IFC: Brilliant Drumalee clinch title
October 12, 2010
Drumlane's Gary Tubman and Drumalee's Gary Ferncombe battle for possession during the Cavan IFC final at Breffni Park
Drumlane 0-8
A five-star performance helped Drumalee claim their third intermediate championship crown at Drumlane's expense on Sunday evening at Kingspan Breffni Park.
Mickey Lee's men were hands down deserved winners in this encounter, dominating in all sectors of the field against a Drumlane side which were completely out of sorts after coming into the match as favourites.
The west Cavan men drew first blood inside three minutes when full-forward Stephen McCann curled over the opener, before his opposite number Daragh Gaffney registered Drumalee's first score with a coolly stroked free down the other end.
The town side upped the momentum after that and were a point ahead when the game's salient moment arrived. A long ball into the square from midfielder Mickey Brennan wasn't dealt with by the Drumlane defence and Gaffney fired to the bottom corner past Darren Murphy.
Drumlane never fully recovered and trailed by 1-7 to 0-4 at the interval.
In the second-half, Ollie Fay's charges pulled back two scores through Barry Corrigan (free) and Barry Cunningham, but that was about as good as it got as Drumalee's superb running game proved too much for them to live with.
Scores from Kevin Donohoe, Gaffney (free) and 'Man of the Match' Brennan coasted the whites six clear in the final quarter which had them with one hand on the Cup, before a second yellow card for Corrigan on the eve of the full-time whistle compounded their opponents' misery.
Drumalee - James Heffernan; Enda McCormick, Brendan Smith, Kevin Gavigan; Timmy Looney, Daire Donohoe, Gary Ferncombe; Gary Malone, Michael Brennan; Gerard Reilly, Kevin Donohoe, Craig Sheridan; Mark Ferncombe, Daragh Gaffney, Patrick Colton.
Drumlane - Darren Murphy; Robbie Smith, John O'Dowd, Neil McCann; Fergal Brady, Glenn Fitzpatrick, JP Kelly; Dane O'Dowd, Daryl McConnell; Gareth Corrigan, Barry Corrigan, John Fitzpatrick; Gary Tubman, Stephen McCann, Barry Cunningham. Subs: Paul Kelly, Ciaran O'Reilly, Shane Kelly.
Ref: Raymond Kelly (Knockbride) Tweet
