Naomh Pádraig and Malin can't be separated after pulsating draw in Intermediate

Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin and Malin couldn’t be separated in this Intermediate championship second round tie at Maurice McMenamin Memorial Park in Ture on Saturday evening.

A bumper crowd packed into the venue and saw Naomh Pádraig, who beat Bundoran in the opening round, rack up the two pointers as they raced into a 0-10 to 0-3 lead by the 20th minute.

Malin had impressed on their opening round win over Buncrana, but were in danger of being cast adrift until Ben Curley struck for a goal five minutes before half time and with Christopher McLaughlin and Ciaran O’Kane finally asserting themselves at midfield, Malin finished the half strongly with points from Darragh Douglas and Josh Conlon ensuring they went into the half time break trailing by the minimum, 0-10 to 1-6.

Things had looked good for Muff early on.

Cormac McColgan hit their first two pointer in the third minute, and while Josh Conlon tapped over a couple of frees in response, a point from county star Caolan McColgan and another two pointer from Eunan Mullan had Muff 0-5 to 0-2 clear midway through the first half.

Darragh Douglas hit back for Malin, but two more two pointers, the first from Cormac McColgan and the second from goalkeeper Diarmuid McKane from a free, had Muff 0-10 to 0-3 ahead and well worth their lead.

Malin finally got to grips at midfield, where team captain Christy McLaughlin dominated the skies for the ten minutes before half time, picking off three Muff kickouts and giving his side an attacking platform that they made the most of.

Douglas hit two points on either side of Ben Curley’s 25th minute goal, but was replaced late on, still feeling the after effects of an early hit and Malin missed his score-getting ability in the second half.

Josh Conlon fisted over just before half time, and when big Seamus Houghton pointed within two minutes of the restart Malin were back on level terms for the first time in the game.

Paul Gallagher’s side were in the ascendancy now, but hit four poor wides and two points from Caolan McColgan, after he combined well with Jonny Toye, put Muff two clear.

It took Ciaran Doherty to show the Malin forwards how to do it, the full back burst forward to hit a couple of points as Jonny Toye and Josh Conlon exchanged frees and the sides were level, 0-13 to 1-10 going into the final quarter.

Muff were living off scraps now, but for all their possession Malin couldn’t put their opponents away.

Instead, they were twice punished with the ball being brought forward for dissent which presented Jonny Toye with a tap over 20m free.

Ciaran O’Kane then hit two points in a row for Malin and with the game having moved into injury time Muff were penalised for failing to keep four men back – a brief dust up involving Malin’s Sean Byrne and Muff sub Andrew McCarron drew an excitable defender out of his half, and when Josh Conlon tapped over the 20m free the Malin men were two points clear.

But Muff are nothing if not resilient and with a talent like Caolan McColgan in the thick of things they will always have a chance.

The county man showed a trademark burst of speed to accelerate through the Malin defence two minutes into injury time and his shot blazed a foot over the bar when it might just have easily gone under it.

Still, the momentum was with the home team and when Daniel Mullarkey’s kickout carried over the sideline Muff took their chance, Toye picking out a crossfield pass to Eunan Mullan who did the needful and fired over the equalising score.

And they might even have nicked a win at the end, Caolan McColgan cut in from the left flank but his one-two with Drew McKinney didn’t quite come off and Malin could breathe a sigh of relief.

Muff are away to Buncrana next week in round 3, while Malin are home to Fanad Gaels.

Naomh Pádraig scorers: Caolan McColgan 0-4; Cormac McColgan 0-4 (two 2pts); Eunan Mullan 0-3 (one 2pt); Diarmuid McKane 0-2 (one 2pt free); Jonny Toye 0-2 (2f); Jamie McColgan 0-1.

Malin scorers: Josh Conlon 0-5 (4f); Darragh Douglas 0-3; Ben Curley 1-0; Ciaran Doherty 0-2; Ciaran O’Kane 0-2; S Houghton (0-1).

Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin: Diarmuid McKane; Michael McCarron, Caolan Harkin, Darragh McIntyre; Oisin McIntyre, Cormac Kelly, Jason McCallion; Eunan Mullan, Cormac McColgan; Patrick Hirrell, Jonny Toye, Caolan McColgan; Cillian Doyle, Jamie McColgan, Jamie McCauley. Subs: Lee Barr for J McCauley (51 mins); Andrew McCarron for P Hirrell (55 mins); Drew McKinney.

Malin: Daniel Mullarkey; Cormac Cullinan, Ciaran Doherty, Daniel Green; Sean Byrne, Oisin McGonagle, Mac McLaughlin; Christy McLaughlin, Ciaran O’Kane; Ben Curley, Josh Conlon, Darragh Douglas; Ryan McGeoghegan, Seamus Houghton, Paul McLaughlin. Subs: Nathan McDaid for D Douglas (25 mins); Luke Rudden for R McGeoghegan (35 mins); Sean O’Neill for S Houghton (42 mins); Gary Farren for C Cullinan (44 mins).

Referee: Cathal Gallagher (Glenswilly)