Glenswilly go 11 from 11 defeating Red Hughs and stand-in keeper Stephen McMenamin

Glenswilly made it 11 from 11 and are within inches of a return to the top flight of the All-County Football League following their comfortable victory over Red Hughs at Pairc Naomh Columba.  

Glenswilly 0-16 Red Hughs  0-6 

Gary McFadden returned after a lengthy layoff due to injury top-scored for the locals who had 10 different scorers on the day. 

Four of the six starting forwards, plus Caoimhin Marley, Cormac Callaghan, Shane McDaid and Donal Gallagher and Mark McAteer all registered.

Substitute Daithi Gildea also got in the scoring act when introduced late in the game and Michael Murphy, who had a hand in quite a few scores, raised one white flag -  a 46-metre free in the middle of the second half.  

Marley capped another fine performance in the middle of the field with three long-range points. Jack Gillespie once again did the bulk of the scoring for Red Hughs. The midfielder finished the match with four points.

After a tentative start and an opening point from Gillespie, Glenswilly eased themselves into the game. Marley opened their account with the first of their eight first half-points seven minutes into the game. 

And as they moved up through the gears, McFadden (3), Oisin Crawford (2), Jack and Donal Gallagher added to their tally for an 0-8 to 0-3 half-time lead. 

Gillespie, with his second, and Jack Bradley scored the remainder of the first half points for Red Hughs, who started without the talismanic Calvin Bradley and lost goalkeeper Luke Kelly in the first half and Jack Bradley, in the second - both to injury.  Stephen McMenamin replaced Kelly in goals for a spell before Thomas McMenamin took over between the sticks.

Five points up at half-time and with a stiff breeze in their backs for the second half, Glenswilly were in a good place at half-time.  And they kicked after the break with points from Callaghan, McDaid, McAteer and McFadden to open up a nine-point - 0-12 to 0-3 - lead inside the opening 10 minutes of the second period. 

Gillespie converted to quick frees to bring it back to a seven-point game by the end of the third quarter. Despite losing Jack Gallagher to a black card, the home side pulled away again in the final quarter as Padraig Bonner ran his bench and they were 0-16 to 0-5 ahead before Jason Callaghan got on the end of a sweeping move to bring down the curtain on the scoring deep in injury time. 

Glenswilly are on 22 points with two games still to play. They are six ahead of Naomh Columba who have a game in hand on Glenswilly and eight ahead of Buncrana and Termon - the two teams they have to play - who have two games in hand of the men from Pairc Naomh Columba. They are away to Termon and home to Buncrana, on the final day. 

Glenswilly scorers: Gary McFadden 0-4, 2f; Caoimhin Marley 0-3; Oisin Crawford 0-2; Donal Gallagher, Jack Gallagher, Cormac Callaghan,Shane McDaid, Mark McAteer, Michael Murphy and Daithi Gildea 0-1 each. 
Red Hughs scorers: Jack Gillespie 0-4, 3f, Jack Bradley, Jason Callaghan 0-1, each. 

Glenswilly: Cathal Gallagher; Jake Kelly, Mark McAteer, Ruairi Crawford; Cormac Callaghan, Shane McDaid,  Donal Gallagher; Caoimhin Marley, Sean Collum,  Mark Bonner, Christopher McMonagle, Oisin Crawford,  Gary Copper McFadden,  Michael Murphy, Jack Gallagher. Subs: Jimmy McCauley for O Crawford (45, inj); Darragh Enright for S Collum (49); Caolan Kelly for D Gallagher (52); Oisin McGrenra for J Gallagher (59). 

Red Hughs: Luke Kelly; Jason Callaghan, Thomas McMenamin, Shane Gallagher; Cian Gallagher, Darragh McMenamin, Aaron McGlinchey; Jack Gillespie, Peadar McGlinchey; Gareth McGill, Gerard Melaugh, James Gallagher; Damian Browne, Jack Bradley, Tiernan Kelly. Subs: Stephen McMenamin for L Kelly (10); Thomas McMenamin for J Bradley (36); Michael McMenamin for J Gallagher (46); Brian Irwin for G McGill(54); Luke Browne for S McMenamin (56).
Referee: Pat Barrett (Milford)