Round-up: Wins for Donegal and Derry in Ulster U20 Football Championship
Monaghan U20 footballer, Max McGinnity.
DALATA HOTEL GROUP ULSTER U-20 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
DONEGAL 2-15 (2-1-13) FERMANAGH 3-11 (3-1-9)
DERRY 0-14 (0-1-12) MONAGHAN 1-8 (1-0-8)
The Dalata Hotel Group Ulster U-20 Football Championship got underway with two gripping one-score battles this evening, with Donegal and Derry getting their seasons up and running with wins over Fermanagh and Monaghan respectively.
Fermanagh made the long trip north to Buncrana to take on Donegal hoping to win their first championship game at this grade since 2021 and they came agonisingly close, only to be pipped by four points in a row from the home side.
Thomas Lenehan levelled the game with Donegal’s only two-pointer in the last minute of normal time, setting the stage for Kalvin McLaughlin to land the winning point.
With Finbarr Roarty absent and Conor McCahill an early injury casualty, Fermanagh roared out of the blocks with the wind behind them, landing 1-5 in the first ten minutes without reply.
Mattie McDermott landed the green and orange legs of his ‘tricolour’ while fellow inside forwards Nathan Beattie and Michael Burns weight in with points from play.
Goals from Kevin Muldoon and Donnacha Ó Baoill brought Donegal level, 2-4 to 1-7, but Dáire Chapman replied in kind for Fermanagh, who led by 2-8 to 2-5 at half-time.
In a tense second half, Fermanagh were held scoreless for 12 minutes before Rory Smyth landed their third goal, and with five minutes remaining, they still had three points to spare – just not quite enough, as it turned out.
It was a similar story in Castleblayney where Monaghan levelled up through a Max McGinnitty penalty after 43 minutes and then 11 minutes later kicked the next point to go 1-8 to 0-10 ahead, only for Derry to level up and push ahead thanks to a Cody Rocks point, Tommy Rogers’ double and Cahir Spiers’ insurance score.
Monaghan started the sharper of the two with points from Max McGinnity and Luke McKenna in a game where it quickly became apparent that defences were on top, but Derry landed 0-4 unanswered 19th and 23rd minutes, including two from Johnny McGuckin, to lead by 0-6 to 0-5 at the interval.
Tommy Rogers kicked a 45 and a point from just inside the arc early in the second half while Monaghan were very dependent on McGinnitty for scores, with 1-5 in all coming from the Blayney Faughs club man.
Monaghan host Donegal in round two next Wednesday, while Fermanagh are away to Antrim.
