McGuigan Leads Tyrone to Victory

Tyrone 2-15 Dublin 2-5

TYRONE used a splendid performance by Shane McGuigan to easily account for Dublin in this senior football contest. McGuigan kicked eight wonderful points from frees and play in his first outing in New York. 

Dublin did get close in the second half but missed a penalty; it crashed of the bar left them shy. Tyrone then added three points to their total for the important victory.

Dublin scored first but could only add two further points in the opening half while Tyrone kicked 1-5.  Adam Fitzgerald got the goal after a six player excellent move. 

Dublin did have a clear-cut goal chance in the first half, but Damien Corrigan stopped a shot by Mickey Henderson.

Shane McGuigan was already stamping his name on the performance with two points, one from play, one a free, while David Morgan crashed a clear-cut goal chance into the side netting with five minutes left in the half.

Tyrone added to their lead as the second half opened with 1-4 against a point for Dublin. Morgan had the goal after a perfect pass from Farrell gave him the easy task to flick home. 

Dublin did have resurgence when Niall Coughlin had a brace of goals in the 14th and 17th minutes, but the same player crashed a penalty against the crossbar when they could have made the last five very interesting.

As it was Tyrone kicked six of the last seven points, with man of the match McGuigan getting three for the comfortable win.

Tyrone will be delighted with the new superstar; Shane McGuigan looks to have that sort of ability. Damien Corrigan made a very timely save.  Joe Bell and Aiden Power (first half) was very prominent; he went off injured with a leg problem.

Mickey Coleman was a strong ball carrier and he finally found the scoring touch after a couple of wides. David Morgan continues to excel, and his link play with Coleman and McGuigan was impressive.

Dublin will feel that the second half performance showed promise. Colm Larkin, Ciaran McColgan, Andy Gray and Niall Coughlin were all impressive.

Dublin: 1 Eoin Loughnane, 2 Colm Larkin, 3 Adam Keaney, 4 Fergal Powell, 5 Sean Gibney, 6 William Forkan, 7 Ciaran McColgan (0-1), 8 Andy Gray, 9 Peter Kenny, 10 Nick McKeown (0-1), 11 Niall Coughlin (2-1), 12 Jonathon Maloney, 13 Chris Corcoran, 14 Mark Connolly (0-1), 15 Mikey Henderson (0-1).

Tyrone: 1 Damien Coleman, 2 Dan Jackson, 3 Ger McCullough, 4 Joe Bell, 5 Neil Maguire, 6 Aiden Power (0-1), 7 Ciaran Quelly, 8 Conor McNabb, 9 Mickey Coleman (0-3), 10 Conor Skeffington (0-1), 11 Shane McGuigan (0-8), 12 Adam Fitzgerald (1-0), 13 Michael Gallagher, 14 David Morgan (1-1), 15 Niall Farrell (0-1).

Referee: John Fitzpatrick.

Man of the match: Shane McGuigan (Tyrone).

Jackson Eight Is a Hit

Galway 4-18  Offaly 4-10

GALWAY opened their senior hurling season with a high scoring victory over Offaly in the three team championship.

Robbie Jackson had a tremendous day with a personal tally of 1-8 over the hour in a man of the match performance.

Galway built an eight point first half lead, and despite getting pulled back to two at one stage was able to finish the outing back at eight up with a closing six point burst.

While Offaly had the first two scores of the game, Galway rebounded with a vengeance. They had their first goal after three minutes when Jackson blasted to the net, and followed a point with their second three pointer from John Beirne after six minutes.

Shane Sweeney blasted a free to the net for Offaly, but a procession of scores followed for the Tribesmen. They added 1-8, with Jackson one of the main sharp shooters while Offaly could only reply with a Sweeney point and a late Niall Marshall goal when he doubled on a dropping ball.

The half was marred by a nasty skirmish with Aiden Roche and Killian Lenard both getting red cards for their involvement, but Galway were sitting on a strong 3-9 to 2-4 halftime lead.  Offaly also lost a player to a broken leg which marred the outing.

Offaly had a resurgence to open the second half with 1-3 to 0-1 inside the first seven minutes.  Marshall had the goal after a long run by Dan Dwyer split the defense. Aiden McInerney took over the free taking duties and was clinical. 

