FonaCAB St Pauls Ulster Minor Tournament, Quarter-Final
Dromintee 2-15-1-11 Ardboe
Kevin Herron reports from Paric Naomh Pol
DROMINTEE survived a twenty minute second half fightback from Ardboe that saw their NINE-point half-time advantage reduced to three in their 2-15-1-11 win in the quarter-final at Paric Naomh Pol on Sunday afternoon.
A lightning start saw them kick 2-5 unanswered within the first 11-minutes- though Ardboe rallied after the break and a 48th minute Ruairi ‘Razza’ O’Neill (15) goal saw the Tyrone Champions cut the gap to three.
Scorer of Dromintee’s first goal- Ronan Martin, helped himself to three of his sides last five scores thereafter and that eased any lingering doubts and ensured his side will make the return trip to West Belfast over the festive period to take on the winners of the final quarter-final clash between Dungiven and Four Masters..
Ardboe almost had a goal from the first attack when last week’s top scorer Darragh Devlin charged through, but he failed to hit the target and tamely shot wide.
Instead, it was Dromintee who were first off the mark through a Calvin Mooney point, a two-pointer followed a minute later when Fionn Toale switched the ball to Diarmaid O’Rourke to shoot over from the edge of the arc.
O’Rourke doubled his account and things got much better in the eighth minute when the Armagh Champions shot in the game’s opening goal.
Oisin Byrne cut in along the byline and laid the ball off to Fionn Toale and he picked out Ronan Martin to blast home via the post and make it 1-4-0-0.
Momentum was firmly with Dromintee with Oisin Byrne swinging over a point and adding his side’s second goal in the 11th minute from Fionn Toale’s assist.
Ardboe were shaken and it took until the 14th minute before they replied from a close range Darragh Devlin free, though they fell further behind when Jarleth O’Neill and Mooney kicked scores within the space of 60-seconds to move their side 2-7-0-1 ahead.
Three scores in succession kicked Ardboe back into gear, Cahir McKeown dropped a shot over, Ruairi ‘Razza] O’Neill laid the ball off to Darcy Mallon to find range and after Jamie Concannon was felled, Devlin converted his second free of the half.
The half concluded with the sides trading scores through Ronan Martin and Devlin (free) as Dromintee were well in the ascendancy, leading 2-8-0-5 at the halfway point.
The Tyrone Champions were much quicker out of the blocks after the break and had reduced arrears by a third within the first six minutes.
Edan McCartney was fouled by Tomas Fox- allowing Devlin to kick fourth free, within less than a minute he fired over his first from play and added another from the placed ball shortly afterwards.
Dromintee goalkeeper James Bennett needed to react quickly to divert a low Devlin effort behind at the expense of a 45’, though the pressure lifted when Conor Dunne landed a 45’ to get his side up and running for the second period.
Points were exchanged between Edan McCarney and Keane McArdle- whose shot clipped the bar and went over.
Midway through the half, Devlin brought his tally from the placed ball to six to make it a six-point game (2-10-0-10) but the next score would half the deficit.
Ardboe were very much on top and with 12-minutes remaining a Ruairi ‘Razza’ O’Neill (15) shot snuck its way into the corner of Mc Bennett’s net to set up a grandstand finish on the Shaws Road.
Dromintee needed cool heads and hit the next on the 54th minute through Fionn Toale’s shot that hung up and dropped between the posts.
In response, Jamie Concannon landed a point back, but Ronan Martin kicked the first of three points on the spin to restore his side’s six-point advantage by the hour mark.
Martin’s first was a high effort that curled between the posts, and he added two further scores; on both occasions Fionn Toale was the supplier.
Deep into injury time Conor Dunne’s 45’ dropped short and substitute Michael Walker’s close range attempt finished the afternoon’s scoring as Dromintee booked their place in the last four and will return to St Pauls again on St Stephen’s Day when they will face the winners of the last quarter-final clash between Dungiven and Four Masters (14th December).
DROMINTEE: J McBennett, J O’Neill (0-1), C Dunne (0-1 45’), G O’Rourke, Fergus Toale, T Fox, M O’Neill, D O’Rourke (0-3, 1×0-2pt), K McArdle (0-1), C Mooney (0-2), Fionn Toale (0-1), S Harris, R Martin (1-4), O Carnegie, O Byrne (1-1). SUBS: M Walker (0-1) for S Harris (37).
ARDBOE: S McConville, R Forbes, C McKeown (0-1), Peter Joe Quinn, D Mallon (0-1), D McKeown, JP Doris, E McCartney (0-1), J Concannon (0-1), Ruairi O’Neill (10), Dylan Devlin, J Muldoon, D Muldoon, Darragh Devlin (0-7, 0-6f), Ruairi ‘Razza’ O’Neill (15) (1-1). SUBS: O Coleman for Dylan Devlin (18),
REFEREE: Paul Falloon (Down)
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