Aodh Ruadh cut loose to put in impressive display to defeat St Nauls

Aodh Ruadh threw off the defensive shackles to prove much too strong for St Nauls in the third round game in the Michael Murphy Sports SFC in Ballyshannon.

Aodh Ruadh 3-17
St Nauls 1-10

The winners had just three points to spare at the break but the margin did not reflect the superiority of the home side.

The Ballyshannon men cut loose in the second half, hitting 3-9, 3-6 of that total from play. Overall, they had nine different scorers in an impressive display.

Aodh Ruadh started brightly and had three points on the board inside six minutes. It was refreshing with plenty of players on the attack.

Diarmaid McInerney had the opening score on two minutes from a free. Nathan Boyle was well wide from a mark before David Dolan and Shane McGrath added to their lead.

But amazingly on 11 minutes, despite being hardly in the contest, St Nauls were back on terms when Stephen  Griffin was allowed an advantage and he went forward to fire low to the corner of Peter Boyle's net. There seemed to be a whistle from Jimmy White for a free but he allowed the advantage.

The Aodh Ruadh response was impressive firing the next five points to go 0-8 to 1-0 ahead. The points came from Michael McKenna, Diarmaid McInerney (free), Matt Gillespie, Nathan Boyle (45) and David Dolan.

Two of the points should really have been goals as Matt Gillespie somehow managed to palm a ball over the crossbar from a foot from the line after Nathan Boyle had fielded a long delivery and crossed the ball.

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On a perfect evening for football with no wind, Killian Faulkner was on fire for the home side up front while Ryan Haughey made a massive double save near the end to decide the issue

Then Mark McGlynn did really well to win a dirty ball and set up Eamonn McGrath, who went for goal but his effort was deflected for a '45'.

St Naul's got some respite in the final five minutes and they added two points to their tally, a free from near the sideline by Peadar Mogan and a good score from John Rose.

Half-time: Aodh Ruadh 0-8,  St  Nauls 1-2

The second half was a much more open affair with Diarmaid McInerney pointing two frees inside five minutes. Stuart Johnston responded with two good scores but the game took another big turn on seven minutes when Darren Drummond burst through to blast to the net for a 1-10 to 1-4 lead.

David Dolan and Stephen Griffin traded frees but any chance St Nauls had of a comeback were put to bed on 42 minutes when David Dolan fired home a second Aodh Ruadh goal. Philip Patton, Nathan Boyle (free) and Diarmaid McInerney added to their total before Peadar Mogan (2) and Cathal Lowther replied for St Nauls.

David Dolan embroidered a first class display with his second and Aodh Ruadh's third goal and they added points from Philip Patton and Kyle Murray while Ian Campbell and Shane Griffin (free) had the final St Nauls points.

Aodh Ruadh scorers: David Dolan 2-3,1f; Diarmaid McInerney 0-5,4f; Darren Drummond 1-0; Philip Patton, Shane McGrath, Nathan Boyle, '45',f, 0-2 each; Kyle Murray, Michael McKenna, Matt Gillespie 0-1 each.

St Nauls scorers: Stephen Griffin 1-2,2f; Peadar Mogan 0-3,1f; Stuart Johnston 0-2; John Rose, Cathal Lowther, Ian Campbell 0-1 each.

AODH RUADH: Peter Boyle; Mark  McGlynn, Conor Patton, Kyle Murray; Michael McKenna, Colm Kelly, Niall Murray; Darren Drummond, Eamonn McGrath; Diarmaid McInerney, David Dolan, Shane McGrath; Eddie Lynch, Matt Gillespie, Nathan Boyle. Subs: Philip Patton for Gillespie )ht); Johnny Gallagher for D Drummond (48); Calum O'Halloran for McKenna (54).

ST NAUL'S: Cathal Charlton; Conor McBrearty, Brendan McCole, Diarmuid Gallagher; John Rose, Ian Campbell, Cathal Lowther; Stephen Griffin, Barry Griffin; Martin Breslin, Stuart Johnston, Kyle Campbell; Shane Conneely, Peadar Mogan, Joe Campbell. Subs: Barry Burke and Caolan Gaffney for K Campbell and J Campbell (43); Declan Duignan for M Breslin (50); Barry Rose for Conneely (52).

REFEREE: Jimmy White (Killybegs)