Above – The Four Masters team who beat Magherafelt in last year’s final

St. Paul’s-Fona/cab Ulster Minor Football Tournament

Four Masters (Donegal) v St. Canice’s Dungiven (Derry)

Sunday 14^th December 1-pm

The 4^th quarter-final of the St. Paul’s-Fona/cab Ulster Minor Football tournament is scheduled for this Sunday, 14^th December at Shaw’s Road and it brings together two of the big hitters in the tournament.

Four Masters of Donegal won the competition in 2023 and 2024 and are going for three in a row but they face a formidable opponent in St. Canice’s. Dungiven.

Dungiven were winners in 2022 when they defeated Four Masters in a tight final which finished 2-7 to 1-8 in favour of the Derry side and they are back again this year to cross swords with the Donegal men.

Four Masters will probably start Sunday’s eagerly awaited contest as slight favourites but this is unlikely to bother the Dungiven side and the record of Derry clubs in this tournament is superb.

Clubs from the Oak leaf county have won the prestigious St. Paul’s tournament a mind boggling 18 times since its inception and have been runners up on six occasions.

Indeed no other county has come close to matching the success of the Derry clubs but Donegal have come closest with 5 successes and have been runners up on six occasions.

That 2022 final between Sunday’s opponents served up a real cracker and the Saffron Gael’s Kevin Herron was there to cover the game and here is his report from that game.

St Canice’s 2-07-1-08 Four Masters

Kevin Herron reports from Pairc Naomh Pól

Padraig Haran netted two minutes from time to ensure that St Canice’s became the 38^th winner of the FonaCAB Ulster Minor Tournament at St Paul’s when they defeated Four Masters 2-07-1-08 in a thrilling final at Pairc Naomh Pól this afternoon.

It has been three years exactly since the decider was last played on the Shaw’s Road, on that occasion Lavey defeated Termon and little did all assembled imagine, it would be three years before St Paul’s showpiece event would return- due to the Covid pandemic.

But it was well worth the long wait as St Canice’s and Four Master’s served up a breath-taking spectacle.

Canice’s controlled the play in the early stages after surviving a scare in their defensive third. Seanán Carr charged down an attempted Padraig O’Kane clearance and headed for the target, but his driven shot crashed off the underside of the bar.

The Derry side quickly turned defence to attack and opened the scoring themselves through a measured point from Eoin Higgins.

They doubled their advantage when Odhran Murphy dropped a high shot between the posts and Murphy would turn provider for Darach McGonigle making it 0-03-0-00.

Four Masters were quiet in the opening quarter- but hit back approaching the midway point in the half.

The angle was against Conor Meehan- whose free dropped shot and into the path of Seanán Carr to rifle past Odhran McElhinney and into the net to draw the team’s level.

St Canice’s restored their lead after Eoin Higgins was upended and he slotted the resulting free between the posts.

It was short-lived though as Four Masters replied, another angled free from the opposite side dropped short and Conor McCahill produced a stunning point, shooting over his shoulder and the bar.

Higgins gave his side the lead for the final time in the half after Darach McGonigle was impeded.

Four Masters hit back for the third time and McCahill doubled his tally for the half, despite being dragged back on route to steering his high between the posts.

The Donegal Champions hit the front for the first time in the half when Kevin Muldoon claimed a mark, took a few steps and guided his shot over.

It looked as though the sides would depart with the scores level when Eoin Higgins steadied himself and shot over his second from play and fourth of the half, though Leo McGowan popped up at the other end to give Four Masters a 1-04-0-06 lead at the midway stage.

Four Masters increased their lead upon the games resumption when Callum McCrea took a lay-off from Daniel Quinn and shot over the bar. Conor Meehan then opened his account for the afternoon from the placed ball.

On 39 minutes St Canice’s hit back and drew level, Darach McGonigle saw his attempted shot drop short into the hands of Shea McLaughlin- who sent a low shot into the bottom corner past Daniel McGinty to make it 1-06 apiece.

A converted Eoin Higgins free ensured his side were back in the driving seat for the first time since the 26^th minute, but Conor Meehan restored parity from the same scenario as the sides were locked together for the sixth time.

With five minutes remaining Four Masters put themselves back in the driving seat though a splendid Kevin Muldoon point and that score was the difference until the 58^th minute when the score arrived.

