Aodh Ruadh U-21s power past Buncrana in Ballyshannon

This Saturday afternoon tie in a dusky Father Tierney Park finished in a 30 point win for Aodh Ruadh against a Buncrana outfit who were just out-matched in every department.

The Ballyshannon lads kept Buncrana to just two points in the first half, while finding the net four times themselves. Overall, it was a dominant showing from the homesters with nine different players contributing to a 6-19 return accumulated entirely from play.

First half first blood went to the visitors with Daire McColgan sending over a good score from play within the first minute. From there to the half-time whistle though it was basically one way traffic. 

Aodh Ruadh got their first goal of the half three minutes in, Shane Delahunty with a delicious pass to Jack Gallagher who coolly stepped around the keeper before slotting to the net.

Eoin Cassidy extended the lead with a couple of points. After that there were some worrying signs in the Buncrana defence as both Joe Gibbions and Oran Gillespie took advantage of space to take easy scores.

Eoin Cassidy then sent over his hat-trick point in the 10th minute to make it Aodh Ruadh 1-5 Buncrana 0-1.

Three minutes later it was Shane Delahunty's turn to stride through the Inishowen men's cover and split the posts.

As the game headed into the second quarter a penetrating run from Jack Gallagher saw him pick out Garreth Brennan with a lovely pass. Brennan popped off to Garvey Meade and he made no mistake one on one with the keeper.

After a 16 minute break the lively Sean McLaughlin finally raised another white flag for the Scarvey lads.

That was just a short interruption in the flow of Aodh Ruadh scores though, Jack Gallagher quickly followed up a point with his side's third goal, this one a point effort which just dropped in over the keeper's head.

Cassidy sent over a point before playing his part in Ballyshannon's fourth goal. He collected a glorious long pass from Jack Gallagher before popping off to Joe Gibbions who rifled to the net.

Gibbions and Eoin Cassidy then linked up to put Darragh Flood Dolan through for his first score.

The half finished with two more points for Cassidy as Aodh Ruadh went in with a healthy 4-11 to 0-2 lead.

The second half saw the hosts continue to score freely, but Buncrana did get a bit more joy in the attack to put something of a better complexion on the final score board.

Jack Gallagher and Buncrana's Billy Duffy swapped scores at the start of the second half. An Eoin Cassidy point was then followed by a score for Ted O'Donnell, Aodh Ruadh's eighth scorer of the day.

Then came one of the scores of the day, Jack Gallagher winning the kick out before thundering in on goal and unleashing a rocket to the back of the net.

Sean McLaughlin and Joe Gibbions exchanged points in the 40th minute. Finn Doogan was then subbed on and his first touch was to set up a sixth goal for the Ernesiders, finding Jack Gallagher who put Joe Gibbions through to slip low to the corner.

Jack Gallagher followed up with a fisted point which was answered by points from Daire McColgan and Aaron Cleary in quick succession for Buncrana.

The scoring rate slowed in the last ten minutes with Robbie Murphy, Jack Gallagher and Buncrana's Billy Duffy the only men to find the range, but the verdict had long since been decided by that stage.

Aodh Ruadh were in control in every sector of this game. Keeper Cian McKenna was strong under the dropping ball, while Ryan Keenaghan and Eoghan Kelly anchored a defence which gave the Scarvey men very little change. Around the middle Shane Delahunty and Joe Gibbions had the ball on a string, while up front Eoin Cassidy's radar was operating on full power. Man of the match was Jack Gallagher, his 3-4 haul just one aspect of a peerless contribution. There'll be hopes on Erneside that he might be considered for a run out in the McKenna cup.

For Buncrana Sean McLaughlin caught the eye, delivering a hard honest 60 minutes despite the game being beyond his side at an early stage. Billy Duffy also put in a lively shift from wing back.

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Aodh Ruadh scorers: Jack Gallagher 3-4; Joe Gibbions 2-2; Eoin Cassidy 0-7; Garvey Meade 1-0; Robbie Murphy 0-2; Ted O’Donnell, Shane Delahunty, Darragh Flood Dolan, Oran Gillespie 0-1 each.

Buncrana scorers: Billy Duffy, Sean McLaughlin, Daire McColgan 0-2 each; Aaron Cleary 0-1.

Aodh Ruadh: Cian McKenna; James Gallagher, Ryan Keenaghan, Shane McGloin; Ted O'Donnell, Eoghan Kelly, Garreth Brennan; Shane Delahunty, Darragh Flood Dolan; Joe Gibbions, Jack Gallagher, Garvey Meade; Sean O'Neill, Eoin Cassidy, Oran Gillespie.

Subs: Finn Doogan for Oran Gillespie 41 minutes; Robbie Murphy (0-2) for Sean O'Neill 46 minutes. James Monaghan.

Buncrana: Rory Scott; PJ Doherty, Paddy McGonigle, Jamie Friel; Billy Duffy, Andrew Davison, Sean Daly; Aaron Cleary, Sean McLaughlin; Michael Grant, Daire McColgan, David Shaw; Kevin O'Rourke, Michael Lynch, Shay Coyle. 

Subs: James McGonigle; Stephen McGonigle; Dylan Mulholland.

Referee: Jimmy White (Killybegs)