Late, late show seals it for Setanta.

Senior Hurling Championship - Second Round
5 September 2006
Setanta 1-8
Aodh Ruadh 1-7
Dennis Doherty reports

In an extremely competitive match Aodh Ruadh were very unfortunate to lose this game by a single point scored in the last minute. After the loss against McCumhaill's and also performing poorly, it was important from the outset of this match that Aodh Ruadh at the very least should give a good performance in this second round fixture in the County Donegal Senior Hurling Championship!!

For over a decade Aodh Ruadh would have been routinely easily beaten by Setanta senior hurling teams but this was partially changed on Wednesday evening last. This epic contest was the closest Aodh Ruadh have come to causing an upset this year. The game was played in a heavy drizzle in Donegal town and the Ballyshannon team started slowly conceding 1-2 (1-1 to Campbell), in the first ten minutes. From then on until half time, Setanta maintained this margin to go in at half-time four points to the good. The best period was the last ten minutes of the half when Mickey Bowering scored a well finished point from out near the sideline. At this stage Setanta were panicking and were in trouble all over the field. With Aidan Begley dominating at midfield, the Aodh Ruadh forwards were underperforming and the team should have gone in at half-time well ahead having dropped several high balls into the opposition's square only to see the Setanta keeper returning them downfield uncontested.

With a positional change at half-time, which saw Damian Conlon moving to full forward and Anthony Coughlan (aka 'Waddle'), moving to the wing forward position, things began to break around the square and a goal by Mickey Bowering and several points made it all level with ten minutes to go. Johnny Dolan had a shot at goal which was saved and cleared away by the Setanta keeper and Aidan Begley had the opportunity to score from placed balls but missed two at the start of the half (However, this was offset by Kevin Campbell missing two towards the end of the same half). With David Downey levelling the game it was all to play for with five minutes to go! Unfortunately for Aodh Ruadh, Anthony McDaid scored a point in the last minute, despite the efforts of Anthony Bowering to bat it out.

In all, this was a real team performance all over the field with a 'man of the match' by the young Chris Kilgannon. Best for Aodh Ruadh were the aforementioned Chris Kilgannon, Aidan Begley, but also the corner back Kevin Loughlin, whose corner saw a lot of the sliothar, all though the match.

The final two outstanding matches of the year are County Donegal League matches against Carndonagh and McCumhaill's.

Vital Statistics
Teams
Aodh Ruadh Anthony Bowering; Kevin Loughlin, Dennis Doherty, Peter Horan; Chris Kilgannon, Thomas Gallagher, Kieran Breslin; Aidan Begley, David Downey; Aaron Coughlan, John Rooney, Anthony Coughlan; Michael Bowering, Johnny Dolan and Damian Conlon. Substitutes Thomas Gallagher, Spanny McGarrigle, John Larkin, Paul Cassidy, Kieran Kilgannon, Paul Gallagher.

Report Filed: 5 September 2006