FonaCAB St Pauls Ulster Minor Tournament, Preliminary Round
Portglenone 0-18-5-12 Arrdboe
Kevin Herron reports from Colaiste Feirste
A FIVE STAR display saw Ardboe advance to a quarter final of the FonaCAB St Pauls Ulster Minor Tournament after they saw off Portglenone 5-12-0-18 at Colaiste Feirste on Sunday afternoon.
The sides were all square after an entertaining opening half but Ardboe were much more efficient with the breeze in the second period and hit four goals in the second period, with Darragh Muldoon, Darragh Devlin (x2) and Ruairi O’Neill (10) all finding the net to ensure their side will return to west Belfast next week to take on Dromintee in the last quarter final clash.
A close range Darragh Devlin free inside of two minutes had Ardboe up and running, but at the other end the crossbar prevented them from falling behind to the opening goal.
Portglenone won a free and Tomas Duffin quickly galloped forward at pace and his fiercely driven shot cannoned off the underside of the bar and out.
It took the Antrim holders seven minutes to kick their opening score, Ryan McKeever had closed down a short Ardboe kick out and after a prolonged period of possession and waiting for an opening to arrive, Conor Burns popped the ball over.
Burns edged his side ahead 60-seconds later, taking a pass from Frank McAleese and firing over and things got better for the Ports when a breach was called by referee Neil McGeown and Odhran Doherty opted for a two-pointed attempt, which he successfully converted.
They had further joy when Tomas Duffin sent a high shot over and a second pointed score came from play courtesy of Conor Burns that had his side 0-7-0-1 ahead by the 13th minute.
After spending over 10-minutes on the backfoot Ardboe kicked into life with Ruairi O’Neill dropping a shot over and Darragh Devlin added his first from play-despite an initial shot being blocked down.
Devlin kicked his second free of the half after Jamie Concannon had his run illegally halted and a further placed ball was successfully converted after Darragh Muldoon was fouled on his way through.
By the 23rd minute Portglenone had gone 10-minutes scoreless and saw their six-point lead whittled to just two, Burns added a further score after his side forced a sideline and Ryan McKeever clipped possession into his path, only for Darragh Devlin to instantly respond from play.
The games opening goal arrived after 26 minutes, a quick flowing move through the hands saw Darcy Mallon with the opportunity and he poked home to the net to give Ardboe a slender 1-6-0-8 lead.
A point followed after Edan McCartney sped forward and produced the score, but in first half injury time a free outside the arch gave Odhran Doherty the chance to restore parity and he obliged to tie the game up at the break with the score, 0-10-1-7.
Despite playing against the breeze, Portglenone hit the opening score of the half and it was a fourth two-pointed score and third from Doherty, this time from play and from a difficult angle.
Their advantage was immediately halved when Ruairi O’Neill clipped over his second point of the afternoon and moments later free-taker Devlin nailed a two-pointed placed ball to nudge his side 1-10-0-12 ahead.
Devlin then turned provider for his side’s second goal. Playing a delightful long pass to Darragh Muldoon to gather and fire to the net.
Muldoon added a point a few minutes later after gathering and shooting over on the turn as Portglenone’s chances were beginning to look bleak.
To their credit the Casements chipped away and were back to within three points with a quarter of an hour remaining.
A dangerous burst from Thomas Douthart ended with a point and then Odhran Doherty converted his third free of the afternoon following a robust challenge on Tomas Duffin.
Portglenone were then hit with a hammer blow as Darragh Devlin blasted home a third goal in the 47th minute to make it 3-11-0-14.
Back-to-back close range Doherty frees had closed the gap, however ten minutes after netting his sides third; talisman Darragh Devlin floated shot found the net and it was game over with three minutes remaining.
The pattern continued again with Doherty landing another two converted frees on the spin, only for Ardboe to reply with another goal, their fifth coming on the hour mark.
Jamie Concannon played a one-two with Devlin and opted to palm the ball across for the other Ruairi O’Neill at number 10 to have the simplest of tasks in touching the ball to the net and make it 5-11-0-18.
Devlin would kick a further free before the final whistle as Ardboe comfortably sealed their passage into the last eight and a meeting with Armagh winners Dromintee next weekend at St Pauls.
PORTGLENONE: J McAtamney, C McKenna, O McAtamney, J McVeigh, Cillian McDonnell, Christy McDonnell, T Douthart (0-1), O Doherty (0-11, 0-9f, 2×0-2ptf), T Duffin (0-1), R McKeever, T Convery, C Burns (0-5, 1×0-2pt), E McErlean, F McAleese, P McCloskey. SUBS: C Morgan for C Burns (35), R McAleer for T Duffin (51), T Duffin for E McErlean (54), P O’Boyle for P McCloskey (60+3).
ARDBOE: S McConville, R Forbes, C McKeown, PJ Quinn, D Mallon (1-0), D McKeown, JP Doris, E McCartney (0-1), J Concannon, Ruairi O’Neill (1-0), Dylan Devlin, J Muldoon, D Muldoon (1-1), Darragh Devlin (2-8, 0-6f, 1×0-2ptf), Ruairi O’Neill (0-2). SUBS: O Coleman for Dylan Devlin (58).
REFEREE: Neil McGeown (ARMAGH)
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