St Mary's, Convoy grind out big result in Mountcharles against St Naul's

St Mary's, Convoy were full value for their three point win in a well-contested Division 2 game in Mountcharles on Saturday evening.

St Naul's 0-5

St Mary's, Convoy 0-8

A good finish to the first half and a three point spurt midway through the second half provevd to be the difference in a game where scores were hard to come by.

It took eight minutes for the first score to arrive, Anthony Browne finding the range with the wind at his back. A minute later the Convoy boys had a second, although it seemed a tough call against Michael Coughlin. Paddy Dolan availed of the free to score.

Stuart Johnston was at the centre of much of St Naul's play and he won a free on 13 minutes for Stephen Griffin to cut the lead. The home side had probably the best goal chance of the game on 17 minutes when Joe Campbell and Daniel Brennan set Declan Duignan but the young forward short early and the effort was off target.

Johnston won two frees for Ian Campbell to convert and edge St Naul's in front for the only time in the game. The Convoy bench weren't happy with the umpire's call on the first.

The visitors finished the half really well with three points in quick succession from Pauric Gordon (mark), Anthony Browne and Ciaran Dolan to lead 0-5 to 0-3 at the break.

Unbelievable Donegal comeback leads to penalty shoot-out heartbreak

Luke Barrett's side were four points down in tonight's Ulster Minor semi-final and had only scored a point in 35 minutes as extra-time fell into injury time . They somehow pulled it from the fire, only to lose out on penalties

They lost Matthew Coyle to a black card on 34 minutes but conceded just one point in that time to St Naul's, Stephen Griffin pointing after Stuart Johnston once again won the free.

In the middle of the half they hit three points in a four minute period with John Doherty, Brian McNamee and Anthony Browne finding the range to open the gap to 0-8 to 0-4.

They then pulled down the shutters, only conceding once more, again from a free from Ian Campbell with six minutes left.

St Naul's lost their best player, Stuart Johnston, to a hamstring injury in the final five minutes and that will be a concern for them going into  the next few games. They are not going well, unable to score even once from play.

Convoy are fielding a young team and they were full value for the win with a good all-round display.

St Naul's scorers: Ian Campbell 0-3,3f; Stephen Griffin 0-2,2f.

St Mary's, Convoy scorers: Anthony Browne 0-3; Paddy Dolan (f), Pauric Gordon (mark), Ciaran Dolan, John Doherty, Brian McNamee 0-1 each.

ST NAUL'S: Cathal Charlton; Diarmuid Gallagher, Barry Griffin, Caolan Gaffney; Barry Burke, Ian Campbell, Kyle Campbell; Stuart Johnston, Stephen Griffin; Ryan Coughlan, Shane Conneely, Michael Coughlan; Joe Campbell, Daniel Brennan, Declan Duignan. Subs: Martin Breslin for B Burke (49); Shane Meehan for Johnston (56).

ST MARY'S, CONVOY: Mark Gordon; Keelin Gillen, Brian McNamee, John Moore; Conal McDermott, John Doherty, Benny Bonner; Liam Toye, Pauric Gordon; Anthony Browne, Ciaran Dolan, Liam Prunty; Patrick Dolan, John Toye, Matthew Coyle. Subs: Gavin Sweeney for C Dolan (51); Niall Sweeney for Moore (54); Michael Patton for Coyle (60+2).

REFEREE: Ryan Walsh (Bundoran).