Urris overwhelmed by Fintona after promising start in Ulster Club championship clash
Donegal champions pay the price for second half collapse as Tyrone side march into semi-finals
Fintona Pearses (Tyrone) 3-16
Urris 1-5
Tyrone champions Fintona proved too strong for Urris in the Ulster Club Junior Football Championship on Sunday, running out comfortable winners at O’Neills Healy Park with a storming second half showing.
The Donegal title-holders got off to a promising start, but they were unable to build on the advantage given to them by Oisin Hession’s early goal.
Despite having the wind in their backs, the Inishowen side found scoring chances difficult to cultivate in the opening half, and at the break they found themselves trailing by two points.
Urris had garnered a high percentage off the Fintona kick-outs in the first half, thanks to the efforts of Lorcan McGonigle, Oisin Devlin and Joe Doherty, but after the restart, it was the Red Hand men who took control of the central region.
They out-scored their visitors from the north-west by 3-10 to 0-1 in that second period, and a frustrating afternoon ended in a heavy defeat and an early exit from the provincial series.
Fintona took an early lead through Diarmuid Martin, but in the third minute, the Urris men struck for a goal.
Pearse McCarron drifted deep to send in a long ball, which goalkeeper Oisin Watson could only parry against the crossbar, and Oisin Hession nipped in to finish to the net from close range.
Carolan Donnelly was a constant threat with his piercing runs through the heart of the Urris defence, and he collected Conor McGillion’s pass to split the posts, but Sean Paul Doherty’s side were winning all the Fintona kick-outs, and pressed with purpose for midfielder Lorcan McGonigle to send over a point.
The Tyrone men struck for a tenth minute goal, a sweeping move ending with Aaron McCarney sending Donnelly away to finish low past Sam Coyle.
And when Eugene Colton forced a turnover, McCarney was again the provider for wing back Donnelly to add to his tally.
Fintona came close to grabbing a second goal when McGillion sent his shot crashing against the butt of a post from Donnelly’s assist, and rather than find themselves five points ahead, they were hauled back to level terms by a Joe Doherty two-pointer, tying it up at 1-3 each at the end of the opening quarter.
Doherty controlled play between the ’45 and halfway for a spell, but was unable to find the openings to create genuine scoring chances, although Pearse McCarron did split the posts from recycled possession, after the Fintona defence failed to deal with a high ball into the goalmouth.
But late in the half, the home side took a lead they were never to lose, Aaron McCarney, Conor McGillion and Donnelly all hitting the target for a 1-6 to 1-4 interval lead.
With the wind in their backs in the second half, Fintona established almost total control, and from the throw-in to the finish, they outscored Inishowen side by 3-10 to a single point.
Peter McGlinn and Cormac Watson dominated the battle for possession in the middle third, while flying wing backs Donnelly and Jared Brogan made repeated raids along the flanks, stretching the Urris cover.
Aaron Morris and John McCarron did all they could to stem the tide, but the scores started to stack up, with Peter Colton and Oran Hughes on target early on.
Joe Doherty’s 37th minute free proved to be the visitors’ only score of the second half, and from there to the finish they were putting out fires while attempting to muster a response of their own.
Thriving off turnovers, Fintona mounted attack after attack, with teenager Colton, darting through for his second score, before wing back Brogan fired over two brilliant scores, one of them a two-pointer.
That gave the Pearses a 1-12 to 1-5 lead going into the final quarter, and while Lorcan McGonigle and Doherty did all they could to spark an Urris revival, there was no indication that it was going to happen.
Too often the final pass went astray, and when they sent Edward Kelly in as target man, Fintona had the answer in the form of impressive full back Padraig Goodman.
Substitute Pauric Kelly got his name on the score-sheet, one of nine men in green to do so, and another break from deep saw Conor McGoldrick and Cathal Starrs combine to send veteran McCarney in to score.
Time and again, the Donegal champions saw attacks break down, and with men committed forward, they were caught by pacey counter-attacks which led to scores from Eugene Colton and McGillion.
The outcome had long since been determined by the time Fintona hammered the final nail in the form of a third goal.
McGillion spotted the run of Brogan, who picked his spot in the bottom corner of the net for a clinical finish with the last kick of the game in stoppage time.
Fintona scorers: Caolan Donnelly, Jared Brogan (one 2 pt) 1-3 each, Conor McGillion 1-2, Peter Colton, Aaron McCarney (1 free) 0-2 each, Diarmuid Martin, Oran Hughes, Eugene Colton, Pauric Kelly 0-1 each.
Urris scorers: Oisin Hession 1-0, Joe Doherty 0-3 (1 free, one 2 pt), Lorcan McGonigle, Pearse McCarron 0-1 each.
Fintona: Oisin Watson; Liam Grifiths, Padraig Goodman, Marius Monaghan; Caolan Donnelly, Niall Murray, Jared Brogan; Peter McGlinn, Cormac Watson, Eugene Colton, Oran Hughes, Diarmuid Martin; Conor McGillion, Peter Colton, Aaron McCarney. Subs: Conor McGoldrick for C Watson, Pauric Kelly for Martin, Cathal Starrs for P Colton, Eoin Garrity for Donnelly, Eoghan Hegarty for McGlinn.
Urris: Sam Coyle; Cormac Dillon, Aaron Morris, Kieran Doherty; Brendan Doherty, Lee McLaughlin, Matthew Brennan; Oisin Devlin, Lorcan McGonigle; Oisin Hession, Joe Doherty, Patrick Doherty; Luke Doherty, Pearse McCarron, John McCarron. Subs: Michael Grant for McLaughlin, Tiernan McDonald for McCarron, Edward Kelly for Hession, Gavin McDaid for B Doherty, Alan Friel for McGonigle.
Referee: Cianan Canney (Derry).