Glenswilly off the mark with victory over Ardara in U-21B Championship

Glenswilly got their County U-21B Football Championship off to a winning start against Ardara on a murky afternoon at Pairc Naomh Columba.

Glenswilly 1-15
Ardara 0-9

Six unanswered points early on set Adrian Glackin’s side on their way, with Kealan Dunleavy scoring seven points from centre-field, Jack Gallagher posting three from half-back and Gary Kelly scoring the only goal of the match. Ardara’s best moments came from Karl Joseph Molloy and a couple of scores from Paul Walsh, although they were always chasing.

The competition this year is stretched so each side has three more group matches to play, with Glenswilly travelling to Cloughaneely and Aodh Ruadh, either side of a home outing against Naomh Muire. Ardara will be looking to get off the mark in a derby clash with Naomh Columba and have also St Naul’s and Glenfin to play in Group A.

Dunleavy set the tone for this side with a fifth minute point and by the quarter-hour he added his second, and his side’s sixth. In-between times Conor McGinty marked to point, while Gerard Shields, Kelly and Gallagher had also opened their accounts. With Glenswilly on the press, they were breached on 17 minutes, with Walsh breaking through before being grounded. 

The Ardara bench protested that the black card offence was committed by Glenswilly goalkeeper Caolan Curran 20 metres from goal, although Anthony McCallig, the match referee, sent full-back Jake Kelly to the bin for 10 minutes. At that stage, Ardara’s Matthew Sweeney was also taking 10 minutes having been penalised for a late challenge on Jack Gallagher.

Molloy’s free on 16 minutes was Ardara’s first of the day and by the break they were still six down, with Walsh also scoring from a placed ball and wing-back Eoghan Gallagher posting a fine score late in the half. At the other end, Luke Toye’s score came before two more Dunleavy points - one on the right a top class free from 45 metres before then showing he was more than capable on the left from play. Glenswilly were 0-9 to 0-3 up at half-time.

Glenswilly’s Emmet O’Boyle swivelled to score the first second half point and on 39 minutes, with the home side calling for a free, McGinty worked the ball from the advantage to Kelly who drove home to put his team into a healthy 1-10 to 0-3 lead.

Jack Gallagher would go on to score two more scores and Dunleavy three, with Molloy and Walsh, as well as substitutes Cian Sweeney and Conor Sweeney scoring for Ardara. A late Walsh free caused the Glenswilly defence a bit of a score as it dropped short, although attentive play from Jason Lapsley and Sean Gallagher meant that Curran’s sheet was kept clean.

Glenswilly scorers: Kealan Dunleavy 0-7, 3f, 45; Gary Kelly 1-1; Jack Gallagher 0-3; Conor McGinty 0-1, 1m; Gerard Shields, Luke Toye, Emmet O’Boyle 0-1 each.
Ardara scorers: Karl Joseph Molloy 0-4, 4f; Paul Walsh 0-2, 1f; Eoghan Gallagher, Cian Sweeney 0-1; Conor Sweeney 0-1, 1m.

Glenswilly: Caolan Curran; Sean Gallagher, Jake Kelly, Jason Lapsley; Oisin McDaid, Jack Gallagher, Patrick Gallagher; Kealan Dunleavy, Gerard Shields; Dáire Maguire, Gary Kelly, Luke Toye; Conor McGinty, Emmet O’Boyle, Sean Boyle. Subs: Sean Collum and Peadar Gallagher for Boyle and Maguire (44), Maguire for Patrick Gallagher (48), Boyle for McGinty (58).
Ardara: Matthew McGlynn; Proinsias Molloy, Shane Mooney, Fionn Gallagher; Kieran McNelis, Shane Whyte, Eoghan Gallagher; Matthew Sweeney, Paul Walsh; Conor Crossan, Karl Joseph Molloy, Michael Mulreany; Daniel McHugh, Liam McShane, Niall McHugh. Subs: Peter Bennett for F Gallagher (37), Conor Sweeney and Cian Sweeney for McShane and Crossan (41), Nathan Molloy and Adam Spence for E Gallagher and Mulreany (58).
Referee: Anthony McCallig (Naomh Ultan).