Hosts singing in the rain

INCESSANT rain certainly dampened the spectacle of the Comórtas Peile Na Gealtachta in Falcarragh, Co Donegal but the miserable conditions failed to deter Cloughaneely and Moycullen, who will meet this afternoon in the senior final.

After soaring temperatures on Saturday, host club Cloughaneely were yesterday forced to rearrange the schedule as Páirc Naomh Fionain was deemed unplayable. All fixtures were hastily switched to the secondary venue at the local secondary school.

Regardless of where the action took place, the locals and their umbrellas left content with their team’s defeat of reigning All-Ireland champions Belmullet from Mayo. Ciaran Scanlon’s 16th minute goal punctuated a fine first half from the two-time winners, who went in at the interval with a healthy 1-7 to 0-2 advantage.

The second half was a more pedestrian affair, with David Padden, brother of Armagh’s Billy Joe, in the Belmullet goal single-handedly keeping his team in the game with a series of outstanding saves. The goalkeeper bravely saved from Scanlon and then palmed away an effort from Denis Boyle before denying Sean Maguire twice.

However, his colleagues in attack were not so prosperous and Cloughaneely maintained a steady lead to win 1-10 to 0-7.

The second semi-final, played in conditions far removed from what is to be expected on a June Bank Holiday weekend, saw Moycullen from Galway defeat An Ghaeltacht. The Kerry side trailed 0-6 to 0-3 at the interval with a sprinkling of scorers doing the business for Moycullen, most notably Conor Bohan and Pauric Lydon.

Moycullen continued in cruise control after the interval and in the end had nine points to spare. That gulf would have been wider had Mark Lydon not passed up a late goal chance, which Mark Mannion saved, in the 0-14 to 0-5 win.

Saturday’s action saw two instalments of extra-time needed for Moycullen to overcome Glenswilly, who were without the talismanic presence of Michael Murphy a week ahead of Donegal’s Ulster quarter-final in Cavan. The Galway team eventually came through a see-saw encounter 3-9 to 1-14.

Having pipped An Rinn of Waterford in the preliminary round, 0-13 to 2-6, An Ghaeltacht steamrolled Achill from Mayo 4-16 to 0-11 in the last eight. They were joined in the last four by Belmullet, who defeated Cork’s Naomh Abán 3-15 t0 1-9, while Cloughaneely received a bye to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, the junior final will be contested this afternoon between Naomh Mhuire from Donegal and Antrim’s Laochra Loch Laoi.

Naomh Mhuire defeated Cloughaneely’s second string on Friday, 1-10 to 1-8, before Saturday’s 2-20 to 1-13 win over Meath’s Clann na nGael and yesterday’s 2-9 to 2-5 success over An Fhairche of Galway. For their part, Laochra Loch Laoi ousted Waterford’s An Seanphobal 3-18 to 1-3 before another comprehensive semi-final win against Móin Dearg of London, 9-14 to 1-5.

Páirc Naomh Fionan will be assessed this morning to see if the pitch is playable after yesterday’s washout, with PCC Falcarragh on standby. The junior final gets underway at 2pm with the senior throwing in at 4pm.