Derrygonnelly 1-18 Devenish 1-13 Derrygonnelly Harps moved clear at the top of the Division One table as Martin Greene’s side made it four wins out of four with a five point victory over neighbours Devenish on Sunday.

A Barry Mulrone goal had helped Devenish into a five point lead at the end of a first half in which they had the advantage of the breeze.

However, Derrygonnelly gained the upperhand in the second half and a Garvan Jones goal put them well on their way to the points as they maintained their excellent start to the defence of their league title.

“It was a tough, competitive first half and Devenish made good use of the wind while Barry Mulrone was able to pick off scores for them. However, we played well with the breeze in our favour in the second half, we were able to push on get the scores to win the game,” said Harps manager Martin Greene.

The opening period of the game was evenly contested with Terry O’Flanagan opening the scoring for Devenish before the Harps responded with points coming from Paul Ward (2) and Garvan McGinley to move two points ahead.

Devenish then hit three points of their own which all came from frees from Barry Mulrone and Terry O’Flanagan and it was tit for tat at this stage of the game as Gary McKenna slotted over two frees for Derrygonnelly while Barry Mulrone landed a superb sideline ball for the away side.

A Gavin Gallagher point edged Devenish into a 0-06 to 0-05 lead and they then swooped for the key score of the game as Mulrone got on the end of a long ball by Declan Rasdale before firing to the net to put Devenish four clear.

The Harps answered this with points from Ward and Stephen McGullion but Devenish registered the final three points of the half through a Gallagher point from play and two more Mulrone frees to leave it 1-09 to 0-07 in their favour at the break.

Derrygonnelly though came flying out of the blocks at the start of the second half and Garvan Jones and Paul Ward were among a flurry of points before Jones, who was a key figure in the middle of the park, then fired home his side’s only goal of the game. He linked up with Shane McGullion before drilling an effort to the net as Derrygonnelly began to take control.

Garvan McGinley landed two wonderful points from acute angles to further add to the Harps advantage and although JJ O’Brien, Gallagher and Terry O’Flanagan chipped in with scores for Devenish these were only coming sporadically while Derrygonnelly were adding to their tally on a much more regular basis through McKenna and Ward.

The Garrison side did enjoy more of the ball in the final quarter but they struggled to turn this into scores as Derrygonnelly ran out 1-18 to 1-13 winners.