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Gaoth Dobhair put Buncrana to the sword 17.06.10
Raidió na Gaeltachta Senior Football Championship – First Round, Second Leg

Buncrana...0-7

Gaoth Dobhair...2-15

by Dónal Campbell, Inishowen Independent, at The Scarvey

BUNCRANA meekly exited the Senior Football Championship at The Scarvey on Sunday courtesy of an 0-7 to 2-15 drubbing by visitors Gaoth Dobhair. In truth the Gaoth Dobhair men comprehensively outplayed and outscored their Inishowen rivals in virtually every sector of the field over the hour. The only consolation an understrength Buncrana might draw from their first and second leg defeats at the hands of the Gaoth Dobhair men is that they have fallen to a team who will be there or thereabouts come County Final Sunday.
Buncrana started well – target men David Bell and Gavin Cullen pointing in the opening minutes – and it was all of eight minutes before the visitors opened their account, a point from the lively Colin Ferry. Odhran Doherty responded for the home side from a free but that opening ten minutes was as good as it got for the Inishowen men.
James Carroll sparked a Gaoth Dobhair purple patch with a pointed free on the 10th minute; added a second a minute later before Corny Gallagher fired over the bar from play. Three points in three minutes and Gaoth Dobhair were
suddenly finding their feet with Buncrana guilty of conceding a handful of costly frees. Disaster duly struck for the home side with just 16 minutes on the clock when a James Carroll speculative free into the Buncrana parallelogram broke to Corny Gallagher who made no mistake from close range.
Ciaran McCallum responded with a point for Buncrana following good work by the ever-willing Nigel Buchanan but it was the visitors who capitalised on loose marking in the Buncrana defence: Kevin Cassidy and Owen Ward both firing over decent points from play. 0-4 to 1-6 at half-time, this game was already in the pockets of the Gaoth Dobhair men.
Spurred on by the half-time advice of the McGonigle brothers – Stephen and Paul –both sidelined through injury, Buncrana exploded out of the blocks on the restart. However, despite the lion’s share of possession, it was all of eight minutes before the Inishowen men troubled the scoreboard operator – half-back Ronan Doherty taking the initiative himself with a well worked point, a poor return from seven or eight minutes of decent possession within shooting range of the Gaoth Dobhair posts.
Nine minutes in, Kevin Cassidy kick-started Gaoth Dobhair’s second-half
with an almighty sideline kick from all of 55 yards – a score worthy of Maurice Fitzgerald. When Danny Curran sailed upfield unchallenged to put Gaoth Dobhair 1-8 to 0-5 ahead it was clear that the wheels had fallen off the Buncrana challenge. What Gaoth Dobhair weren’t winning cleanly around the middle they were picking up on the break, resulting in wave after wave of attack testing a beleaguered but game Buncrana defence. Young Owen McNeillis dissected the black-spot for the visitors, wiping out an Odhran Doherty converted free and from there on it was quite simply all Gaoth Dobhair. Joe Duffy (0-2), Corny Gallagher (0-2), Owen Ward (0-1) and James Carroll (0-1) all made the scoreboard with an inevitable second goal thrown in for good measure two minutes from the end – the impressive Owen Ward shaking the net.
Gavin Cullen ended the game with a spectacular score for Buncrana but it was a case of too little too late. Gaoth Dobhair advance and will prove difficult for all comers while the Inishowen men will be only too happy to forget all about a brace of games that yielded a mere 14 points and illustrated the lack of depth in their panel. The absence of Ryan Bradley (suspended), Gavin McConnell, Paul and Stephen McGonigle (injured) did little to help their cause but, on Sunday’s showing, Gaoth Dobhair will be hard to beat.

Buncrana: Noel O’Donnell; Adrian McColgan, John Doherty, Oisin Doherty; Ronan Doherty (0-1), Christy Bell, Andrew McLaughlin; Ciaran McCallum (0-1), Caolan McCann; Nigel Buchanan, Odhran Doherty (0-2), Christy McDermott; David Bell (0-1), Gavin Cullen (0-2), Adrian Doherty.

Gaoth Dobhair: Christopher Sweeney; Christopher McFadden, Neil McGee, Ciaran Ferry; Kevin Cassidy (0-2), Danny Curran (0-1), Eamon McGee; Ronan McNeillis, Peter McGee; James Carroll (0-3), Corny Gallagher (1-3), Joe Duffy (0-2); Colin Ferry (0-1), Pádraig McGarvey, Owen Ward (1-2). Sub: Owen McNeillis (0-1).

Referee: Seamus Bradley.

For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent.
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