AIB Ulster Club Senior Football Championship, quarter-final
Cargin 0-9 Errigal Ciarán 0-17
Tyrone champions Errigal Ciaran proved just too good for a disappointing Cargin side at Corrigan Park on Sunday, the Tyrone champions winning with ease to set up an Ulster semi-final meeting with Armagh’s Clann Eireann, who beat Derry champions Newbridge at Celtic Park later in the day.
Four weeks out from their Antrim county final win over Portglenone the Toome men simply could not get to the pace of the game, while Errigal Ciaran, who won the Tyrone title just eight days ago, were sharp from the start. The were 0-3 to 0-0 ahead early in the game, and though Cargin appeared to be back in the game when they closed the gap to 0-4 to 0-3 with twenty minutes gone, the Tyrone men found their second wind as they outscored Cargin by 0-07 to 0-01 over the last ten minutes of the opening half and as the team’s headed in at half time with the scoreboard reading 10-4 you felt all was missing from the were the words ‘Over and Out’
If the Antrim side were to get back into the game they needed a strong start to the second half, but that never happened and Errigal’s ability to win practically every kick-out put Cargin on the back foot. Half way through that second period the Errigal management men were emptying their bench to give players a ‘run out’, and though Cargin did keep battling on against the odds it was clear that Errigal’s path to the semi-final was secured.
The Tyrone champions went ahead with two pointed frees from Thomas Canavan, both awarded for incidents well away from the play, something that was going on all over the field to be honest but the Erins’s Own men never seemed to benefit from any of them. Ruairi Canavan stretched the lead to three with the first score from play and it was clear that Cargin were in trouble. However the Errigal scoring dried up as they shot a series of bad wides, and there was a sense of relief when Cargin netminder McNabb fired over his team’s first score of the game on sixteen minutes. When Tomás McCann and Sean O’Neill added two more for Cargin there was suddenly a bit of optimism among the Toome fans, but those hopes didn’t last long as Errigan reset their ‘radar’ hitting the next six points wihoout reply to open the gap to six by the time Monaghan referee Martin McNally sounded the half time whistle.
The Tyrone side, managed by former Antrim boss Enda McGinley who is a brother-in-law of the McCann clan from Cargin, had clearly done their homework and despite being on a hectic run of games that included a preliminary round win last week, they had more energy from the start and set a bar Cargin couldn’t reach.
Even though shooting would prevent Errigal from moving out of sight in the first half, they still held a six-point gap at the short whistle and were able to manage it in the second period.
Over the hour, Enda McGinley’s men had 10 different scorers and this epitomised a team effort as they limited Cargin to just three points from play and they will be delighted with their day’s work.
“We didn’t turn up at all,” conceded Cargin manager, Ronan Devlin.
“We didn’t compete, do the basic stuff, got cleaned out on the break balls, made mistakes and gave the ball away. After a bad start, we worked our way into it but then just silly mistakes let them chop away – it was a bad day all round.
“It was just so flat, dead – just not good enough. We’ve nobody to blame this time but ourselves.”
Errigal had the first two scores through Thomas Canavan frees, both awarded for holding off the ball as referee Martin McNally set out to lay down a marker.
Ruairi Canavan grabbed their first from play as David Johnston went into the book for a foul in the build-up and the Tyrone champions were flying as their pace of attack left Cargin chasing shadows.
However, their shooting began to let them down with five straight wides, yet Cargin were still having no joy getting anything going in the opening period and it took goalkeeper John McNabb to finally get them off the mark with 16 gone.
The Antrim champions enjoyed a mini spell as Tomás McCann and Sean O’Neill replied to one from Ben McDonnell, but the Tyrone side reasserted themselves over the final 10 minutes of the opening half with six of the last seven scores as Joe Oguz, Tiernan Colhoun and Peter Og McCartan assisted the Canavans, Darragh (two) and Ruairi as they took a deserved 0-10 to 0-4 lead into the break.
Errigal’s Ciaran McGinley had the gap out to seven soon after the restart, and though Tomas McCann pulled one back from a free, midfielder Joe Oguz and corner forward Ruairi Canavan put more daylight between the sides.
Tomas Mccann was keeping the scoreboard ticking over from frees, but though there were a couple of half chances for the goal they needed to ignite a comeback, the Errigal defence were always in control.
A disappointing day for a team that have given so much over the past decade, and they will be glad of the break to recharge the batteries. Elligal manager Enda McGinley, a former Antrim manager and brother in law to the three McCann brothers, will now lead his team into a semi-final meeting with Armagh champions Clann Eireann. That will be a tougher test for the Tyrone champions, who are seeking their first Ulster title since 2002, but Sunday’s showing by his team should give him a good deal of confidence
Scorers for Cargin: T McCann 0-6 (5f, 1 45), J McNabb 0-1, S O’Neill 0-1, R Gribbin 0-1.
Scorers for Errigal Ciaran: R Canavan 0-4 (3f), D Canavan 0-2, T Canavan 0-2 (2f), J Oguz 0-2, C McGinley 0-2, P Og McCartan 0-1, T Colhoun 0-1, M Kavanagh 0-1, R McRory 0-1.
CARGIN: John McNabb; Kevin O’Boyle, Kevin McShane, Ronan Gribbin; Justin Crozier, Sean O’Neill, Jamie Gribbin; Michael McCann, John Carron; David Johnston, Tomás McCann, James Laverty; Conhuir Johnston, Eunan Quinn, Pat Shivers.
Subs: Paul McCann for D Johnston (HT), Benen Kelly for J Crozier (HT), Conan Johnston for E Quinn (37), Ronan Devlin for B Kelly (46), Tom Shivers for Conhuir Johnston (51)
ERRIGAL CIARÁN: Darragh McAnenly; Cormac Quinn, Aidan McCrory, Thomas Canavan; Peter Og McCartan, Niall Kelly, Tiarnan Colhoun; Ben McDonnell, Joe Oguz; Pauric Traynor, Peter Harte, Ciaran McGinley; Ruairi Canavan, Darragh Canavan, Odhran Robinson.
Subs: Mark Kavanagh for P Traynor (46), Ciaran Quinn for T Colhoun (46), Padraig McGirr for O Robinson (51), Eoin Kelly for T Canavan (51), Ronan McRory for D Canavan (57)
REFEREE: Martin McNally (Monaghan)
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