Malin clinch Senior Football
Championship
03.09.08
Malin...1-9
(E. Kelly 1-2; M. Doherty 0-2; D. Ward 0-1; D. Walsh
0-1; C. Byrne 0-1; P. McColgan 0-1 (1 free); C. Farren
0-1)
Naomh Pádraig...0-9
(D. Diver 0-6 (3 frees); M. Duffy 0-2; G. McColgan
0-1)
by Damian Dowds, Inishowen
Independent, at Páirc Uí Dochartaigh
MALIN withstood a late scoring burst from Naomh
Pádraig to claim the inaugural Inishowen Senior Football
Championship in Carn on Thursday night.
Two divisions and 14 places may separate the sides in
the All County League but Naomh Pádraig have been making
light of their lowly league position defeating Burt and
Buncrana en route to the final. They gave an excellent
account of themselves and a little more composure in
front of goals could have yielded a different result.
As it was, an Eddie Kelly goal on the cusp of half time
proved the difference between the teams and gave Malin a
lead that the Muff men could not haul back. Charlie
Byrne steamed forward from centre half back and hit a
pass off the outside of his foot into Kelly. The ball
evaded the otherwise vigilant Muff full-back line and
Kelly had time to place his shot inside Gerard Harkin’s
right hand post. |
A fine mist hung over Foden
throughout the game, and despite the treacherous
underfoot conditions, both sides served up a fine
display of football. Mark Duffy got on the scoreboard
for Naomh Pádraig within a minute of the throw-in when
he got away from John G McLaughlin and hooked over a
point from a difficult angle on the right wing.
Malin responded a minute later through half back Damian
Ward who broke forward to chalk up a good score from the
right. Aidan Lynch won a sixth minute kickout and laid
off to Eunan Keaveney who slipped the ball out to the
left for Dermot Diver to slot over.
Malin stepped up a gear after that and reeled off four
unanswered points between the eighth and 21st minutes to
take a three point lead. First, Declan Walsh – who lined
out in the unfamiliar environs of centre half forward - |
 |
chipped over from inside
30m. Charlie Byrne, who rampaged forward whenever the
opportunity presented itself, followed that up with a
good point in the 11th minute.
Muff spurned a their best goal chance of the game midway
through the half. Dermot McColgan showed great strength
on the ball as he embarked on a 50m solo run with
Charlie Byrne on his tail. He held off the Malin
defender as he closed in on Declan Lafferty in the Malin
goal, but his fist pass across the square to the
unmarked Dermot Diver was too high and drifted wide.
A Paddy McColgan pointed free after referee John Joe
Doherty had brought the ball forward for dissent
stretched Malin’s lead to two points soon after. Indeed,
so often did players on both sides complain about frees
awarded against them that John Joe must have carried the
ball 200 metres forward during the course of the game.
Eddie Kelly made it 0-5 to 0-2 in the 21st minute before
points from Diver and Gerard McColgan reduced Naomh
Pádraig’s deficit to the minimum.
Eddie Kelly took a great pass from Charlie Byrne and
netted from close range in the 28th minute to give Malin
a four point lead at the interval.
Malin threatened to cut loose in the early stages of the
second half with points from Michael Doherty, Eddie
Kelly and Conor Farren. Muff’s response was a solitary
free from Damian Diver.
They trailed by six points with 20 minutes remaining,
but got on top in most sectors of the field for the
remainder of the game.
Their revival was kick-started when Barry Hegarty took a
quick free to Damian Diver for the latter to point on
the turn in the 46th minute. He added frees in the 48th
and 54th minutes before Mark Duffy reduced the deficit
to two points with a good score four minutes from
full-time.
Tempers frayed as the game neared its conclusion but
Michael Doherty kept his head while others were losing
theirs to point in the 60th minute and assured victory
for the Division 1 side.
Afterwards, Cormac Skinnader (who had doubled up as an
umpire and scoreboard operator during the game)
presented Malin captain Paddy Kelly with the Packie
McGonagle memorial cup. “Packie founded our club back in
the day and it means a lot to us to win this
championship,” Kelly said. “We played against the Muff
lads from under-12 all the way up, and, like tonight, we
never had it easy against them.”
Kelly also expressed the hope that the championship
would become a regular feature of Inishowen football in
August.
Malin: Declan Lafferty; John G McLaughlin, Damian
Harkin, John McLaughlin (R); Damian Ward, Charlie Byrne,
Kevin McColgan; Paddy Kelly, Michael Doherty; Paul
McLaughlin, Declan Walsh, Conor Farren; Eddie Kelly,
Brendan McGonagle, Paddy McColgan. Subs: Stephen
McLaughlin for E. Kelly (45 mins); Gerard McLaughlin for
C. Farren (57 mins); Danny Lafferty for P. McLaughlin
(58 mins).
Naomh Pádraig: Gerard Harkin; Paul Duffy, Enda
McColgan, Declan McLaughlin; Ryan McColgan, Raymond
McLaughlin, Brendan McColgan; Dermot McColgan, Aidan
Lynch; Colm McColgan, Barry Hegarty, Gerard McColgan;
Eunan Keaveney, Damian Diver, Mark Duffy. Subs: John
McLaughlin for R. McColgan (32 mins); Dermot Keaveney
for G. McColgan (32 mins); Gary McKinney for P. Duffy
(40 mins); Ciaran Harrigan for G. McKinney (58 mins).
For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the
Inishowen Independent. |
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