Derrygonnelly Harps 2-08 Erne Gaels 2-06

Winning is a great habit.
Within the paradigm of the Fermanagh GAA championship, Derrygonnelly Harps are currently in a winning purple patch as striking as the hue of their jerseys and such is their current dominance in the local game, they are now in the position where they can get the job done no matter what anyone throws at them.
And, on Sunday, Erne Gaels threw everything they had them at them as this young team that has steadily risen through the ranks in recent years, tries to make a big breakthrough.
However, that Erne Gaels effort ultimately fell short and it was the Harps that progressed to another potentially titanic tussle against Roslea in the semi-final as second half goals from Stephen McGullion and a Paul Ward penalty overturned a four point deficit at the break.
When Martin Higgins’ final whistle sounded, Derrygonnelly had won the hard way by 2-08 to 2-06.
Belleek manager Maurice McLaughlin had nothing but praise for his young side.
“It’s a tough one to take but we have no complaints,” rued McLaughlin.
“We felt there were elements of our performance that we may not have executed to the best in the second half but all credit to Derrygonnelly, you can see why they have won the last two championships. I thought we were very unfortunate to lose a game that ebbed and flowed from start to finish. From our perspective we gave everything but as I have said to you boys (the press), we are a very young team and we are a work in progress. We finished the game with nine players under the age of 23 and you will go through days like this.”
He did feel, Derrygonnelly’s experience was decisive.
Maurice added: “I think that little bit of experience in the final quarter of the game probably was decisive but we shaved the post with the final kick of the game and if that had gone in I don’t think anyone would have said we stole the game. The key for this group of players is to stick together and of they keep producing these types of perfromances they will have many good days ahead of them.”
This was a tough uncompromising encounter between last year’s finalists, the first half was dominated by packed defences, strong tackling and refereeing decisions that had the Derrygonnelly half of the support up in arms.
Derrygonnelly’s Paul Ward got the scoreboard ticking as he has so often done in recent years with a left footed free before impressive Belleek teenager Ultán Kelm lofted over from the right side to level the game.
Belleek’s Paul Ward then gave the game what it needed, a a goal, when he fired superbly to the corner of the net after picking up a pass from Jack McCann. Erne Gaels were on top around the middle through Ryan Lyons and Brian Mullin and although Ward pulled a point back for the Harps with a free, it was Erne Gaels that pressed ahead.
Mullin pointed after sustained pressure and then a contentious free as Seamus Ryder and Tiernan Daly tussled went in favour of the Gaels and Ryder lofted over to make it 1-03 to 0-02.
Stephen  McGullion found a rare bit of space in the Belleek rearguard and pointed but Belleek had the last say of the half when Lyons and Ryder set up Mullin who pointed again.
This meant Belleek led 1-04 to 0-03 at the break.
A free count of 13-7 in favour of Belleek did not go down well with the Harps, a point that was made to the referee by officials and supporters of the reigning champions.
Thankfully, the second half had none of that as the football did the talking and within 16 seconds of the restart, the Harps were showing why they are two time champions as they came roaring back at Belleek.
Harps won the throw in and Ryan Jones’ long ball in was fielded by Stephen McGullion who  got to his feet and powered through the tackle to fire to the roof of the net to make it 1-04 to 1-03.
McGullion had another goal chance soon after when Ward’s free hit an upright and he collected the break but his low shot was blocked by a flurry of defending Erne Gaels legs.
Tommy McCaffrey and Ward exchanged points thereafter before Erne Gaels showed their mettle to plunder their second goal of the game.
The Belleek men broke from their packed defence at pace and McCaffrey offloaded to Oisin Kelm who had made a great break and he fired low to the net to give his side a 2-05 to 1-05 lead.
Again the champions had their backs to the wall but again they responded.
Ryan Jones was starting to exert his influence at midfield and there was no surprise when he led the break that led to a Harps penalty and black card for the Belleek goalkeeper.
Jones  broke down the left and fed his brother Garvan who offloaded to Gary McKenna and he played in Ward who tried go around keeper Stephen Ryder but he hauled him to the ground.
A clear penalty, the keeper was black carded with Seamus Ryder going between the posts. The fouled Ward dusted himself down to slot low into the right hand corner of the net and the game was tied again with ten minutes remaining.
The Harps went ahead for the first time since the opening score of the game when Ryan Jones again claimed a catch at midfield and he fed Leigh Jones who raced down the right to loft over and make it 2-06 to 2-05 with five minuted remaining.
Erne Gaels then won a free on the right side 40 metres from goal and Seamus Ryder came up from goals to loft over a fine pressure kick from his hands to tie the game with two minutes on the clock.
It was now frantic at this stage but the Harps were edging the midfield battle and a Jack McCann foul on Ward in front of the posts was to prove costly as Ward converted to edge the Harps in front.
Indeed, it looked all over when Erne Gaels were penalised for overcarrying and a quick free found Declan Cassidy who pointed to leave two between the teams deep in injury time.
The drama, however, was not over and Belleek launched one last salvo as Martin Gilfedder pulled on the ball on the ground and fired into the box to substitute Ronan Cox who flicked the ball just wide of the Harps’ post.
The final whistle sounded soon after with Erne Gaels’ valiant attempt coming up just short with the Harps’ know-how and experience seeing them through a tough encounter.

Derrygonnelly: Dermot Feely, Denis Greene, Tiernan Daly, Michael Jones, Neil Gallagher, Eamon McHugh, Garvan McGinley, Ryan Jones, Garvan Jones (0-01), Leigh Jones (0-01), Paul Ward (1-04, 4f, 1 pen) Declan Cassidy (0-01), Gary McKenna, Stephen McGullion (1-01), Shane McGullion.
Subs: Kevin Cassidy for Shane McGullion, Aidan Gallagher for Neil Gallagher, Lee Jones for Greene, Aidan McKenna for Gary McKenna.

Erne Gaels: Stephen Ryder, Gary O’Connor, Ultán Kelm (0-01), Shane Mmina,Oisin Kelm (1-00), Dara Keown, Jack McCann, Brian Mullin (0-02), Ryan Lyons, Martin Gilfedder, Paul Ward (1-00), Luke Ryder, Thomas McCaffrey (0-01, 1f), Seamus Ryder (0-02, 2f), Michael Óg McGarrigle.
Subs: Barry McCann for Luke Ryder, Daniel McGullion for O’Connor, Gareth Deery for Ward, Ronan Cox for McGarrigle