McKenna Cup Round 1

Donegal 1-11 Down 0-11

Derry 4-16 Antrim 2-12

Tyrone 3-17 Queens 0-11

Armagh 0-11 Cavan 2-08

Monaghan 1-09 UUJ 2-16

Donegal 1-11 Down 0-11

Donegal got the New Year off to a good start with a win over Down in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey.

The game was the 100th game for Donegal captain, Michael Murphy, who marked his introduction in the second half with one of his trademark points, and he was also almost in for a goal, but slipped at the vital moment.

The All-Ireland winning captain was presented with a special memento after the game to mark the occasion.

“Any time you get the opportunity to put on a Donegal jersey, let it be Dr McKenna Cup, league or championship, is a huge honour and I was delighted to get the opportunity today,“ said Murphy.

Donegal led by 1-3 to 0-4 at half-time after a stop-start first half. Donegal started well with Frank McGlynn finding the Down net inside 68 seconds.

McGlynn, who was captain for the day, found himself all alone in front of the Down goal and took full advantage of a great pass from Odhran MacNiallais before chipping Down ‘keeper Stephen Kane for a classic score.

The score brought back memories of McGlynn‘s great goal against Down in the Ulster final of 2012. His deployment at centre half-forward is something new this year. He had the No. 11 jersey in a recent challenge game against Sligo also and when asked about that afterwards, manager Rory Gallagher, said it was something different that they wanted to try.

Gallagher’s experimentation was well managed with a good mix of experience and young players in each line.

Cathal Doyle had Down’s first score on three minutes but Donegal were dominating and two good points from one of the six starting Donegal debutants, Ciaran Thompson, had Donegal four points clear.

They should have been further ahead as Eoghan Ban Gallagher blazed wide after a lovely flick from Leo McLoone put him clean through on 15 minutes.

Thereafter Donegal seemed to lose their way and by the 23rd minute Down were back within a point with three points from Gareth Johnston, Arthur McConville (free) and Ryan Mallon.

There was just one more score from then to the half-time whistle, Martin O‘Reilly pointing a free on 29 minutes.

It was an opening half that saw 31 frees, 20 to Down while the teams also shared 15 wides, Down having eight to Donegal‘s seven.

The second half was a much more open affair. Gareth Johnston was almost in for a Down goal on 15 seconds, but blazed over and the corner forward was wide with two further efforts in the following minute.

Points from Martin O‘Reilly and Hugh McFadden was the perfect response and by the 46th minute, Ciaran Thompson and Caolan Ward had opened the gap to 1-7 to 0-6. Donegal’s Jack O’Brien, saw a thunderbolt come back off the crossbar moments later with ‘keeper Stephen Kane well beaten, after some good approach work. Indeed, from the rebound Odhran MacNiallais had a half chance, but saw his effort blocked.

There was an unusual cameo with a corner back from both sides, Ryan Boyle and Paddy McGrath, getting on the scoreboard within a minute of each other. McGrath‘s effort was his first ever score for the county.

Sean Dornan had a point for Down before the biggest cheer of the day from the 2,000 crowd greeted Michael Murphy‘s introduction on 54 minutes and he had a point on the board three minutes after his introduction. It helped Donegal into a 1-10 to 0-8 lead and although Down pulled the margin back to three, the final result was never really in doubt.

Donegal: D Rodgers; J O'Brien, E Doherty, P McGrath (0-1); M O'Reilly (0-2,2f), C Ward (0-1), E Ban Gallagher; H McFadden (0-1), C Thompson (0-3); M Carroll, F McGlynn (1-1), S McBrearty; O MacNiallais (0-1), L McLoone, E McHugh. Subs: M Murphy (0-1) for Carroll 54; C Morrison for McHugh 69.