The side was making it very interesting as the game reached the three quarter mark. While Galway had a brace of points, Offaly added a McInerney goal from a 20 meter free in reply when Dwyer was fouled.  It left four between the sides. 

Marshall followed with a point from play, with Donie Broderick the assister when he rocked the Galway challenger with a perfect shoulder, then found Marshall with an excellent pass.

Galway settled, however, and they had a David Fahy goal before they answered two McInerney points with the last six points of the game. 

Galway had a large panel on hand for the game which sets them as the favorites for the Michael Flannery Cup even at this early stage. Liam Butler, Luke O’Loughlin and Alan Sherlock impressed at the back. Robbie Jackson and Eoin Hogan dominated the middle of the park which was the foundation for the victory. John Madden and Aiden Roche did well up front with Madden popping up all over the field.

Offaly will regroup Dan Dwyer for a couple of his runs. Aiden McInerney and the excellent Donie Broderick, despite the fact that he didn’t score, battled throughout.

Finbarr Flood did well in his first senior hurling outing as a referee. Good to see a former player stepping up. For five years it didn’t happen on a consistent basis at all. 

Galway: 1 Ger Corcoran, 2 Pa Geaney, 4 David Kelly, 5 Liam Butler, 6 Luke O’Loughlin (0-1), 7 Alan Sherlock, 8 Robbie Jackson (1-8), 9 Eoin Hogan (0-2), 10 David Fahy (1-0), 11 Aaron Farrell, 12 John Madden (0-5), 13 John Beirne (1-0), 15 Aiden Roche (1-1). Subs: David King (0-1).

Offaly: 1 Brian McNaughton, Killian Lenard, Mark Quinlan, 5 Terry Grogan, 6 Eoin Dillon (0-1), 7 Ethan O’Brian, 8 Dan Dwyer (0-2), 9 Calim O’Hare, 10 Paudie Kyne, 11 Aiden McInerney (1-5), 12 Donie Broderick, 13 Brendan Blackwell, 15 Shane Sweeney (1-1). Subs: Eoghan Kyne, Niall Marshall (2-1).
Referee: Finbarr Flood

Man of the match: Robbie Jackson (Galway).

Quiet Win for Leitrim

Leitrim 2-9 Armagh 1-7

THE calm after the hurling storm. It is always difficult for a football encounter to live up to the rapid fire scoring of a hurling contest, and that was the case Sunday when Leitrim quietly took the points against Armagh on Sunday.

Two goals, one each side of the halftime whistle, set them up for the victory, and the defense never allowed Armagh any clear cut chances in the second half.

Leitrim jumped out into a two point lead in the first six minutes, with Donal Hartnett getting two and Rory Woods crashing a bullet of the crossbar.

After Cian Reynolds and Paddy King swapped scores, Hartnett had a further brace to give his side a 0-6 to three lead with 22 minutes gone.

Armagh actually had their best period in the aftermath. Kevin McGeeney was instrumental, with Shane Conlon, Morgan and McGeeney himself all on the mark while Paddy Kelly had a score at the other end.

With the half reaching its conclusion, Armagh appeared to relax and Leitrim took advantage. A four player move that involved Woods and Hartnett at its fruitation finished with Dan Doona having the easy task of fisting to the net.

They added 1-1 in the first 14 minutes of the second half and never allowed Armagh to threaten the posts.

Armagh did have a unique goal from Chris Morton when he met a cross from Conlon with a cracking header but they were always playing catch-up. A source said that the last man to head a goal at the Mecca was the brilliant Brian McCabe. 

Mark Dobbins and McGeeney traded scores to complete the afternoon and Leitrim were home free. 
Leitrim will be very happy with the defensive showing in this one. Mike Creegan was his usual energetic self and Shane Maher was tremendous throughout, always throwing his body around.

Paddy Kelly was effective while Kenny O’Connor did a lot of good work in front of the keeper when Armagh was raining ball into the box. He also barreled into the pressbox and it certainly felt as if he shifted it.

Donal Hartnett continues his shooting prowess; he has a sweet touch for scores. Mark Dobbins returned to senior football and came into the game as it progressed.

