Provincial joy for Carndonagh Community School at Celtic Park

Carndonagh Community School’s U16½ team won the Arthurs Cup final at Celtic Park on Thursday afternoon.

A goal from Billy Hume and two from Danny Óg Cooney put the Carn school in the driving seat and they led by 3-3 to 0-5 at half time.

The heavy ground took a toll as the game wore on and with both teams tiring there were fewer scoring opportunities in the second half.  Carn remained comfortably on top, however. 

The powerful pairing of Joe Doherty and Sonny Bonner retained their grip at centrefield, the defence kept the St Conor’s attack at bay denying them a sniff at goal, and in attack they chipped over points through Cooney, Mark McLaughlin, team captain Joe Doherty and Pierce McConalogue to maintain a comfortable lead throughout.

Both teams were reduced to 14 men before the end, referee Cianan McCanny issuing red cards to St Conor’s Conor O’Neill and Carn’s Pierce McConalogue in separate incidents, but those late dismissals had no impact on the outcome.

It’s just the second provincial schools football title that Carn Community School has won, but it is the hallmark of a very special squad that can build on this achievement in senior schools competition in the years ahead.

An impeccable minute’s silence was observed before throw-in as the Carndonagh Community School team remembered their former classmate, Tiernan Kelly, who lost his life in a road traffic collision earlier this month.

Carn couldn’t have asked for a better start with a goal and a point in the opening seven minutes. 

Midfielder Joe Doherty landed an early free inside the opening two minutes, and better was to come when Billy Hume snaffled up a loose ball that dropped short in the parallelogram and pounced to hit the Community School’s first goal.

The Derry school hit back, first when Tom Duffin’s 45 was turned over the crossbar by keeper Josh Walsh, and then when Adam McCutcheon fired over shortly after.

Carndonagh were making great use of the long ball into the full forward line where the tall figure of Danny Óg Cooney had the Kilrea defence at sixes and sevens.

Billy Hume and Ciaran Collins were twice denied by saves from St Conor’s Niall Quinn.

Carn captain Joe Doherty scored a wonderful long range point on the quarter hour, with St Conor’s full forward Shea McFerran holding off marker Niall O’Donnell and hitting a point in response.

Carn continued to threaten goals, with Hume fisting an opportunity wide and other corner forward Shay McGeoghegan seeing a goal chance saved by Quinn. 

Frank McAleese kept St Conor’s in touch when he pointed after a swift counterattack but the Derry school’s net, which had led a charmed life, was rattled twice before half time and no one could deny Carn deserved it.

Cooney’s first goal came on 22 minutes. With his back to goal, he got his fist to a long ball in from Mark McLaughlin to steer it between Quinn’s legs and into the net for a 2-3 to 0-5 lead.

St Conor’s were stung, but still showed their quality with centre back Conor O’Neill battling hard and the inside men Shea McFerran (their best performer overall) and Rory O’Kane dangerous in attack.

McFerran was through on the Carn Community School goal in the last sequence of first half play, but slipped and fell to the ground on the greasy surface. It was a fortuitous break for Carn and they made the most of it. 

The ball was scooped up by a yellow shirt in defence and worked forward through the hands of Joe Doherty and Mark McLaughlin, with the latter setting up Cooney and the Urris man blasted the ball to the roof of the net to give the Community School a 3-3 to 0-5 half time lead. 

The Community School faced into a breeze blowing from the city end in the second half, and were content to defend their lead while using long-range kick passing to feed the full forward line of Hume, Cooney and McGeoghegan. 

Unsurprisingly, it was Cooney who opened Carn’s second half account five minutes in when he swung over a point from out on the right.

Passing rain showers had made the surface slick, and players from both sides struggled to keep their feet as the half progressed and fatigue set in.

Neither side troubled the scorekeepers against until the 47th minute when Frank McAleese pointed a close range free, but Carn responded impressively with Mark McLaughlin and Danny Óg Cooney hitting a point apiece, the latter’s a particularly good effort after a sharp swivel threw off the defender and bought time and space to get his shot off.

By the time Joe Doherty converted a 52nd minute free, Carn’s lead was out to ten points and the game was breaking down across the field.

St Conor’s full back Patrick McCloskey was red carded by the referee for something he said, and while the Derry school pointed through Tom Duffin in the 55th minute, Carn weren’t letting up and centre half back Pierce McConalogue used all his strength to charge up field and break through tackles to land a fine individual point.

McConalogue was red carded just before the end as tempers became a little frayed, but the last word went to Community School captain Joe Doherty who chipped over a close range free close to the end and before he climbed the steps of the Celtic Park stand to collect the Gerry Arthurs Cup from Ulster Schools’ GAA representative Sean Bradley. 

Carndonagh CS scorers: Pierce McConalogue 0-1; Joe Doherty 0-3, 2f; Mark McLaughlin 0-1; Conor McColgan 0-1; Danny Óg Cooney 2-3. 

St Conor’s scorers: Tom Duffin 0-2, Adam McCutcheon 0-1, Frank McAleese 0-3, 1f, Shea McFerran 0-1.

Carndonagh Community School: Josh Walsh (Carn); Ronan McLaughlin  (Carn), Tiernan Diver (Carn), Niall O’Donnell (Urris); Hugh McGinn (Carn), Pierce McConalogue (Carn), Donnacha O’Callaghan (Carn); Joe Doherty (Urris, Sonny Bonner (Malin); Mark McLaughlin, Ciaran Collins (Malin), Conor McColgan (Malin); Billy Hume (Malin), Danny Óg Cooney (Urris), Shay McGeoghegan (Malin). 

Subs: Tiernan McGeoghegan (Malin) for C Collins (35 mins); Michael Borden (Urris) for M McLaughlin (55 mins). Rory McCandless (Carndonagh); Jayden Gillespie (Urris), Adam Doherty (Urris), Conor McNally (Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin), Jack Mills (Malin), Caine Friel (Urris), Shay Hegarty (Carndonagh), Ethan Donaghey (Carndonagh). 

St Conor’s College (Clady/Kilrea): Niall Quinn (Moneyglass); Phelim O’Kane (Swatragh), Patrick McCloskey (Kilrea), Thomas Douthart (Portglenone); Shea Kelly (Greenlough), Conor O’Neill (Lavey), Finn O’Neill (Greenlough); Tom Duffin (Portglenone), Padhraic Leadon (Glenullin); Adam McCutcheon (Bellaghy), Frank McAleese (Portglenone), Paul McMullan (Rasharkin); Rory O’Kane (Portglenone), Shea McFerran (Rasharkin), Fiachra McGill (Kilrea). 

Subs used: Cathan O’Neill (Greenlough) for P McMullan (37 mins); Tristan McKenna (Greenlough) for S Kelly (57 mins.

Referee: Cianan McCanny (Na Magha)