Senior County Championship, First Round, Play-Off

Senior County Championship, First Round, Play-Off

Second half surge sees Ardara through

Ardara 2-10

Cloughaneely 0-07

By Frank Craig

Ardara had it a lot easier than expected in Letterkenny on Saturday night when they finally shook Cloughaneely in this first round play-off.

Ardara started the brightest but it was Cloughaneely's Sean McBride that had the first effort on goal, but his strike drifted harmlessly wide.

Martin Shovlin then gave Ardara the lead on three minutes with a fine score. They could have doubled that advantage soon after but Stephen McHugh's strike from the free was off cue. They did claim that two-point advantage on five minutes when Jimmy O'Connell split the posts with an excellent score from distance after others had passed up on the opportunity.

Cloughaneely eventually got off the mark on eight minutes when Denis Boyle found his range with a 30m free. And the Falcarragh side drew level when Sean McBride doubled his side's tally a minute later to leave it 0-2 apiece on eight minutes.

Stephen Gildea drilled Ardara back into the lead on thirteen minutes when he was successful from his first placed ball left-of-centre.

The stylish Shaun McGarvey then levelled matters up once more with a nice cut from the right and Cloughaneely claimed the lead for the first and only time in the contest when Sean McBride angled over after getting around Eamon Doherty.

In front of an interested and watching Kilcar contingent, Ardara twice squandered chances to claim parity when Peter McNelis and Kevin Herron fluffed their lines in front of the sticks. However, they did finally get back on par when Marty Shovlin smartly spotted Kevin Herron's ghost into the centre to leave both sides locked on four points, three minutes from the break.

Patrick 'Larry' Gallagher's men once again edged ahead when quick thinking from Paddy McGrath sent Peter McNelis clear on the run and his accurate pass into the middle for Shovlin allowed the inside forward to fire over uninterrupted.

The same player then claimed his third of the afternoon to give his side a little more breathing space going in at half-time as the 04' winners of the Dr Maguire exited on the right side of a 0-6 to 0-4 advantage.

Half-time: Ardra 0-6, Cloughaneely 0-4.

Ardara were quickest out of the blocks after the restart as Martin Shovlin increased the deficit out to four and things got even better for Gallagher's men when Peter McNelis was dragged to the ground inside the square for a penalty three minutes into the second half.

Stephen Gildea superbly dispatched the spot-kick to stretch his side's cushion out to six points. Brian Cuffe reduced arrears back to five a minute later but Joe McGarvey's men remained second best all over the field as Ardara continued to impressively turn the screw.

And they more-or-less sealed the deal on forty minutes as Shovlin, O'Connell and McHugh combined to allow the latter to fire past the Cloughaneely 'keeper for his side's second green flag of the contest. Ardara, now operating with a comfortable swagger, cantered out to an eight-point lead as the crafty Gildea fired over to leave his side on the comfortable side of a 2-8 to 0-6 scoreline, just shy of the three-quarter hour mark.

Declan Gallagher then had to react quickly to palm over Brian Cuffe's effort on goal – a score that Cloughaneely really needed to go under the bar if they were to rescue anything from this one.

Kevin Breslin then got light-headed and ventured all the way into the Cloughaneely '14 but he couldn't put the finishing touches on the fine gallop and his effort was well stopped by the Cloughaneely 'keeper.

That was the last action to a one-sided affair, which now sees Ardara advance to the first round proper where they'll face Kilcar for a place in the last four.

Cloughaneely: Michael McGinley; Joe Gallagher: Paddy McClafferty: Kevin Doohan; Ciaran Scanlon: Kevin Mulhern; Eugene Maguire: Joe Friel: Michael McCausland; Shaun McGarvey (0-1): Denis Boyle (0-2,1f): Brian Cuffee (0-2); Darren McGeever: Sean Maguire: Sean McBride (0-2).

Subs: Paul Sweeney for McGarvey, Ciaran McFadden for Causland.

Ardara: Declan Gallagher; Eamon Doherty: Declan Gavigan: Kevin Breslin; Paddy McGrath: Kenneth Doherty: Mathew Maher; Kevin Byrne: Jimmy O'Connell (0-1); Peter McNelis (0-1): Stephen McHugh (1-0): Kevin Herron (0-2); Stephen Gildea (1-2,1P,1F): Peter McHugh: Martin Shovlin (0-3).

Subs: Kieran Breslin for Herron, Brendan McNelis for P McHugh, Stephen Boyle for K Byrne, Noel Gallagher for S Gildea, Oisin O'Donnell for M Maher.

Referee: Shaun McLaughlin (Malin).