It was a case of ‘two out of three ain’t bad’ for Monaghan teams in the weekend’s Ulster club action, with two from three winning in both men’s and ladies’ championships. Ballybay, minus the honeymooning Paul Finlay, fell to a six-point defeat against Kilcoo in the SFC at Clones on Sunday, but Doohamlet and Drumhowan both won. Doohamlet ran out deserving winners against Lacken of Cavan in a hard-hitting IFC match at Ballybay. Despite missing a penalty, conceding a goal from a penalty and having Ciarán McManus sent off, Doohamlet led by two points at half-time and they pushed on in the second half, with Ted Duffy kicking 0-5 to lead them to a four-point win, with Lacken having three players sent off in the final five minutes. Doohamlet will play Cookstown in the semi-finals. Drumhowan also booked their place in the Ulster semi-finals with a hard-earned one-point win over Downings in the JFC at St. Tiernach’s Park. Drumhowan trailed by four points at half-time, but the Donegal side had a man sent off and they only scored a point in the second half, allowing the 2008 Ulster junior champions to come back, spurred on by six points from Colm Lambe. Drumhowan will now meet An Port Mór from Blackwatertown (Armagh).
Donaghmoyne’s ladies retained their Ulster SFC title when they came from three points down at half-time to beat Donegal’s Termon by 1-12 to 2-6 in Sunday’s final, completing a unique double after their junior team defeated Armagh’s Silverbridge in the JFC decider on Saturday. There was no hat-trick of provincial trophies, however, as Magheracloone fell short in their IFC bid against Fermanagh’s Newtownbutler.
By michael Sun 4th Nov