Down: S Kane; M McGee, C McGovern, R Boyle (0-1); R Mallon (0-1), A Carr, D O'Hanlon (0-2,2f); P Turley (0-1), C Doyle (0-1); J McDermott, C Mooney, J Murphy; G Johnston (0-2), A McConville (0-1,f), S Dornan (0-1). Subs:, D Turley for McDermott 44; B O'Hagan (0-1) for Mallon; M McCay for McConville; C Harrison for Dornan, all 59; P McEldowney for Turley 66.

Referee: M McNally (Monaghan)

Ulster University 2-16 Monaghan 1-9

A sharper, more focused Ulster University proved too potent for a disappointing if makeshift Monaghan side to get their McKenna Cup campaign off to the perfect start in this fairly low-key and at times scrappy encounter in Clones.

On the day the students were well worth their victory as they kept possession very well and then hit Monaghan for scores at vital times that always saw them hold an edge.

Monaghan were only ahead briefly twice in this game and that in the opening quarter but thereafter they were playing catch up against a much more cohesive outfit who had excellent performers in the likes of Ryan McHugh, Evan Regan, Niall McKeever and Danny Savage.

Ulster University: S Fox, R Brennan 0-1, K Clarke, S Sheridan 0-1, R McHugh 0-3, F Burns, D Savage 0-1, M Argue 0-1, N McKeever, C Grugan 0-1, C O'Boyle 1-2, C Clarke, E Regan 1-3 (0-3f), N Madine 0-1 (f), S McArdle. Subs: R Beggan 0-2 (1f,1'45) for S Fox (40), M Walshe for S McArdle (51), N O'Neill for C O'Boyle (63), J McGovern for N McKeever (66), T Mescal for C Clarke (68), C Harvey for S Sheridan (69).

Monaghan: C Mohan, J McCarron, K Duffy, K McQuaid, F Kelly, B Hanratty, O Coyle, K O'Connell, C Walshe, P Keenan 0-1, C McKenna, A Courtney, O Duffy 0-1, D Malone 0-2, B McGinn 1-3 (0-2f), Subs: M Thornton for O Coyle (39), D Millar for A Courtney (39), D Mone for B Hanratty (51), D McKenna 0-2 (2f) for B McGinn (51), S Gollogly for C McKenna (60).

Referee: P Faloon (Down).

Cavan 2-8 Armagh 0-11

In a fractious, foul-laden contest Cavan surprised their hosts by coming out on top and in the process set out their stall for the forthcoming league and championship contests between the teams.

They did the hard way, too. With twenty minutes gone they had lost David Givney and John Hayes to red cards and having been restricted to just two points after the break, they landed a dubious hat-trick when Killian Brady was dismissed in the closing stages while in the throes of repelling the home team’s recovery mission.

For all that, Cavan, with Niall McDermott and Dara McVeety quite superb throughout, fully deserved the brace of points and it was no surprise that manager Terry Hyland had grounds for satisfaction at the finish.

“We had set up defensively in the hope of hitting Armagh on the break and that seemed to work for us,” declared Hyland, “The two goals gave us a bit of a breathing space going into the second-half but we knew Armagh would come at us. We always knew it was going to be a battle.”

Armagh: M McNeice; R McCaughley, C Vernon, M Murray; S Forker 0-1 (f), C McKeever, A Forker; A Findon, N Grimley; R Grugan, N McConville, S Campbell 0-2; E Rafferty 0- 4 (2f), A Murnin, G McParland 0-2. Subs: J McElroy for McCaughley (25), B Donaghy 0-1 for Murnin (Black card - 27), M McKenna 0-1 for McConville (half-time), E McVerry for Grimley (53), J Feeney for Campbell (53), J Hall for Vernon (Black Card - 58). Yellow cards: Findon (33), McKeever (39).Red cards: Findon (56), Donaghy (61).

Cavan: A O'Meara; J Hayes, K Brady, P Faulkner; C Brady, N Murray, D McVeety; B Sankey, L Buchanan 0-1; C Conroy 1-2 (1f), N McDermott 1-1 (0-1f), E Henry 0-1; D Givney, T Moore, M Reilly 0-1 (f). Subs: T Hayes 0-2 for Moore (44), T Carr for Conroy (46), B Tully for Henry (51), L Murphy for Sankey (52), P O'Connor for McDermott (66), J Brady for McVeety (68). Red Cards: Givney (5), J Hayes (20), K Brady (70).

