Ramor United 4-9
Drumgoon 0-7

Ramor United cruised into the first round of the Cavan senior championship this evening by seeing off Drumgoon with minimal fuss at Kingpan Breffni Park.

Three first-half goals were more than enough for the Virginia men as their opponents failed to get into their rhythm, notching only 0-7 over the hour, as Jack Brady and Paul Quealy ran riot in their attack.

Drumgoon were unlucky not to net early on in the second-half, and if they had it could have been a more intriguing contest, but in truth this became a one-sided affair once Ramor's Kevin Mulvanny hit the net midway through the first-half.

Ramor weren't as impressive in the second-half, but with their opponents registering just 0-4 they were home and dry in the next round long before Quealy flicked in their fourth goal in the final minutes.

It was Drumgoon that drew first blood inside the opening minute through their talisman Keith Fannin lashing over from close range, before the victors took over the next quarter of an hour, hitting 1-4 without response.

Ramor's opening score was somewhat of a gift after a mis-cued kick-out from Niall McIntyre gave James Bradley all the time and space to pop over and by the fifth minute Jack Brady had them into their first lead with a free. The Cavan ace then doubled his personal tally when he was sent through minutes later on a trademark burst forward before Paul Quealy pushed the margin to three.

It was after that the heavy blows started to come for Drumgoon, as Brady was threaded through to find the corner of McIntyre's net and despite 'the Goonies' pulling back two scores via Paddy McCabe and Fannin (both frees), Gary Farrelly's side left them with a mountain to climb by netting twice more in the space of three minutes.

First a powerful drive from Kevin Mulvanny ended with the full-forward bundling the ball over the line and two minutes from the break Drumgoon's fate was practically sealed when Simon Cadden, who pointed a minute previous, was sent through by a splendid pass from Brady and the wing forward provided a devastating finish.

Fannin pulled back a sorely needed score at the other end, but it could well have been curtains for his side right on the eve of half-time when Quealy snuck through and blasted his shot off the inside of the post much to the relief of the Drumgoon contingent, as their team went in at the break trailing 3-6 to 0-4.

Unsurprisingly, Martin Clerkin's charges looked to resume as well as they could in the second-half and from the throw-in they were unlucky to see a series of goal chances kept out at the goalmouth by a combination of saves from Aaron Farrelly and the uprights. They'd instead have to settle for a point from Aogan Farrell that was quickly erased by the inform Brady at the other posts before Quealy upped the lead to 12 points approaching the last 20 minutes.

Two Fannin frees - the second coming off the back of a good interception by Brendan McCabe - was as much as Drumgoon could muster in the final quarter and their misery was complete when they failed to deal with a looping ball in their square which Quealy flicked to the net.

Ramor United: Gary Farrelly; Barry Fitzsimons, Stefan Connolly, Tomas Farrelly; Daire Sheridan, Shane Cole, Damien Barkey (0-1); Anton O'Reilly, James McEnroe; James Bradley (0-1), Keith Soden, Simon Cadden (1-1); Paul Quealy (1-2), Kevin Mulvany (1-0), Jack Brady (1-4, 1f). Subs: Emmet Daly for Soden (54mins), Michael O'Reilly for A O'Reilly (56).

Drumgoon: Niall McIntyre; Tommy McKitterick, Adrian Crossan, Killian Moynagh; Edward Gaffney, Michael Hannon, Brendan McCabe; Michael McDonald, Keith Fannin (0-5, 4f); Shane Smith, Jim McNally, Paddy Smith; Aogan Farrell (0-1), Shane McGorry, Patrick McCabe (0-1, 1f). Subs: Barry Cooney for P Smith (HT), Sean Smith for S Smith (56), Dominic Donnegan for B Cooney (57), Mark Murray for B McCabe (59).

Ref: Michael Lee (Drumalee) Tweet

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