Mullahoran 1-12 Drumalee 0-10

A depleted Mullahoran side had minimal fuss in brushing aside Drumalee in what was a drab senior championship encounter at Kingspan Breffni Park this evening.

Minus the services of key players like Enda O'Reilly, Paul Brady, Dermot Sheridan, Paddy Brady and Michael Brady, Gerry Cadden's team were still able to control this game for large portions as Tomas Nannery's 23rd minute goal set them on route to victory.

Drumalee had kept it tight up until Nannery's strike, trailing the minimum at half-time, but any notion of them causing an upset was far-fetched once the Dreadnoughts' came into a purple patch midway through the second-half.

Daragh Gaffney's frees were about all that kept the Cavan town outfit in touch, as Mullahoran cruised to a comfortable win which edges them closer to the last eight of the competition.

The sides were inseparable for the opening quarter of an hour, with Brady (3), who was in fine form early on, and Fionnan O'Reilly on target for the winners and Gaffney sound from his first four frees for Drumalee.

A sweetly struck 45 from Jimmy Fallon put the town side back in the ascendancy on 20 minutes, but their lead would be short lived as Mullahoran found Brady again and he crossed to Nannery in space for the veteran to find the top corner of James Heffernan's net.

Francis Clarke's side steadied themselves from the three-point concession to nab the last score of the half via corner-forward Ciaran Brady, which left trailing by just one, 1-4 to 0-6, at the halfway stage.

PP Galligan grew Mullahoran's lead to two early on in the resumption and it could have been five had James Heffernan not done brilliantly to deny Fionnan O'Reilly, who shot towards the corner, after being released by Brady.

In a bid to try and stem the tide, Enda McCormick got one back for the St Felim's Park outfit but the concession of 0-6 without reply over the ensuing 10 minutes completely killed any chance they had.

Brady (2 frees), Damien McArdle, sub Shane Sheils, Galligan and Nannery put the vital points on the board for the Killydoon contingent, as they ran up a commanding seven-point lead with a quarter of a hour to go.

Gaffney (2) and Galligan hit late frees but there was simply no way back for Drumalee, as their opponents had wounded them too severely with their third quarter assault.

Mullahoran: Dominic Crudden; Matthew Hynes, Chris Prior, Seanie Smith; Raymond Lynch, Sean McKeogh, James O'Reilly; Killian Brady, Tadhg McGahern; Damien McArdle (0-1), PP Galligan (0-3, 1f), Tomas Nannery (1-1); Fionnan O'Reilly (0-1), Philip Brady (0-5, 3f), Jason Donoghue. Subs: Tomas O'Keefe for M Higgins (28mins), Shane Sheils (0-1) for F O'Reilly (37), Eamonn Quinn for T O'Keefe (55), Niall McGahern for P Brady (59).

Drumalee: James Heffernan; Peter McGinnity, Philip McArdle, Kevin Gavigan; Tommy Walsh; Enda McCormick (0-1), Fionnan Lee; Andrew Fallon, Jimmy Fallon (0-1, 45); Lee Dunne (0-1), Daragh Gaffney (0-6, 6f), Michael Higgins; David Goldrick, Cian Byrne, Ciaran Brady (0-1). Subs: Kevin Fitzsimons for D McArdle (53mins), Daniel Smith for S Smith (55), Stephen O'Connor for K Gavigan (60).

Ref: Chris McCaffrey (Templeport)

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