Carndonagh victorious at Naomh Colmcille in Junior A Championship

Carndonagh’s run in the Junior A Championship continued with a six-point win over Naomh Colmcille in an entertaining game at Páirc Colmcille. 

Naomh Colmcille 2-6
Carndonagh 1-15

Carndonagh started quickly and clipped a couple of early scores before a long Paul Friel ball found Naomh Colmcille full forward Shane Monaghan who beat his man and drilled the ball low to the corner of the net on six minutes to put his side 1-1 to 0-3 in front.

Cian Doherty was on form for Carn and he split the posts again from 30m before Christy McDaid punched to the net to put Carndonagh 1-5  to 1-1 up on 21 minutes.

Naomh Colmcille were finding it difficult to get possession around the middle but a couple of frees from the boot of David McNamee kept them in touch.  Fergal Doherty fisted over from a tight angle before Anthony Doherty came forward from the half back line to score a magnificent left foot point to put the Carn men into a commanding position in the game with half time approaching.

On the stroke of half-time, Naomh Colmcille midfielder Jacob McDaid collected the ball in the middle of the field and drove forward unchallenged to tap over from 20 metres to leave the visitors leading 1-8  to 1-3 at the break.

The home team started the second half brightly and Tiernan Brown scored a brilliant free from the ground from the 45m line to cut the deficit. Carndonagh then got three points in succession from Cian Doherty, Anthony Doherty and James Monagle to leave them in a comfortable position again.

A magnificent double save from Carndonagh keeper Kyle Harkin denied a certain goal for Naomh Colmcille and to their credit they kept their spirits high and hit back immediately with a point from a David James free and then a long Hugh O’Donnell ball down the line was collected by Paul Friel who squared for the incoming Shane Monaghan to finish to the net to peg the Carn men back to four  points with 15 minutes to play. With the game in the balance the Newtown lads registered a couple of bad wides and failed to capitalise and Carndonagh stabilised again. 

Substitute Donal Doherty had an immediate impact hitting two points before Cian Burke scored another to increase the Carndonagh lead and they never looked back. Naomh Colmcille’s David James completed the scoring with a brilliant right footed effort from a side-line ball at the death.  

Naomh Colmcille scorers: Shane Monaghan 2-0; David McNamee 0-4; Jacob McDaid and Tiernan Browne 0-1 each.
Carndonagh scorers: Christy McDaid 1-1; Cian Doherty, Cian Burke, Donal Doherty 0-3 each; Anthony Doherty, Fergal Doherty 0-2 each; James Monagle 0-1

Naomh Colmcille: Eddie Gillespie; Jason Fitzpatrick, Alex Devenney, Mark Friel; Ciaran Kennedy, Michael Friel, Hugh O’Donnell; PJ McBrearty, Jacob McDaid; Martin Devenney, Paul Friel, Reece Duncan; David McNamee, Shane Monaghan, Tiernan Browne. Subs: Kevin Gallagher for M Devenney; Adam Callaghan for Duncan.
Carndonagh: Kyle Harkin; Conor Doherty, Padraig Doherty, Darragh Browne; Cormac Monagle, Danny Monagle, Anthony Doherty; James Monagle, William Quinn; Eoghan O’Ceallaigh, Conor Fagan, Cian Doherty; Cian Burke, Christy McDaid, Fergal Doherty. Sub: Donal Doherty.