Senior Football
Tavey is the Star
Donegal 2-15 Sligo 1-13

After this exciting contest, both of these sides will be difficult matchups for future opponents as both now have full portions of sanctions are pushing on all eight cylinders. Sligo went into the break leading Donegal 1-08 to 0-09 after an excellent first half [performance. They scored five of the first seven points with Steve Kilcoyne the free taker and playmaker in chief. Ciaran Tavey had the Donegal scores as they tried to stay in touch. Another Kilcoyne score was followed by a brace of points from Tavey and Jackie McHugh for Donegal but a Conor Brady goal for Sligo with ten minutes left in the half after defensive indecisiveness; put Sligo into a 1-07 to 0-04 lead. It was all Donegal as the first 30 wound down however. They had five of the last six scores with Ciaran Tavey scoring two while Neill Danaher who was very prominent on the forty also grabbing two. It brought their side back within two at the break.

Donegal were in the lead on the restart when CJ Molloy was pulled down for a penalty and Ciaran Tavey shot low to the right corner ahead of the outstretched leg of keeper Heggerty. The sides swapped four points before Steve Kilcoyne made the scoreline 1-11 to 1-11 with 13 minutes gone. Donegal took over at this point as they immediately had their second goal a CJ Molloy net shaker after he broke two tackles, four consecutive points followed as they put distinct breathing room between the sides. Sligo did have a goal chance in the closing minutes but substitute goalie James Huvane made a good save to maintain the advantage and Sligo were only able to add two Kilcoyne frees in the waning moments for a very positive Donegal win. 

Sligo 1 Kevin Heggerty 2 Emmitt Marran 3 Dave Garvey 4 Naill McGuinness 5 Sean Harnan 6 Lee Donaghue 7 Roy Henley 8 Cathel Brennan 9 Brian Kelly 10 Nester Allen (0-01) 11 Eoin McHugh (0-03)  12 Joe Gannon 13 Steve Kilcoyne (0-08) 14 Conor Brady (1-00) 15 Martin Cocoman Subs Declan Kilcoyne Paddy Brennan

Donegal 1 Mike McFadden 2 Tony McMahon 3 Mark Downes 4 Ray Keenan 5 James Huvane 6 Tom Hardwick 7 PJ Flanagan 8 Darren Strong (0-01) 9 John Bingham 10 Jackie McHugh (0-02) 11 Neill Danaher (0-02) 12 Brian O’Connor 13 Ciaran Tavey (1-08) 14 CJ Molloy (1-02) 15 Michael Mone Subs Paul Nolan Paul Breslin

Man of the Match Ciaran Tavey (Donegal)

Referee Alan Hearty

Senior Football
Alls fair with a draw
Down 0-09 Tyrone 0-09

The battle of two Northern sides ended all square after a contest when both had chances for the win and both kicked away those chances. Hand passing moves out of the defensive end were used by both sides but on far too many occasssions the final pass let the sides down. The two stars of the game were Eddie O’Reilly who continues his fantastic form since returning to NY with five excellent points while Johnny Murtagh had four points which included a sparkling sixty yard drive of the sod when he was fouled.

Tyrone had the best chances of the first half and led at the break 0-06 to 0-04. Reilly had three of the Down scores in this half but the side also had a number of balls that dropped into the keepers hands with a number of passages of play breaking down at the final hurdle. Tyrone also had their demons as they also had a number of horrible wides to allow Down to stay within distance. The full forward line accounted for four points with McCaffrey getting two but sufficient quality ball was not heading that way.

Tyrone made it 0-08 to 0-04 when Johnny Murtagh fired over two points in the first ten minutes but they then went 13 minutes without a score and allowed Down to claw there way back. They had two points from Sloan and Downey biut squandered seven clear cut chances with three balls again in the keepers hands and four horrible wides. When Johnny Murtagh was fouled heavily on the sixty yard line with seven minutes left he took threatnment and then grabbed the ball and deposited it then yards high above the crossbar with one of the best frees seen in the Park in years. It gave Tyrone a three point lead. It was not enough. Man of the Match Eddie Reilly had two excellent scores that sandwiched a nine player move that culminated with wing back Sean Kelly firing over from the right wing to end the contest with the sides all level.

Tyrone 1 Brian Cuilinane 2 Joe Bell 3 Gerard McCullough 4 Paul Mulherne 5 Daniel Jackson 6 Steve Keating 7 Seamus Skeffington 8 Aiden Power 9 Conor McNabb 10 Martin McCreesh (0-01) 11 Jamie Donnelly 12 Brian Dillon (0-01) 13 Justin McCaffrey (0-02) 14 John Murtagh (0-04) 15 Aiden McIlroy (0-01) Subs Ruiri Grant, Paul Reddy

Down 1 Mark Kelly 2 Brian Murray 3 John McCarthy 4 Dermot Hayes 5 Sean Fee (0-01) 6 Brendan McGourty 7 Sean Kelly (0-01) 8 Alan O’Hara 9 Robbie Moran  10 Sean Munnelly 11 Michael Sloan (0-01)12 Mark Dobbin 13 Eddie O’Reilly (0-05)14 Pakie Downey (0-01)15 Kevin O’Rourke Subs Brian Annett, Barry Annett,

Man of the Match Eddie Reilly (Down)

Referee Lawrence McGrath

Senior Football
Cavan have it their way
Cavan 3-15 Kerry 1-05

Cavan had an easy victory over rivals Kerry when they overpowered them with ball movement and excellent scores. Such was there dominance it should have been more at the end as they were on top in all facets. They were ahead 1-05 to 1-03 at the break with the goals coming in the first ten minutes with a long Eoghan Carew going to the net for Cavan and Paul O’Connor grabbing the Kerry major but Cavan were able to score points when they needed to and also get important defensive stops. When the second half arrived the Cavan machine clicked. They scored 2-10 to 0-02 in the second half and it was even more dominating than the scoreline even shows. They never allowed Kerry to settle and Ciaran Shields stopped the only goal chance the Kingdom had. The Cavan goals came from Eugene Keating and Garth Kelly who stormed through the middle and blasted to the net to emphasize the win.

Kerry 1 Shane Clifford 2 Eoghan O’Mahoney 3 Shane Enright 4 Naill Corbett 5 Justin O’Halloran 6 Anthony Glacken 7 Shane Carty  8 Denis Donnelly 9 Darren Courtney 10 Ryan O’Sullivan 11 Paul McGill  12 Ross Donavan  13 Conor O’Leary  14 Paul O‘Connor (1-05)15 Dermie Foley Subs Denis Carroll Bingo O’Driscoll,

Cavan 1 Alan Hearty 2 Ciaran Martin 3 Ciaran Shields 4 Nobbie Smith  5 Brendan Reilly 6 Rory Dunne 7 Alan Carolan 8 Kevin McGeeney  9 Kevin Smith 10 Eoghan Carew (1-06) 11 Enda Lenard (0-01)12 Kevin Carden13 Frankie Barry (0-02)14 Paddy Smith (0-01)15 Eugene Keating (1-05) Subs Paul Lamb, Garth Kelly (1-00) James Moynagh

Man of the Match Eoghan Carew (Cavan)

Referee Tommy Fahey