Carndonagh are celebrating a third Donegal Junior Championship success this week following Sunday's victory over Robert Emmett's on Sunday afternoon in MacCumhaill Park.
The men from Inishowen, who are joint leaders of Division 3 along with Sunday's opponents, proved to be the better side on the day and were in no way at all flattered by their five point winning margin. They led by a point, 0-4 to 0-3, at the end of a low scoring and at times poor quality first half.
It was in the second period that Kieran Canny's side turned on the style and led by the towering Gerard Doherty at midfield they showed Robert Emmett's a clean pair of heels to run out convincing winners. Doherty, along with Cathal Doherty, Ryan Davenport, Patrick Nelson, Darren Burke, Darragh McLaughlin and Dominic Doherty all raised their games immeasurably on the opening 30 minutes to see their side through against a Robert Emmett's side that never really got going on the day.
Except for the opening minutes Emmett's looked but a pale shadow of the team that defeated Naomh Padraig in the semi-final. While their cause was not helped late on when they were reduced to 13 men following the sendings off of Dominic McGlinchey and Paul Harvey - both for second yellow card offences. But in truth the Dr. McCluskey Cup was already contemplating the road north.
Carndonagh led by four points, 0-9 to 0-5 when McGlinchey got his marching orders with just over ten minutes remaining and they had extended their advantage out to six, 0-11 to 0-5, when Harvey was sent for an early shower close to the hour mark.
The warning signs were evident for Emmett's even in the opening minutes. Despite enjoying the greater share in the possession stakes in the opening quarter they were 0-3 to 0-1 down.
Emmett White had the game's opening score inside a minute for Emmet's. Carndonagh were a little slower out of the blocks and did not register their first white flag for a further six minutes when Robert McCartney got them off the mark. A further two points from Darren Burke and Cathal O'Kane saw the men in red and green open up a two point advantage.
And while Michael Lafferty and Jonathan McLaughlin responded with pointed frees, Darren Burke ensured that his team took a one point lead to the dressing room with them at the interval.
Three points in nine minutes on the resumption, two from man of the match Gerard Doherty, and one from scorer-in-chief Burke, saw Carndonagh open up a five point lead. Doherty raced through the defence after a good fetch in the middle of the field by Ciaran Browne to fist over the bar within a minute of the restart, and one minute later he landed from long range after rising highest to pluck from the skies.
While Emmett White, with his second after a neat interpassing movement with Niall McConnell and Lafferty from a free after second half substitute McConnell was fouled, reduced the margin to two, 0-7 to 0-5, that was as close as Emmett's got.
With Gerard Doherty lording around the middle and Cathal Doherty and Ryan Davenport driving forward Carn hit four points in the space of ten minutes to finally seal the deal. Dominic Doherty, who replaced the injured Cathal O'Kane in the first half, made it a three-point game again at the end of the third quarter.
And with the Emmet's goals under siege Burke added to the Finn Valley side's woes with three pointed frees to open up a six point advantage once again with just under ten minutes remaining.
The game as a contest fizzled out in the closing ten minutes and while Carn failed to score again Emmett's - reduced in numbers - failed to make any impression and Brian Harvey's point two minutes into injury time brought down the curtain on the scoring.
The presentation was held up for a few minutes as Robert Emmett's midfielder Dean McBrearty received treatment on the park before being taken away by ambulance suffering from a neck injury picked up in the closing seconds.
Thankfully, Dean was not seriously injured and was released from Letterkenny Hospital on Sunday night suffering from bruising to the neck and shoulder area.
Sunday's victory was Carndonagh's third in the junior championship with the previous two dating back over 50 years to 1950 and 1952.
Carndonagh: Martin Mooney; Michael Nelson, Michael McLaughlin, Ryan Davenport; Patrick Nelson, Cathal Doherty, Mark Canny; Gerard Doherty (0-2), Ciaran Browne; Darren Burke (0-6f), Cathal O'Kane (0-1), Ronan O'Connor; Garvan McGrenra, Darragh McLaughlin, Robert McCartney (0-1). Subs: Dominic Doherty (0-1) for C. O'Kane inj. Kevin McElhinney for R. O'Connor; Christy McLaughlin for R. McCartney.
Robert Emmets: Simon McMenamin; Rodney Stewart, Conor McConnell, Marcus Curran; Michael McGlinchey, Colm O'Doherty, Paul Harvey; Dean McBrearty, Dominic McGlinchey; Jonathan McLaughlin (0-1f), Simon McGlinchey, Emmett White (0-2); Michael Lafferty (0-2f), Brian Harvey (0-1), Marty McCrossan. Subs: Niall McConnell for S. McGlinchey; Paul McCauley for M. McCrossan.
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