GALBALLY qualified for their first Tyrone Senior Championship final in 34 years when goals from Peter O’Neill and Colin Hetherington carried them to a three points victory over Omagh at Carrickmore last night.
They now meet Errigal Ciaran in the decider after this hard-earned victory in a scrappy, sluggish encounter which produced little flowing football.
Galbally got off to a perfect start when Peter O’Neill crashed home a ninth minute goal after Colin Hetherington’s long delivery deceived the Omagh defence.
And as they continually harried Omagh defenders into mistakes, the lead grew at an alarming rate with points from Martin Donaghy, O’Neill and Shane Hagan.
By the end of the third quarter Galbally led by an amazing 1-6 to 0-0 and their opponents looked in complete disarray.
It took a great Paul Logue save to prevent Martin Donaghy from grabbing a second Pearses goal, and the game was almost 18 minutes old when Ciaran McBride finally opened the St Enda’s account.
There were further scores from Barry Eccles and corner-back Liam Duddy as Omagh finally began to look like they could make a game of it, but a 1-7 to 0-4 interval deficit left them with a mountain to climb.
Omagh could never find the fluency they needed to drag themselves back into the game in the second half, passes going astray time after time, and although Eccles hit two more points, Galbally held out for a historic victory.
Omagh: P Logue, L Duddy (0-1), T McGinn, K Cunningham, K McCabe, G McGirr, C Mcquaid, S Meyler (0-1), M Flanagan, B Eccles (0-6), C McBride (0-2), N McSorley, E O’Reilly, B McGinn, S Colton
Galbally: J Cassidy, L Murphy, G Loughran, M Donaghy, T Donnelly, S Quinn, P Corrigan, P McKeown, M McVeigh, S Hagan (0-1), P Tally, E McElroy (0-2), M Donaghy (0-2), P O’Neill (1-2), C Hetherington (1-0)
Ref: Paddy O’Brien (Loughmacrory)
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A FREE-FLOWING Moneyglass side caused a surprise in the Antrim ladies football semi-final double header in Glenravel on Saturday evening beating Rasharkin by 6-9 to 1-3.
A shock was on the cards when it became clear that dual star Denise O’Boyle would not start for Rasharkin but the margin of their victory was the real surprise.
Aine McElroy and Pauline McCoy strung together some excellent moves in their attack and finished them with some well executed scores.
By half-time goals from McElroy, McCoy and Mary McCann seemed to have put the game beyond Rasharkin at 3-6 to no score.
But Denise O’Boyle came in during the second-half and this seemed to settle her side although Aine Marie Carey quickly added another goal.
Emer Stewart eventually found the range with 1-3 for Rasharkin but Moneyglass rallied with further scores in the last 10 minutes.
Glenravel, as expected, had a comfortable 4-13 to 1-1 victory over All Saints in the second game, dominating for all but the five minutes before the break when Martina McKendry shot a goal and a point to liven up a hitherto dull game.
Moneyglass scorers: A McElroy (2-4), P McCoy (1-4), M McCann (1-1), A M McCorry (1- 0), M McLaughlin (1-0).
Rasharkin: E Stewart (1-3)
Glenravel: M Duffin (1-4), G O’Boyle (1-3), O Higgins (1-3), R Reid (1-0), K McCormick (0-2), R Higgins (0-1).
All Saints: M McKendry (1-1)
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ONE player totally dominated the Ulster Club Camogie Championship semi-final as holders Liatroim Fontenoys breezed their way into a fourth successive Ulster Club final on a 5-14 to 1-6 scoreline.
That player was Liatroim captain Mairin McAleenan who scored four goals and 13 points, only four points of which came from frees, in an outstanding display of marksmanship.
Remarkably Pauline Woods looked capable of matching the Liatroim star in the first half as she shot all 1-5 of Inniskeen’s half-time total against 3-6 for Leitrim – 2-5 of which came from McAleenan.
Liatroim: L Cunningham, M O’Higgins, T Burns, D Greeran, A Morgan, B Kelly (0-1), M Rooney, B Gallagher, G McCrickard, M McAleenan (capt, 4-13), M Doherty (1-0), M Murray.
Subs: R O’Higgins for M Doherty, R Cunningham for M Murray.
Inniskeen: M Deary, S Magee (capt), K Mulholland, P Magee, G Fitzpatrick, M Gartland, M McGahan (0-1), L Casey, B McGahan, O Kearns, I Kearns, P Woods (1-5).
