Hastings Cup: Sligo 1-11 Donegal 1-3
DONEGAL U21s unbeaten run in the Hastings Cup came to an end at Easkey on Saturday where they lost by eight points to a stronger Sligo side.
The Tir Chonnaill men were missing eight of their regular side due to exams and injuries and in the end this proved too much of a handicap.
The absentees included county senior players Michael Hegarty and Eamon Reddan.
Sligo opened the scoring with a Sean Davey point from a free after five minutes and a goal by John McCartland in the 15th minute saw them 1-7 to 0-0 ahead at half-time.
Donegal’s opening score of the match came five minutes into the second half when right corner-forward Johnnie McCafferty blasted the ball to the Sligo net.
Sligo, backboned by senior players Noel McGuire, Sean Davey, Eamon Crawley and Tommy Brennan, were always on top particularly in the first half.
Sligo: S Hegarty, J Royston, N McGuire, N Jones, K Morley, A McHugh, P Gallagher, S Davey (0-1), B Og Murphy, K Carthy (0-1) E Crawley (0-1) K Giblin (0-2), J McCartland (1-0), J Farragher (1-0), T Brennan (0-5)
Subs: R Hannon for Jones, C Curley for Gallagher, K Gilligan for Carthy, P O’Toole (0-1) for Farragher.
Donegal: G Magill, B Boyle, T Cullen, R Mulligan, G Cannon, A McCafferty, A Brennan, K Brown, J Friel, B Brown, B Monaghan (0-1), J McCloone, J Cafferty (1- 0), A Gallagher (0-2), D Gallagher.
Subs: P Kelly for B Brown, J P Gallagher for D Gallagher, S Griffin for Brennan, R McHugh for Friel, G Ward for Cannon.
Referee: P Flynn (Leitrim)
ooooooooooooOOOOOoooooooooooo
Hastings Cup: Westmeath 0-8 Monaghan 0-11
Midfield the key as Monaghan take the points
AFTER their promising start against Down last Saturday, Monaghan’s U21 footballers put in another impressive performance to take the points in a very entertaining game played in Tang, Co Westmeath yesterday.
Monaghan’s strength around the midfield area was the key to this victory with excellent displays by Paul O’Connor on the ‘40’, where his strength and distribution ability repeatedly prized open the Westmeath defence, while John Paul Mone and James McElroy were again in brilliant form.
Noel Clerkin at full-forward was a constant threat, proving a very effective target man but his ability to peel off his marker and create space added an extra dimension to the Monaghan attack.
Monaghan went on to lead at half-time by six points to three with late strikes from Kieran Tavey and Andrew Callan.
Within three minutes of the restart, Monaghan had opened a five-point gap with points apiece from Kieran Tavey and the very impressive Andrew Callan.
Points by Des Dolan and substitute John Deehan reduced the arrears to three entering the final quarter and although Monaghan regained the initiative, it could have been closer had Westmeath capitalised on a number of chances that simply went a begging.
Westmeath: C Mullen, M Burke, K Burke, B Murphy, D Kilmartin, D Griffin, E Mulvihill, D Shaughnessey, J Brennan (0- 1), B Elliffe (0-1), M Ennis (0-1), B Conroy (0-1), J Fallon (0-1), D Dolan (0-1), A Mangan
Subs: J Deehan (0-2) for A Mangan, F Murray for B Murphy, J Galvin for D Kilmartin.
Monaghan: J Sullivan, G Corrigan, P Coyle, C Flanagan, D Mullen, K McQuaid, D Connolly, J P Mone, J McElroy, S McManus, P O’Connor (0-1), R Byrne, A Callan (0-5), N Clerkin (0-1), K Tavey (0-4)
Subs: J McDaid for R Byrne
Ref: S Flood (Longford).
ooooooooooooOOOOOoooooooooooo
Tyrone U21 Football Championship Carrickmore 0-6 Dungannon 0-1
Classy Carrickmore
CARRICKMORE turned on the power in the second half to win the Tyrone U21 Football Championship final at icy Pomeroy yesterday.
A sluggish first half did little to warm the hearts of either set of supporters, with just two scores in the entire 30 minutes, one from Dungannon’s Gary Brennan and a leveller by Carrickmore full-forward Gabriel McCallan. But it was a different story in the second-half as Carrickmore took the game to their opponents, urged on by the emerging midfield pairing of Noel Hurson and Peter Loughran, with the latter hitting two points.
Kevin McNally twice converted frees, and McCallan added an excellent score to put his side firmly in command.
Carrickmore scorers: G McCallan, P Loughran, K McNally (0-2 each)
Dungannon scorer: G Brennan (0-1) Ref: K Kelly (Kildress)
