Down GAA SFC Match Report
Carryduff 1-9 Clonduff 4-11
Clonduff dominated much of the fixture on Monday night against a depleted Carryduff side in Pairc Esler, Newry. Carryduff had a number of notable absentees including Daniel Coogan, Joe McFlynn, Seamus McCann, Donal McKeever and Conor McCullagh, with John McGeough and James Guinness only returning to the fold during the last fortnight due to long-term injuries. Clonduff’s Packie O’Hagan was also unavailable due to a knee injury.
Clonduff got off to a flying start when Barry O’Hagan caught the Carryduff defence sleeping, putting the ball in the back of the net after just 9 seconds. Carryduff replied with 2 quickfire points from Ronan Beatty before Stephen McConville, Tom Close and Paudie Clancy extended Clonduff’s lead to 4 points. Ronan Beatty and James Guinness’ points for Carryduff were cancelled out by further scores from Clonduff’s Barry O’Hagan and Aidan Carr. Michael McGrath then scored from range for Carryduff, although Carryduff will feel that Lorcan Branagan of Clonduff should have seen red for a punch on Daniel Guinness off-the-ball in the build-up to the score. Confirmed as a punch by the linesman, it was strange to see Brendan Rice only give the corner-back a yellow card for the incident.
After the water break, Carryduff improved defensively, but it was the final third in which they now struggled to be effective. Multiple turnovers resulted in a Clonduff score from free-taker Stephen McConville. Johnny Henry pointed from a well-worked move by Carryduff with John McGeough scoring a 45’ shortly after to close the gap to 2 points. It didn’t last too long though as Clonduff caught Carryduff off-guard again, this time from the kickout. Starting with 12 men inside their own 45’, several yellow jerseys made decoy runs as goalkeeper Neil Trainor drove the ball past the halfway line for an uncontested catch by Darren O’Hagan. The ball then found its way into the back of the Carryduff net for a second time, this time from the boot of Clonduff youngster Paudie Clancy.
Clonduff started the second half at pace with a Ross Carr point from distance before Aidan Carr capitalised on a poor Carryduff kickout with a further point. Paudie Clancy then lobbed Mark Hynes for a goal after another defensive error by the men in purple. The fortune didn’t get much better for Carryduff after that as Stephen McConville increased Clonduff’s lead to 13 points with a goal to rub salt into the wounds of the Carryduff men.
Barry O’Hagan made it a 14-point lead after the second water break but Ronan Beatty reduced this to 13 shortly after with a 14-yard free. A foul on Carryduff’s John Kelly by Clonduff’s Charlie Carr resulted in a penalty which was coolly dispatched into the bottom corner by Neill McGowan. Stephen McConville of Clonduff then scored his 3rd free of the night, which was subsequently cancelled out by Neill McGowan’s point from just inside the 45’. Paudie Clancy got the last score of the night to bring Clonduff’s lead back to 11 points.
Carryduff will seek redemption in Round 2 of the Down SFC when they face RGU Downpatrick in the qualifier group whilst Clonduff will be hopeful of a second straight victory against Bryansford in the winner’s group.
CARRYDUFF: Mark Hynes, Gary Morris, Conor Cassidy, Paddy McConnell, John McGeough (0-1 frees), Neill McGowan (0-1) (1-0 penalty), Daniel Guinness, Josh Connery (c), Johnny Henry (0-1), James Guinness (0-1 frees), Gareth Henderson, Owen McCabe, Rory Anderson, Ronan Beatty (0-3) (0-1 frees), Michael McGrath (0-1).
Subs: Tommy Connery, Caolan Tierney, Shea Reilly, John Kelly, Aidan O’Brien, Eamon Swail, Caolan Cunningham, Lorcan Toal, Ruairi Boyle, Joe Tunney, Niall Tunney.
Management: DJ Morgan, Paddy Doherty, Danny McConnell, Shane O’Neill, Cathal Murray, Mark Donnelly.
CLONDUFF: Neil Trainor, Lorcan Branagan, Mark McPolin, Ruairi Lively, Shane McGreevy, Darren O’Hagan (c), Paddy Branagan, Tom Close (0-1), Ross Carr (0-1), Charlie Carr, Aidan Carr (0-2), Paul Lively, Stephen McConville (1-0) (0-3 frees), Paudie Clancy (2-2), Barry O’Hagan (1-2).
Subs: Paul Gribben, Conor Murray, Jamie Gribben, Eamon Brown, Karl O’Hagan, Niall Tumilty, Patrick O’Hagan, John Boden, Aaron Devlin, Niall O’Hare, Finbarr McConville, Padraig Wilson.
Management: Adrian O’Donnell, Mark Harte, Jamie Fegan.
REFEREE: Brendan Rice (Cumann Pheadair Nao
