Bundoran made it two home wins in a row with a hard-fought victory over fellow promoted side Sean McCumhaills in ideal conditions this evening in Gaelic Park.
Bundoran 1-15 Sean MacCumhaills 1-10
by Noel Carr
MacCumhaills, who lined out minus their young star forward Oisin Gallen, were dogged throughout but they were always second best in this encounter.
The home side got off to the perfect start with Paul Brennan supplying the pass to his namesake Jamie to split the posts with only 20 seconds on the clock.
Ronan McMenamin levelled matters before full forward Darren O’Leary had the visitors in front after five minutes which was to be the only time that they lead in the contest.
Two further points from Brennan, with one better than the next, and a close in free stretched the lead out to two points on 15 minutes.
Both sides then endured a period of wastefulness before a Cian McEniff effort finally found the range.
A ruthless Bundoran move in the 20th minute had Alan Russell in one on one with Eoin Gallen but when he pulled the trigger it was the MacCumhaills netminder who saved brilliantly to deflect the shot over the bar.
Another Brennan free was soon followed by a fine effort from Timmy Govorov and the men in black and amber had hit their 7th score without reply.
A Stephen Mulligan free stemmed the flow, but the excellent Govorov returned fire almost immediately.
Both players then exchanged points for their respective sides although Govorov’s could have easily been a goal but he chose to blast over.
It was to be a productive finish to the first half for the Twin Towns men with Martin Gallagher finding the target and then Ronan McMenamin sending in a long ball for O Leary to get the slightest of touches to palm to Bundoran net.
The Bundoran defence – which had been well marshalled by veteran Shane McGowan ably assisted by young guns Brian McHenry, Oisin Walsh and Matty Duffy – couldn’t believe that they had let a six-point lead slip to two as the left the pitch at the break.
Half-time Bundoran 0-10 McCumhaills 1-05
Like in the first half, the home team had the scoreboard ticking again in the early seconds of the new half with Michael McEniff calmly finding the range.
Another Brennan point doubled the halftime lead before two Mulligan frees reduced the margin back to two.
MacCumhaills then lost Aaron Gilhooley to a black card and he was replaced by Jamie Keegan.
A great fetch from Ciaran McCaughey sent Michael McEniff on his way and he fisted over his second point of the half.
Then on 44 minutes Johnny Boyle won possession and fed Jamie Brennan who took off like a hare from the halfway line and finished superbly to the left hand corner of the net to put his side six in front.
Another Michael McEniff point looked like it had finished the contest but to their credit the men from through the Gap never gave up and hit the next three scores – two from the hard-working Gallagher and another from Mulligan.
Also during this period Bundoran goalie Conor Carty saved magnificently to a huge roar from the home support.
With the game entering stoppage time an off the ball incident saw referee Connie Doherty award the home side a close in free and Cian McEniff duly obliged.
Bundoran: Conor Carty; Matthew Duffy, Paul Murphy, Oisin Walsh; Shane McGowan, Peter McGonigle, Brian McHenry; Ciaran McCaughey, Gary Clancy; Paul Brennan, Alan Russell (0-1), Timmy Govorov (0-3); Michael McEniff (0-3), Jamie Brennan (1-6, 3f), Cian McEniff (0-1f). Sub: Johnny Boyle for McGonigle (half-time)
Sean MacCumhaills: Eoin Gallen; Aaron Gilhooley, Martin Gallagher (0-3), Conor Griffin; Luke Gavigan, Gary Dunnion, Martin O’Reilly; Steven O Reilly, Padhraic Patton; Gavin Gallagher, Stephen Mulligan (0-5, 3f), Gary Wilson; Chad McSorley. Darren O’Leary (1-1), Ronan McMenamin (0-1). Subs: Aaron Kelly for Griffin (half-time), Andrew McCloskey for McSorley (half-time), Adam Lynch for O’Leary (45), Jamie Keegan for Gilhooley (black card, 46), Joe Dunnion for S.O’Reilly (53), Rory Mulligan for G.Dunnion (black card, 62).
Referee: Connie Doherty (Naomh Conaill)
Tags: