John Brennan

Senior Football

Glasdrumman 0-12  Glenn  1-8

On Friday night Glenn were the visitors to the Quarter Road poised just one point behind Glasdrumman in third place. There was a strong wind blowing towards the clubrooms and Glasdrumman having won the toss elected to play against the breeze in the first half. Glasdrumman started the game with a determined attitude  and were two points up after eight minutes with points from  Raymond Clarke and Mark Trimble. Glenn started to settle and they were rewarded with a point in the eleventh minute from David Bagnell followed by a second seven minutes later from David O‘Hare. Three minutes later Raymond Magorrian restored the Glasdrumman lead but it was short lived as Glenn got two points inside two minutes, again from Bagnell and O’Hare. Glenn extended their lead to two points with another score in the twenty seventh minute from David Bagnell but Cormac Murphy pulled a point back at the end of the half to leave the halftime score Glasdrumman 0-4 Glenn 0-5.

Glasdrumman started the second half as they had the first and were level within two minutes through Raymond Magorrian. Three minutes later a probing run through the Glasdrumman defence ended up with corner forward Bagnell’s shot ending up in the Glasdrumman net. Glasdrumman hit back almost immediately and were level within five minutes with points from Raymond Magorrian, Declan Grant and Martin O’Neill. A minute later Glenn were ahead again with a point from the goal scorer Bagnell but midfielder Pat Mallon levelled the game two minutes later with a well taken point. Glasdrumman upped their game and they had extended their lead to three points by the twenty seventh minute with scores from Pat Mallon, Cormac Murphy and Raymond Magorrian. In the last four minutes the Glasdrumman defence absorbed everything which Glenn threw at them as they tried to get back on terms and despite points from half backs Clarke and Grant they held out to leave the final score  Glasdrumman 0-12 Glenn 1-8.

This was an good overall Glasdrumman performance against a good Glenn side. The defence was generally sound making some very important blocking and clearances especially at crucial times  during the game. The midfield pairing of Pat Mallon and Declan Grant won a lot of ball and when the ball reached the forwards they produced some good direct attacking football especially when the moved the ball quickly. This was a game between two teams who wanted to play football and a feature of the game was the discipline shown by both sides. At no time during the game had the referee to book a player from either side or move the ball forward because of dissent.

Glasdrumman: Ronan McDowell, Paul Brennan, Kevin Burns, Francis O’Neill, Daniel McCartan, Brian Burns, Colm Carr, Pat Mallon (0-2), Declan Grant (0-1), Raymond Magorrian (0-4), Mark Trimble (0-1), Sean McDowell, Cormac Murphy (0-2), Martin O’Neill (0-1), Raymond Clarke (0-1).

Subs used: Gary McGreevy for Daniel McCartan, Connaire Harrison for Sean McDowell.

Glenn: S Sherry, D Murtagh, O Conlon, F Diamond, S Clarke (0-1), T Grant  (0-1), S Magennis, J Mackin, C Sands, D Bagnell (0-3), N Cranny, M Lennon, D O’Hare (0-2), P Farley, D Bagnell (1-1)

***          Senior match away to Banbridge at 7.30pm on Friday.

***    Congratulations to Colum Grant who was on the St Malachy’s team and Shane Harrison  who was on the St Columban’s team who played each other in Glasdrumman last week.