St Canice’s were in search of a leveller and Odhran Murphy swung the ball out left to Darach McGonigle, the wing-half forward decided to cut in at the by-line and steer the ball into the area where Padraig Haran intercepted, steadied, and showed composure to fire to the net and give his side a 2-07-1-08 lead.

There were three minutes added on and still time for further drama, although there were no further score both sides would finish with 14-men as Leo McGowan and Eoin Higgins departed with black cards.

Canice’s successfully saw out the remainder of time and there were scenes of delirium at the final whistle as the Dungiven outfit bridged a 32-year gap to leave Pairc Naomh Pól with the Jimmy McConville Cup at the end of a breath-taking afternoon of excitement.

Different Day-Different game

Sunday of course is a different day and a different game. Two different panels of players and this is only a quarter-final but it could be a defining one for the winners.

As we said earlier, Derry clubs have a superb record in this competition and you can be sure Dungiven will go into this one brimming with confidence but Four Masters recent dominance in Donegal and at St. Paul’s will fill them with a similar belief.

Padraig O’Kane, Ryan McGilligan, Daithi McCloskey, Padraig Harnan and Paddy Higgins will spearhead the Dungiven challenge while Aidan Quinn, Eoghan O’Neill, Tomas Carr, Conal Flannery, Turlough Carr and Thomas Lenihan are some of the names hoping to keep Four Masters bid for 3-in-a-row on track.

All Ireland LGFA Senior Club final

Kilkerrin-Clonberne v St Ergnat’s Moneyglass

Moneyglass’ opponents Kilkerrin-Clonberne are shaping up to be one of the most dominant teams in the history of the sport. The Galway, champions have won multiple All-Ireland titles (including completing four-in-a-row in 2024). The Connacht championships, have a strong community focus, exceptional skill, and a core group of players developing from childhood, making them a powerhouse in the sport. They recently secured their eighth Connacht title in November 2025 and are aiming for a fifth consecutive All-Ireland when they face Moneyglass at Croke Park on Saturday.

In 1999, they took their first steps to success when they won an intermediate LGFA club All-Ireland title. It took them twenty years to get up among the top clubs in the country when they finished runner-up in 2019 Senior All-Ireland Ladies’ Club Football Championship when they lost in the final to Mourneabbey of Cork who that day won their second title in a row. There was no championship in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic but the Galway girls made the breakthrough in 2021 when they got revenge on Mourneyabbey to secure their first title. Since then there has been no stopping them as they followed that success by beating Donaghmoyne of Monaghan in the 2022 final and the competition’s most successful club Ballycarbrey of Waterford in 2023. Last year they beat Kilmacud Crokes from Dublin in the decider, the team that Moneyglass beat in this year’s semi-final.

At Provincial level they have excelled winning Connacht Ladies’ Senior Club Football Championships in 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 and were runners-up: 2000, 2013 and 2017.

In the Galway Ladies’ Senior Club Football Championship the have been virtually untouchable  2000, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025

On their way to Sunday’s final they beat St Brigid’s of Roscommon in the provincial final before accounting for Munster champions Comeragh Rangers from Waterford in the All Ireland semi-final.

Since they won their Galway title they have been free scoring running up an impressive 7 goals and 65 points with  Eva Noone and Olivia Divilly leading the line with 1-18 apiece but Moneyglass have actually outscored them during that time with 12 goals and 53 points, Cathy Carey topping the scoring charts with  3-26 and Maria O’Neill with 2-10

The Kilkerrin-Clonberne scorers since they won the Galway title were

Eva Noone 1-18 (6f), Olivia Divilly  – 1-18 (10f), Chloe Miskell 0-11, Lynsey Noone 2-01, Niamh Divilly 0-06, Aisling Madden 1-02, Louise Ward 1-02, Nicola Ward 1-02, Hannah Noone 0-02, Siobhan Divilly 0-01, Aine Shaughnesey 0-01, Caitlin Boyle 0-01

The Moneyglass scorers since their Antrim final win were even more impressive however

Cathy Carey 3-26, (10f) Maria O’Neill 2-10 (1f), Bronagh Devlin 2-07, Leah Stewart 2-04, Jo Jo Darragh 1-03, Sarah O’Neill 1-01, Bredagh OG 0-01, Eleanor Mallon 0-0, Rebecca Bradley 0-01

To say that Moneyglass are up against it would be an understatement but that is exactly what everyone was saying when they faced Kilmacud Crokes in the semi-final and looked what happened there. The St Ergnats girls have written their own script this season, so why can’t they do it one more time on Saturday.