ACFL Division 1
Tir na nOg 3-8 Creggan 0-9
Tir na nog produced a second half performance of power and pace to sweep aside the challenge of a disappointing Kickham’s Creggan in the ACFL Division 1 at Whitehill on Wednesday night.
The sides were tied at 0-7 each after 18 minutes of the second half in a slow burning affair where both sides sat deep and relied on the counter attack when the home side suddenly found another gear.
Ciaran O’Neill brought the game to life when he got on the end of a swift counter attack where Ryan O’Neill, Emmet Murray and Joshua Higgins combined to set up the Tir na nOg defender for a simple palm in.
This score clearly rattled the visitors though they did reply from a Conor Small converted free but Tir na nOg produced another defence splitting break and substitute Daniel Martin fired past the advancing Oisin Kerr for their second goal.
It was as good as over at this stage with Tiarnan McLarnon making a token response with the visitors last score of the evening with a 26th minute point before Eamon Og McAllister put the icing on a fine Tir na nOg performance as he fired home goal number three with time almost up.
The early stage of this game were easily forgettable with the visitors enjoying plenty of possession but slow and ponderous in their build up play while the home side showed glimpses of what was to come with a number of swift counter attacks which saw them lead 0-4 to 0-3 at the half way stage.
Aaron McNeilly 0-2 and Darragh Fagan 0-2 shared the scores for the Whitehill side while Conor Small 0-2 and Conor McCann were the Kickham’s marksmen with Small also seeing a rasping shot come back of the crossbar.
Fintan Close, Sean Duffin and Conor Small had the visitors level at 0-6 each by the 13th minute of the second half with Emmet Murray and Eamon Og McAllister the Tir na nOg marksmen.
Duffin would briefly edge the Kickham’s ahead but Darragh Fagan was quick to restore parity before O’Neill’s opening goal of the evening brought a great response from his colleagues.
They would go on to add two more to move themselves onto 17 points, alongside All Saints and St. Galls and just one behind tonight’s opponents and Portglenone with the race for a top four finish likely to go down to the last game of the season.
Tir na nOg: Sean Paul McAtamney, 2 Sean McKeown, 3 Ciaran McGrellis, 4 Ciaran O’Neill, 5 Paul McCloskey, 6 Barry McKeown, 7 Aaron McNeilly, 8 Joshua Higgins, 9 Oliver McAtamney, 10 Emmet Murray, 11 Eamon Og McAllister, 12 Ryan O’Neill, 13 Christy Sheerin, 14 Darragh Fagan, 15 Aodhan Tolan.
Subs: Daniel Martin for Aodhan Tolan, Alex O’Donnell for Aaron McNeilly
Creggan: 1 Oisin Kerr, 2 Ethan Carey Small, 3 Ricky Johnston, 4 Jake McAteer, 5 Conor Og McCann, 6 Sam Maguire, 7 Sean Duffin, 8 Conor Mor McCann, 9 Patrick McAuley, 10 Tiarnan McLarnon, 11 Joe McAteer, 12 Diarmuid Mulholland, 13 Dominic McAteer, 14 Tiarnan McAteer, 15 Conor Small
Subs: Fintan Close for Diarmuid Mulholland, Matthew Rodgers for Conor Og McCann
Referee: Darren McKeown (St. Gall’s)
