Henderson hat-trick guides Seán MacCumhaills to victory over Buncrana

Seán MacCumhaills came with an ample supply of goals in an entertaining and tightly fought affair at The Scarvey against Buncrana on Friday evening.

Buncrana 0-18 Seán MacCumhaills 4-12

The first half was a close affair with just two points separating the winners and the hosts at the half time whistle. Seán MacCumhaills PJ Browne and Buncrana’s Caolan O’Neill played their parts superbly as their sides sharpshooters throughout the game.

The visitors opened the scoring within the minute mark from Browne but the hosts reacted brightly with points from Fiachra Gill (free), Oisin Grant and David Carey. However, the home side were dealt a setback shortly after when they conceded a penalty. MacCumhaill’s Shane McMenamin was fouled and Lee Henderson converted the resulting penalty.

Browne added another score, from a free, but Buncrana entered another positive phase and hit the next four scores from Carey, O’Neill - both frees - and an excellently taken point from Dylan Duffy, whose persistence against a packed MacCumhaill’s defence was rewarded. He found adequate space to point over to put the home side two points ahead.

Buncrana’s hard work looked to be undone when Seán MacCumhaills looked to hit back right away when Browne’s low effort at goal was parried by Alan Lynam in the Buncrana goals. A brace of free’s from Browne levelled matters once again but the see-saw nature of the first half saw Buncrana respond from an O’Neill free and Dylan Duffy.

The visitors ensured they went in two points up at half time when a Lee Henderson long range effort dipped in to beat the Buncrana ‘keeper to raise his second green flag of the half and followed up soon after with a sweetly taken point from play.

Henderson turned goal provider right out of the traps in the second half when he battled hard out the flank and went for a score. However, his shot turned to a pass and forward Patrick Bradley reacted the quickest to strike the sliotar past the home side’s rearguard for goal number three of the game.

Points from Henderson and Fintan Griffin put the visitors into a six point lead which they never looked like relinquishing. Buncrana points from O’Neill and Grant kept them in touch but a trio of Browne frees took the lead back out to seven points. Henderson completed his hat trick midway through the second half and from this stage it was down to game management to ensure the win.

O’Neill kept the scoreboard ticking over for Buncrana but each score was quickly cancelled out by his MacCumhaills counterpart Browne. Buncrana hit the final three scores of the contest but MacCumhaills goalscoring proved the overall decider.

Buncrana scorers: Caolan O’Neill 0-10, 10f; Fiachra Gill 0-2,1f; David Carey, Dylan Duffy and Oisin Grant 0-2.
Sean MacCumhaill's scorers: P J Browne 0-9,7f; Lee Henderson 3-2; Patrick Bradley 1-0; Fintan Griffin 0-1.

Buncrana: Alan Lynam; Rory Scott, Ciaran McLaughlin, Anthony Brosnan; Peter Grant, Caolan O’Neill, Ruairi Doherty; David Carey Darren Doherty; Fiachra Gill, Declan McCarron, Martin og Shiels; Oisin Grant, Tom Mitchell, Dylan Duffy

Sean MacCumhaills: Del Laverty; Eoghan Wright, John Anthony Chambers, Kyle Tourish; Aaron Toner, Conor Griffin, Pete Byrne; Fintan Griffin, Lee Henderson; Dean Hannigan, PJ Browne, Conor Murphy; Shane McMenamin, Ger Cunningham, Patrick Bradley.

Referee: James Connors (St Eunan's)