Hurling & Camogie

Bernard Lafferty fires Donegal to an All-Ireland U21 final

A SUPERB display from senior star Bernard Lafferty guided Donegal to an All-Ireland U21 ‘C’ Hurling Championship final date with Tyrone after a jittery 0-15 to 0-14 victory over a game and gritty Sligo side.

Lafferty notched 0-12 and was a steadying influence as Sligo roared back into the game in the third quarter.

Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch was the Yeats county’s scoring star as he also hit 0-12 in a match that turned into a shoot-out between two exceptionally good strikers of a sliothar.

Donegal just about deserved their victory but were never able to shake off a resolute Sligo side that trailed for long periods.

The Tir Chonaill men will have to address some persistent indiscipline as constant dissent made some of O’Kelly-Lynch’s frees that little bit easier.

But Sligo could have claimed a late victory only for the immaculate O’Kelly-Lynch showing some nerves as he missed three late frees.

Donegal, backboned by senior stars Lafferty, Dylan Laverty, Mark Callaghan, Shaun Curran and Donal McLaughlin were well worth their half time lead of 0-10 to 0-7.

Sligo edged ahead in the early stages with scores from O’Kelly-Lynch and captain Matthew Davey, but Lafferty exploded into action as Donegal reeled off 0-7 in as many minutes.

But some needless frees gave Sligo a way back and O’Kelly-Lynch took full advantage.

The sides were level at 0-10 each midway through the second half.

But Lafferty stepped up to the plate to hit some truly inspirational points.

And the remainder of the match was a tense shoot-out between the Tir Chonaill ace and his Sligo counterpart which Donegal won by the slimmest of margins.

Donegal: D Laverty; C Rammey, G McGrath, M Callaghan; O Rooney, D McLaughlin, C O’Grady; C Harkin, S Doherty; S Curran, K Meehan (0-2), C Grant; B Lafferty (0-12, 0-9 frees), C McNeely (0-1), C Doherty

Subs: J McBride for S Curran (40), A O’Connell for

C Doherty (56)

Sligo: F Morrisey, D McNellis, B Feeney, G Feely;

C Jordan, L Ryan, R Redmond; T Mahon, G O’Kelly-Lynch (0-12, 0-11 frees), B Tobin, M Davey (0-1), P Burke;

D Keown, JP Lang (0-1), T O’Kelly-Lynch

Subs: A Murphy for B Tobin (36), S Quinn for P Burke (43)

Referee: B Sweeney (Cavan)