Realt na Mara secured two valuable league points in their quest to avoid relegation from the top flight with a vital win over Glenswilly in sun drenched Gaelic Park.
Realt na Mara 1 – 14
Glenswilly 1 – 11
Both teams lined out with their county contingent and it was Realt’s Jamie Brennan who would steal the show with a brilliant personal display finishing with a 1-5 tally.
The home side led by four points after three minutes with Brennan hitting both scores – the second a goal to make it 1-1 to 0-0 – after a poor kick out from Glenswilly net minder Philip O’Donnell after only two mins.
Leon Kelly opened the scoring for the visitors but Christy Keaney replied almost immediately. Three points on the trot for the Foxhall men from Joe Gibbons Cathal Gallagher and a Copper Mc Fadden free left one in it on 20 minutes.
Jamie Brennan and a Gary Clancy free extended the home side’s lead before a monster free saw Micheal Murphy get off the mark for the day. Another McFadden free was cancelled out by Tommy Hourihane to leave the halftime score Realt na Mara 1-5 Glenswilly 0-6
The second half began with Mc Fadden splitting the posts before an excellent Bundoran move resulted in a Diarmuid Spratt point.
Referee Seamus McGonigle was a busy man as he had also refereed the earlier reserve fixture and his old style of trying to let the play flow certainly added to the excitement of this encounter.
A full 10 minutes passed without a score but during this period Bundoran lost their influential defender James Keaney to injury. Bundoran then hit something of a purple patch with Spratt, Clancy and Brennan all finding the range. A fine effort from Keelan McFadden was almost immediately cancelled out by Brennan after a surging run from his namesake Paul.
Indeed it was these constant runs from Brennan that would lay the foundations for this home victory. Then with eight minutes remaining and his side five points adrift Michael Murphy produced a real moment of magic when he flicked on the kick out and then gathered possession and proceeded to run just less than half the field to crash an unstoppable shot past Ashley Mulhern in the Bundoran nets.
The Donegal captain then converted a free to leave a single point between the sides. But to their credit Bundoran didn’t panic and his fellow county man Jamie Brennan – JB as he is affectionately known as by the Seasiders – hit a marvellous point from play to put two between the sides again with just five minutes remaining.
Another free from Copper was cancelled out by an excellent long range effort from Clancy. Then as the game entered injury time Ciaran Gibbons hit the Glenswilly men’s final point but it was to be the home teams day as they closed out the match with two frees from Hourihane and Clancy to secure a well deserved victory and keep their survival hopes alive.
Realt na Mara: Ashley Mulhern; Paul Murphy, Peter McGonigle, Diarmuid McCaughey; Paul Brennan, Shane McGowan, James Keaney; Gary Clancy (0-4, 3f) Ciaran McCaughey; Timmy Govorov, Tommy Hourihane (0-2, 2f) Diarmuid Spratt (0-2); Christy Keaney (0-1), Cian McEniff, Jamie Brennan (1-5). Subs Alan Russell for T Govorov, Niall Dunne for J Keaney.
Glenswilly: Philip O’Donnell; Cormac Callaghan, Eamon Ward, Ruairi Crawford; Oisin Crawford, Ryan Diver, Joe Gibbons (0-1); Caolan Kelly, Leon Kelly (0-1); Ciaran Bonner, Gary McFadden (0-2, 2f), Cathal Gallagher (0-1); Brian Farrelly, Michael Murphy (1-2) Keelan McFadden (0-1). Subs: Ciaran Gibbons (0-1) for Ciaran Bonner, Caoimhin Marley for Brian Farrelly, Mark McAteer for Cormac Callaghan.
Referee: Seamus Mc Gonigle Aodh Ruadh
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