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

Antrim 2-12 Derry 4-16

The Damian Barton era began at Owenbeg where the new Derry manager saw his side canter to a ten point win over Antrim.

With both sides eschewing the need for a sweeper, the unseasonably warm weather and the superbly maintained pitch all conspired to produce a highly entertaining game of open football. That suited a much sicker Derry best, who were able to chisel out goal chances at will.

Two goals from ‘man of the match’ Shane Heavron, and one each from Liam McGoldrick and Ryan Bell kept Derry well on top throughout. Impact sub Tomas McCann scored a brace himself for Frank Fitzsimons’ side, but second best in most sectors, a disappointing Antrim never really threatened to make a contest of this.

Scorers- Antrim: Tomas McCann 2-0, Brian Neeson 0-5f, Michael McCann 0-3f, Colm Fleming 0-2f, Conor Murray 0-1, Jack Dowling 0-1

Derry: Shane Heavron 2-1, Ryan Bell 1-4 (0-3f), Liam McGoldrick 1-0, Enda Lynn 0-2, Danny Heavron 0-2, James Kielt 0-2 (0-1f), Emmet McGuckin 0-1, Emmet Bradley 0-1, Christopher Bradley 0-1, Niall Loughlin 0-1, Ciaran McFaul 0-1

Antrim: Chris Kerr, Kevin O'Boyle, Conor Burke, Jackson McGreevy, Justin Crozier, James Crozier, James Lavery, Michael Heinze, John Carron, Sean McVeigh, Colm Duffin, Connor Murray, Mark Sweeney, Brian Neeson, Michael McCann, Kevin Niblock. Subs: Tomas McCann for J Lavery (15), Jack Dowling for S McVeigh (26), Ronan Hanna for C Kerr (41) B/C, Colm Fleming for M Heinze (63)

Derry: Eoin McNicholl, Karl McKaigue, Dermot McBride, Joe Morgan, Liam McGoldrick, Chrissy McKaigue, Daniel Heavron, Emmet Bradley, Conor McAtamney, Ciaran McFaul, James Kielt, Enda Lynn, Emmett McGuckin, Ryan Bell, Shane Heavron. Subs: Oisin Duffy for J Morgan, Niall Loughlin for S Heavron (40), Christopher Bradley for J Kielt (46), Mark Lynch for E McGuckin (46), Shane McGahon for C McAtamney (54), Neil Forester for L McGoldrick (65)

Referee: Niall McKenna (Monaghan)

Tyrone 3-17 Queen’s University 0-11

Tyrone recovered from a shaky opening to score a resounding victory over Queen’s at Healy Park as they began the defence of their Dr McKenna Cup title with a 15 points success.

Tyrone: N Morgan (0-1, '45), A McCrory, P Hampsey, HP McGeary (0-1), B Tierney, C Clarke, K McGeary, H Og Conlan, R Donnelly, C McShane, P Harte (0-2), N Sludden, M Bradley, R O'Neill (1-5, 0-3f), L Brennan (0-7, 6f). Subs: J Munroe (1-0) for Tierney, P McNulty for Sludden, S Cavanagh for Brennan, C McAliskey (1-0) for McShane, J McMahon (0-1) for Clarke

Queen's: J Maguire, G McCabe (0-1), G McGovern, B Burns, N Delargey, B Rogers (0-1), S Heffron, C Cullen, A Doherty, R Corrigan, M Clarke (0-2, 2f), D McAleese, M Monan (0-2), D McKeever, R Murray (0-4, 3f).

Subs: C Lavelle for Doherty, C Martin (0-1) for McKeever, C Hamill for Corrigan, N Brady for McAleese, S Mullan for Burns, P McKenna for Cullen.

Referee: S Laverty (Antrim).