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Buncrana celebrates the ‘Ryan’
game
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Buncrana...2 (O’Loughlin, Curran) St. Mary’s...0 by Liam Porter at the Illies WHEN midfielder Ryan Curran cracked home a fantastic shot from just inside the box to wrap up the U14 cup final for Buncrana, it put the cap on a magnificent performance for the youngster who stole the show with a marvellous display, particularly in the second half. Curran who linked up extremely well with the capable Darragh O’Connor throughout the game, may not be the biggest of players, but he has a big appetite for the game and not alone did he win several crunching tackles, he used the ball extremely well on almost every occasion it came to his feet. His goal in the 50th minute knocked the stuffing out of a gallant St. Mary’s side who will look back at opportunities in the first half that, had they taken them, may well have changed the course of the game. |
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But whatever chances the
young Clonmany lads did carve out in the first half were
more or less their lot and in the second half they had
to be content with trying to keep a rampant Buncrana at
bay while breaking forward on the odd occasion to create
a half chance. It wasn’t at all like that in the first half and St. Mary’s had the first shot inside the opening minute when Aaron Friel robbed defender Robbie Fullerton but didn’t get enough power behind his shot to trouble Conor O’Donnell in the Buncrana goal. Buncrana then hit back in the 4th minute and looked set to score when Peter McLaughlin raced on to a long ball and nicked it past the St. Mary’s keeper Kevin McLaughlin, only to see Dean Kelly get back to clear the danger. But St. Mary’s matched Buncrana stride for stride in the early stages and Oisin Doherty raced on to a pass in |
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the 5th minute and reached
the ball before O’Donnell but again the ball was cleared
before it reached the net. Danny Devlin then fired over for St. Mary’s in the 11th minute when a long throw caused confusion in the Buncrana box. Darren and Jamie Coyle were linking well for St. Mary’s in the opening stages and Jamie Coyle almost sent Devlin away in the 16th minute only to see his progress halted by a magnificent tackle from Curran. O’Donnell then saved well from Aaron Friel in the 18th minute and a fabulous challenge from Robbie Fullerton denied Devlin in the 22nd minute as he was about to pull the trigger. A minute later the course of the game was to change when a long free from James Wallace found Kevin O’Loughlin and he turned to fire into the bottom corner of the net. The goal settled Buncrana who began to get the ball down and they almost found a way through in the 27th minute with some excellent approach play that finished with a strike from Oisin Doherty that was just off target. The second half was all Buncrana and Ryan Curran signalled their intentions with a well struck shot in the 40th minute that McLaughlin saved. Aaron Friel replied with a good shot in the 44th minute that flew wide of the post, but that was the best St. Mary’s could muster in terms of a clear cut chance in the second half. In contrast Buncrana, for whom Mark Timlin was coming more and more into the game on the left hand side, pressed on time and again. Curran showed some great skill to dance around two tackles and make room for a shot in the 45th minute and then O’Loughlin fired wide with an excellent shot three minutes later. The pressure was mounting and St. Mary’s finally cracked in the 50th minute when Timlin’s deep cross was retrieved at the back post by Friel and while he was dispossessed, the clearance fell only to Curran who gleefully smacked the ball home from ten yards. The midfielder later forced McLaughlin into a fantastic save in the 67th minute as Buncrana looked to put a gloss on the score line, but even though they had chances after that through O’Loughlin and McLaughlin, in the end they were quite content to settle for what they had, while St. Mary’s were left to ponder on what might have been. Buncrana: Conor O’Donnell, Eoin Deery, Robbie Fullerton, Andrew McGinley, James Wallace, Darragh O’Connor, Oisin Doherty, Ryan Curran, Peter McLaughlin, Kevin O’Loughlin, Mark Timlin. Subs: Aaron Doherty for Derry (59); Matthew Barber, Colm Porter, Calvin Smith, Paul Smith, James McDaid, David Fullerton. St. Mary’s: Kevin McLaughlin, Conor Bradley, Dean McDaid, Dean Kelly, Kieran Doherty, Paul Doherty, Aaron Friel, Darren Coyle, Jamie Coyle, Danny Devlin, Niall McLaughlin. Subs: Ben Doherty for N McLaughlin (53); Jason Doherty for Friel (66); Gary McDaid, Lamaar Long, Pauric Ruddy. For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent. |
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