The Connolly’s of Moy Tyrone Football Championships are up and running, with three preliminary round games contested in the Junior Football Championship on Saturday at Ballinamullan and Clogher. The host clubs pulled out all the stops to ensure the smooth running of the three games.
Division 3 league champions, Fintona proved too strong for Urney securing a 2-22 to 1-14 win. Man of the match, Fintona’s Conor McGillion got an early goal, while points from Aaron McCarney and Niall Murray set the Pearses on course to victory, but to Urney’s credit, they fought back.
Anthony Crossan and Conor McDaid had points, while Jake Lafferty fired home a goal. That however, spurred Fintona on. Jared Brogan crashed in a goal, while McCarney was deadly accurate from the dead ball, as McGillion, Odhran Hughes and Peter Colton all hit points as they cruised into the first-round this Saturday.
Stewartstown Harps were pushed all the way by Strabane, with the Sigersons pressing the Harps after a shaky start that saw them trail by five.
Mark Rooney, Michael Hughes and Kyran Robinson got on the scoreboard early on for the Harps but the game changed when Warner Mullan found the net for Strabane.
A battling performance from Mullan, Oran McGrath, Conal Crawford and Kyle Morrison kept Strabane in the hunt, but they trailed at the break by four points. On the restart, McGrath cracked in a goal to leave the lead down to a single point.
Harps settled again, with Macauley Quinn and Ruairi Dillon tagging on points before Conal Crawford steered home a penalty for the North Tyrone side.
It proved to be a tense closing spell, although Dillon kept his cool to send over a two-pointer as the Harps scraped over the line for a narrow four-point win.
Clogher was the venue for a Clogher Valley derby between Augher and Eskra, and it proved to be a real game of two halves that included four two-pointers.
The St Macartans dominated the early stages, with Pascal Gormley and Darragh Kavanagh helping them to a five-point lead. A goal from Johnny Hackett for the Emmetts left it a two-point game by the break.
Augher edged four ahead on the resumption, Dara Donnelly with a superb two-pointer, but Eskra fought back yet spearheaded by veteran Niall Marlow and substitute Peter Hughes.
Eoin McEvoy was in superb scoring form, finishing with eight points, including two two-pointers, as Eskra outscored Augher 1-14 to no score over 22 minutes, with a four point Augher lead turned into a 13-point deficit.
Eskra eventually ran out 2-19 to 0-15 victors, with Cormac Hughes grabbing the Emmetts’ second goal.
By Seamus Donnelly Mon 17th Aug
