Aodh Ruadh open season with double scores victory
Senior Division 3
21 March 2015
Aodh Ruadh 3-11
Buncrana 0-10
Father Tierney Park
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Aodh Ruadh began their season with a convincing double scores victory over Buncrana in Father Tierney Park on Saturday afternoon. Finishing second in the table last season, the Ernesiders were just denied promotion to the second tier last year by a narrow play-off defeat to Glenfin. With Packie McGrath now taking up the managerial reins the goal for the season is clear, and Ballyshannon set their stall out in no uncertain terms against the Inishowen men.
Aodh Ruadh have had a gruelling pre-season, and that work was shown to good effect in the first half as the hosts dominated proceedings for much of the game. They ran in two first half goals, the first came from the boot of 2014 Ulster minor winning captain Niall Harley. The second was a great strike by current county minor panellist Philip Patton.
Those majors and a slew of points helped the Ernesiders to a 2-8 to 0-6 lead at half-time. The second half was a more low scoring affair as Aodh Ruadh continued to turn the screw. They were boosted in that period by strong contributions from the bench with Ronan Drummond, Jamie McDonald and Kerry Ryan all causing problems for the visitors.
Michael 'Sticky' Ward marked his return to the senior team after a year's absence with 1-3, a haul which included a coup de grace goal in the last minutes of the game.
Over the 60 the spine of this Aodh Ruadh team showed well. Peter Boyle produced some super saves and landed a long range free, and in front of him Damian Cleary continued his impressive form last year with another dynamic display. The whole half back line of Boyle, Patton and Harley got through a mountain of work and played a significant role in confining Buncrana to ten scores. Up front Diarmaid McInerney and Sticky Ward provided great outlets and finished effectively, grabbing 1-6 between them.
One note of bad news for Ballyshannon was a nasty nose injury to corner back Michael Ward which will see him miss the next few weeks.
Best for Buncrana on a tough day for the Inishowen men were midfielders Oran Doherty, Caolan McGonigle and centre forward John Campbell.
| Vital Statistics |
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| Teams |
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Aodh Ruadh Peter Boyle (0-1); Michael Dolan, Damien Cleary, Michael Ward; Anthony Boyle, Conor Patton, Niall Harley (1-1); Johnny Gettins(0-1), Eamonn McGrath; Shane McGrath, Diarmaid McInerney (0-3), Barry Mulligan(0-1); Phillip Patton,(1-1) Michael 'Sticky' Ward,(1-3) Ronan McGurrin. SubstitutesCallum O'Halloran for Michael Ward; Ronan Drummond For A Boyle; Jamie McDonald for S McGrath; Kerry Ryan for P Patton. |
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Buncrana Gavin Cullen; Mickey Gallagher, Darren Gillespie, Stephen Doherty; Ronan Doherty, Kevin O'Loughlin, Shane McLoughlin; Oran Doherty (0-6) Caolan McGonigle; Jo Jo McGroary, John Campbell (0-2), Oisin O'Flaherty; Adrian Doherty(0-1), Oisin Doherty(0-1), Kevin Treacy. Substitutes: N. McLoughlin for R Doherty; S Cuffe for D Gillespie; D Bell For K Treacy. |
| Referee: Michael McShane (Kilcar). |
Last modified: Friday, 29 May 2020 at 1:10pm