Belturbet 1-14
Drumlane 0-13

by Shane Corrigan
at Kingspan Breffni

Belturbet finished off in style to down fierce rivals Drumlane in what was a pulsating intermediate championship semi-final at Kingspan Breffni last night.

Enda Henry weighed in with 0-8 for the winners while Sean Og Lawlor’s superbly taken goal midway through the first-half dealt a huge blow to their neighbours, whom managed to close the four-point gap at half-time less than 10 minutes into the restart.

Belturbet had two more goal chances fall by the wayside during the opening period and it allowed the junior champions back in, as marksman Ryan Connolly landed three on the bounce before full-forward Michael Owens sailed over to make it 0-9 to 1-6 with 39 minutes on the clock.

Rories boss Padraig Dolan introduced experienced pair Brendan ‘Bud’ Fitzpatrick and Eoin McGuigan in the minutes that followed, with the latter, in particular, having a major say in the battle that ensued around the centre of the park for the closing quarter.

The town side outscored their opponents by 0-7 to 0-3 during that period, with old reliables Fitzpatrick and Henry very much to the fore as they helped steer the O’Moore Park club towards a first championship final in 23 years.

It was Henry that opened Belturbet’s account in this gripping derby played before a crowd of 1,180 just two minutes in, finishing over a sweeping move which saw Cormac Donohoe and Conall McGinley involved in the build-up.

Connolly (free) and Conor Vaughan exchanged points prior to Owens swinging over Drumlane’s first from play on six minutes.

Two Henry frees saw Belturbet take back the lead and double it before marker Donal Monahan cut through the centre to raise a third green flag for the Milltown men with 12 minutes on the clock.

Two minutes later and the Rories landed the first hammer blow and it would be flame-haired full-forward Lawlor that conjured it from nothing, ghosting in from the right flank before showing a burst of pace and unleashing a bullet to the roof of Harry Clarke’s net.

It was a huge upperhand gained in what was a largely tight contest and a bold drive out of goal from Cian Vaughan saw the corner-forward cum goalkeeper find his brother Conor inside to earn a 20-metre free for Henry to tap over.

At 1-5 to 0-3, Drumlane were on thin ice a little over a quarter of an hour in but Connolly (free) and Donal Reilly looped over scores to keep them in touch, while a splendid reflex save from Clarke on Donohoe ensured they weren’t dead and buried going in at the break.

Lawlor landed Belturbet’s last score of the half and before the whistle sounded they were bearing down on goal again. A scramble in the square saw possession land to McGinley in front of a vacant Drumlane goal line before Dane O’Dowd raced across to pull off a last ditch clearance, leaving it at 1-6 to 0-5 for the interval.

Half-time changes saw Peter Shannon and Gary Tubman introduced for either side for the second-half and it was the trailing Milltown men that made a scorching start to it.

Connolly’s 40-minute free three minutes in was backed up by the 23-year-old landing his first from open play, dummying his man and stroking over left-footed from his centre-forward station. The ex-Cavan forward sailed over a ‘45’ to narrow the margin down to one and when Owens escaped his marker’s clutches to hammer over it drew a mighty roar from the green and white contingent.

Henry (free) and Tubman kept things even prior to sub Fitzpatrick and Connolly (45) doing likewise to set-up some tense closing minutes in Cavan town.

A superbly struck free from McGinley 45 metres out (and hugging the sideline) ushered the Rories back in front on 53 minutes and they wouldn’t be caught from there, shooting over five more unanswered to cement their final berth on October 6th against either Cuchulainns or Laragh United whom meet this afternoon (throw-in 3pm).

Donohoe, Henry (3, 2 frees) and McGinley were the front men whom converted Dolan’s charges’ dominant spell, which arrived from winning the majority share of breaking ball around centre-field.

Sub Jordan Galligan and Connolly’s third ’45’ raised the Sons' tally to 0-13 in injury-time but it left them needing four more in the dying stages which weren’t going to come their way against their neighbours’ packed out defence, leaving the men in maroon with a first county final since 1996 to savour.

Belturbet: Cian Vaughan; Luke Smith, Mark Lawlor, John Cahill; Shane Fitzpatrick, Kevin McConnell, Fionan O’Reilly; Damien O’Reilly, Mark Teevan; Enda Henry (0-8, 6f), Cormac Donohoe (0-1), Niall Lawlor; Conor Vaughan (0-1), Sean Og Lawlor (1-1), Conall McGinley (0-2, 1f). Subs: Peter Shannon for M Lawlor (HT), Brendan Fitzpatrick (0-1) for N Lawlor (38mins), Eoin McGuigan for J Cahill (43), Donal McDonald for Conor Vaughan (55), Niall Reilly for S Og Lawlor (60).

Drumlane: Harry Clarke; Josh Marsden, John O’Dowd, Shane Dolan; Declan Lunney, Donal Monahan (0-1), Darragh Brady; Dane O’Dowd, Kian Monahan; Ciaran Crowe, Ryan Connolly (0-7, 3f, 3 ‘45s), Mark Maguire; Donal Reilly (0-1), Michael Owens (0-2), Darragh Dolan. Subs: Gary Tubman (0-1) for M Maguire (HT), Jordan Galligan (0-1) for D Reilly (47mins), Francis Lunney for D Brady (55), Conor Connolly for S Dolan (58).

Ref: Conor Dourneen (Ballinagh)

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