Reserve Football Cup (round one)
Kickham’s Creggan (holders) 3-15 St Gall’s 1-11
Holders, Kickham’s Creggan advanced to the next round of the senior reserve cup when they overcame the challenge of the visiting St Gall’s in Creggan on Monday evening.
Little separated the sides in the opening phase and it was 0-04 apiece at the end of the opening quarter.
Mark Dougan having claimed three of those opening points was to continue in ever accurate mode in front of the posts and was to prove a severe thorn in the side of the visitors throughout.
The Milltown Row men remained on par with their hosts for the opening quarter, aided by the industry of Anto Healey and white flags raised by Daniel Murray, Kevin Bradley, Caolan Chada and Michael Hopkins, but when an unforced error opened the door for young Dominic McAteer to nip in for a 20th minute goal the home side hit the front and were never headed
Creggan concluded the opening period 1-05 to 0-04 ahead and although St Gall’s raised a couple of white flags through Conor Stinton and Kevin Bradley in the opening minutes they were rocked by a second goal when Tiernan McAteer found the corner of the net.
St Gall’s fought hard to get back into contention under the urgings of Anto Healey, Cathal O’ Kane, and Conor Stinton in particular but the home side had a firm grip on proceedings with Dermot and Conor McCann dominant in the central zone and with the evergreen Mark Dougan leading the offensive, Creggan continued to dominate.
St Gall’s did grab a 56th minute goal as ‘sweeper’ Cathal O’ Kane supplied the finish but that was quickly cancelled when Mark Dougan punished a foul on the advancing Tiernan McAteer when he delivered the resultant penalty award to the net.
The visitors added a couple of late scores through Brendan McGarr and Anto Healey but such scores made no impact as the Kickham’s men crossed the winning line with a 3-15 to 1-10 advantage.
Creggan: Murtagh McCaigue, Jake Mc Ateer, Conor Mc Auley, Ethan Small, Peter Mc Collum, Dermot McCann, Killian Burke (0-01), Aiden Mc Keown (0-01), Odhran Mc Cann, Stephen Mc Auley, Mark Dougan (1-08), Peter Graham, Dominic Mc Ateer (1-04), Frank Mc Auley, Brian Mc Ateer.
Subs
Tiernan Mc Ateer (1-01) for B Mc Ateer
Matthew Rogers for M Mc Caigue
Brian Mc Ateer for S Mc Auley
St Gall’s: Niall McCurry, Jack Hopkins, Niall Burke, Eoghan Mc Curry, Caolan Chada (0-01), Anto Healey (0-01), Jarlath Mervyn, Leigh Mc Cann, Michael Kane, Daniel Murray (0-01),Conor Stinton (0-02), Michael Hopkins (0-01), Kevin Bradley (0-03), Cathal O’ Kane (1-00), Sean O’ Hara (0-01)
Brendan Mc Garr (0-01) for S O’ Hara
Oran Delaney for M Hopkins
Conor Mc Manus for C Stinton
Referee Martin Quinn (St Enda’s)
