RYAN MCNICHOLL’S LAST-GASP POINT SENDS DERRY INTO ANOTHER DECIDER

EirGrid Ulster U20 Football Championship semi-final

Donegal 0-14 Derry 1-12

DERRY booked their place in next Wednesday’s final with a late, late Ryan McNicholl winner.

The Oak Leafers lost to Tyrone in the group stages and will be hoping to go one better than last year’s final, when they lost to Down.

Trailing by three points at the break, it took Derry’s second-half turnaround to put them in a winning position before needing McNicholl’s winner after Donegal came with a late rally.

It was senior player Luke McGlynn who got Donegal off to a bright start with a score in the first meaningful attack.

Derry then survived a scare when McGlynn beat Tommy Rogers to a pass. With Derry pushed up, the Glenfin man skipped goalwards but James Murray sped up enough to make him drop the shot into the grateful arms of ‘keeper Armstrong.

Donegal went three up with scores from Conor Reid and Conor McGinley after nine minutes.

Derry did have their possession but ran into blind alleys in a well setup home defence. On one occasion McGurk and Oisin Doherty passed up a settling point as they tried to find goal that wasn’t on.

When the Oaks got their first score it was McGurk from distance but Donegal always had a response.

Advanced marks from Patrick McElwee and Karl Joseph Molloy were the difference. Donegal were able to find the pockets of space their defence didn’t leave at the other end.

Ruairi Forbes and Higgins (free) were on target for Derry who trailed 0-7 to 0-4 at the break.

Luke McGlynn hit a score from an acute angle early in the second half before Derry hit the net.

Spiers made the pass to Oisin Doherty who did the rest. He jinked through the Donegal cover before hammering to the net in the 33rd minute, making the score 0-8 to 1-4.

The sides traded scores with Forbes (2) and substitute Ryan McNicholl on target for a totally revived Derry.

The Oaks almost had a goal when another sub, Ciaran Chambers, was brilliantly denied by ‘keeper McGowan before he slotted over the rebound for a 1-10 to 0-10 lead after 46 minutes.

Ryan McNicholl pulled a goal chance wide before Donegal made a triple substitution in a bid to freshen up the game.

Cian McMenamin notched a point with his first touch to leave two points between the teams with three minutes to go.

McGlynn made it a one-point game before Oisin Doherty saw a goal chance come back off the crossbar after Donegal were calling for a penalty at the other end.

Substitute Lynch levelled and the game looked to be heading for extra-time but Derry came with one last throw of the dice. With the allocated stoppage-time already gone, play was recycled out of the corner and McNicholl fired over.

Donegal D McGowan; C McCrea, F Roarty; K Magee (0-1); F Coll, O Caulfield, S Martin (0-1); C Reid (0-1), S Ward (0-1 45), E Kelly; C McGinty (0-1), L McGlynn (0-4, 2f), S Carr (0-1); P McElwee (0-1m), KJ Molloy (0-1m)

Subs N Prendiville for S Ward (50), C McMenamin (0-1) for C Reid (57), K Lynch (0-1) for KJ Molloy (57), D Gallagher for E Kelly (57), L McGee for S Carr (63)

Yellow card S Martin (48)

Derry C Armstrong; F McEldowney, J Murray; R Small; C McGrogan, P McGurk (0-1), C Heron (0-1); T Rogers, D McDermott, R Forbes (0-3); C Spiers (0-1), N O’Donnell, J McGuckian; E Higgins (0-1f), O Doherty (1-2, 2f)

Subs C Chambers (0-1) for E Higgins (HT), R McNicholl (0-2) for T Rogers (HT)

Referee E Mallon (Armagh)

2024-04-24T20:50:58Z dg43tfdfdgfd