Derrygonnelly 0-12 Teemore 1-06 Champions Derrygonnelly opened up their league campaign with a win as they saw off Teemore in a repeat of last year’s league final.

With the advantage of the breeze in the first half it was Teemore who went in with a one point lead at the break thanks to a Ryan Maguire goal but Derrygonnelly took control of matters during a spell in the second half to move into a three point advantage.

And they were able to keep their noses in front over the remainder of the game to get their season off to a positive start.

“It was a good physical game, Teemore put it up to us well,” said Harps manager Martin Greene. “Both sides were missing a few players but from our point of view it was just good to grind out the win and get points on the board.”

Teemore manager Tommy Clarke was satisfied with his side’s performance on the day.

“We would be happy enough with the way we played and hopefully we can go on and build on it. It was a good tough battle and I’m sure it will stand to us,” he commented.

Teemmore played with the advantage of the breeze in the first half and they were to go at the interval with a one point lead.

The key score of the first half went the way of the Shamrocks as a good move down the right hand side saw Niall Clarke feed Liam Martin and his high ball in was met by Maguire who fisted it to the net.

Liam Martin also chipped in with two frees for Teemore in the first half while Derrygonnelly’s scores came from Garvan Jones, Paul Ward, Leigh Jones and a fine effort from Lee Jones from the right wing to leave it 0-04 to 1-02 at the break.

The Harps though started to get on top as they rattled over the opening four points of the second half to move into a three point lead.

Ward, Garvan Jones, Lee Jones and Declan Cassidy all registered points for Derrygonnelly during this period and they were able to maintain their advantage over the remainder of the game.

The sides shared the final eight points of the game with John Fitzpatrick and Martin both landing two frees each for the Shamrocks while the home side were able to keep themselves in the driving seat with Leigh Jones firing over two frees and Ward and Garvan McGinley tagging on points from play, McGinley firing over at the second attempt after his initial shot was saved by Teemore goalkeeper Declan O’Reilly.