Friday when they play Clan na Gael who beat Collegeland 2-13 to 2-5.
In the other game south Armagh rivals Culloville and Silverbridge squared off with with the Blues coming out on top on a scoreline of 1-14 to 1-8.
[standings league_id=3 template=extend logo=false]
View Intermediate fixtures and results here
Junior A League
Ballyhegan Davitts GAC 0-16 St Michael’s GAC 0-07
Ballyhegan battled their way to victory at home to a motivated Newtownhamilton side, who never gave up until the very end, despite trailing for most of the match.
Davitts took a three point lead early on and things continued to go downhill for St Michael’s, as they lost a number of key figures through injury and one black card.
Young star Conal McKeever, just 19 years of age, was the standout performer for Ballyhegan – kicking over an impressive tally of 0-07 – which made all the difference in the two sides.
Ballyhegan were the better side but they couldn’t quite pull away from St Michael’s. Scores from Paul and Mark Dixon weren’t enough brush the travelling team off, with Kevin Murray leading his troops forward and keeping them in the game with some fine points.
Ballyhegan only really sealed the deal with their final three points late on. A well-earned victory, but St Michael’s deserve plaudits for what was an encouraging performance. Conal McKeever, Paul Dixon, Mark McKeever and Joey Murphy were best players for the winning side today.
Terry Gallogly also suffered a bad injury to round off a forgettable game for Newtown.
***Elsewhere Corrinshego, playing their first game of the season, defeated Clonmore 1-10 to 0-11. Derrynoose, also opening their account for the season, defeated Belleek 4-12 to 3-12. Tullysaran drew 0-13 to 1-10 with Crossmaglen IIs.
[standings league_id=4 template=extend logo=false]
View Junior A fixtures and results here
Junior B League
Clady 2-07 Killeavy II 1-10
Clady continued their positive start to the campaign, gaining three points from a possible four, by snatching a draw at home to Killeavy’s Junior side who impressed from the start and dominated for large periods of the game.
Killeavy took a three point lead in the opening five minutes, which may worry the Sean South’s as they made a similar start in their opening game to Clann Eireann II’s. Killeavy built on those opening scores and Clady bit back with a very bright spell between the 10th and 22nd minute of the game, scoring 2-03.
Malachy McGeown notched in the opening goal, and Paul Clarke claimed the second, although the last touch may have come off a Killeavy defender before crossing the line. Killeavy began to take over from there on – and went five points up at the start of the second half.
Just as it looked like the game was sealed, Clady introduced the instrumental Joe Gallogly, who has been badly missed through injury since the start of last season. Gallogly kicked over a point in the dying minutes and Sean Smith equalised in injury time with his fourth point of the game. Micheal Savage, Paul Clarke, Sean Smith and Pearse Leanord all performed impressively in this one.
***Elsewhere St Patrick’s IIs comprehensively beat Clann Eireann IIs to go clear at the top while four Dromintee IIs goals were enough to see off Pearse Og IIs.
[standings league_id=5 template=extend logo=false]
View Junior B fixtures and results here
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