Armagh had good performances from John Lynch, Kevin McGeeney and Seamus McDaid, who did a lot of good spade work in the trenches. They need some fire power in front of goal, however.

Leitrim: 1 Conor O’Loughlin, 2 Mike Creegan, 3 Damien Walsh, 4 James Grant, 5 Henry Mitchell, 6 Darren Walsh, 7 Shane Maher, 8 Paddy Kelly (0-1), 9 Ken O’Connor, 10 Cian Reynolds (0-1), 11 Rory Woods, 12 Emmitt Killeen, 13 Mark Dobbins (0-2), 14 Dan Doona (1-1), 15 Donal Hartnett (1-4). Subs: Danny O’Sullivan, Paddy Daly, James Mitchell.

Armagh: 1 Alan Hearty, 2 Collie Fearan, 3 Patsy Martin, 4 Raymie Kane, 5 Aiden Morton, 6 Stuart Stokes, 7 John Lynch, 8 Paddy King (0-1), 9 Kevin McGeeney (0-3), 10 Gary Nugent, 11 Seamus Toner, 12 Seamus McDaid, 13 Ken Cox, 14 Richie Morgan (0-2), 15 Matthew Cartman. Subs: Ciaran Conlon (0-1), Chris Morton (1-0).

Referee: Sean Jones.

Man of the match: Shane Maher (Leitrim).

Exciting Tie Goes to Gaels

ROCKLAND and Shannon Gaels started Sunday’s day with a junior hurling contest. While the game was set for 1 p.m., there was a ladies game on before it and the contest was ready to go about 15 minutes later.

With Jo Jo Sullivan the junior chairman on hand, both sides agreed to the status of all players before the ball was thrown in.

Amazingly, the teams were then given 20 minutes for the first half, and 25 for the second. With a large number of Irish Americans on the field and one of the strong purposes of the junior division to encourage and promote hurling, it made little sense not to play the full hour of hurling that was set out on the card for Sunday.  Hopefully the board can learn from this mistake and it won’t happen again.
The game itself was a close battle.  Shannon Gaels had a 2-5 to 2-3 lead at the break before Rockland made a storming comeback.

They had a flurry of points in the second half before the Gaels used three goals to come back before the final whistle arrived. 

Great Weekend for New York

IT was a marvelous weekend in Ireland for the under-14 players from New York in both the girls and boys divisions.

The boys were competing in Division 2 this year after tremendous success over the last decade on their travels across the pond. This year they started their trip on the west coast playing several challenge games in Galway.

Last Thursday they traveled to Stradbally, Co. Laois where they won their group before they played St. Eunan’s (Donegal) in the semifinals and won 1-4 to 0-2. They then played Burren (Down) in the Division 2 final.

New York scored a memorable 1-7 to 0-4 victory in the Feile Peil na nOg final in Portlaoise on Sunday.
Rory Allen was on target with 1-2 in the second half as the exiles pulled away after leading by one point at the change of ends.

There were great scenes of celebration at the final whistle as the large New York support invaded the pitch to congratulate their players. The management team is   manager Owen McSweeney, selectors Tom Shalvey and Barry Walsh, tour managers Tom Queenan and Mike Kennedy, and trainer Keven McArdle.

New York: J.D. Kilkenny, A. Thornberg, L. Butler, C. Lundy; S. Sorohan, M. Russell, K. Walsh, M. Boyle, N. Kelly, A. McCormack, R. Allen, J. Hennessy, S. O'Boyle, C. Kelly, J. Breen.
Burren: M. McGurk, S. Fitzpatrick, C. Cox, S. O'Hare, C. White, D. Murdoch, P. Fagan, A. Fitzpatrick, S. Murdock, L. Kerr, R. Fegan, A. McAvoy, S. O'Connor, D. Murdock, M. McAvoy.  Subs: C. McArdle, C. McAdam.

The New York girls side led the way as they annexed the division four title on Sunday in Ireland by a score of 0-3 to 0-1.

The girls of New York set up the first part of a memorable double for the exiles when getting the better of Down's Bredagh in a low scoring Feile Peil na nOg Division 4 final.

New York defeated Glen of Derry in their semifinal by 0-6 to 0-1, while Bredagh advanced at the expense of Geraldine's of Louth, 0-3 to 0-2.