Donegal to miss students

JIM McGUINNESS feels because colleges have priority over county players in the Dr McKenna Cup, Donegal will be at a disadvantage when the National Football League starts next month.

McGuinness was speaking in the wake of his side’s 0-11 to 0-9 defeat by UUJ in Letterkenny. Donegal, who take on Down in Newry on February 4 in their NFL Division 1 opener, faced two of their own panellists in the form of Leo McLoone and Eoin Waide, while the likes of skipper Michael Murphy will be lining out in Leinster’s O’Byrne Cup for DCU and Mark McHugh with Sligo IT in the FBD Connacht League.

“The difficulty for us is we have a lot of players at other colleges,” McGuinness said. “We’d prefer to have them with us in the lead in to the Down game. Heading to Newry for a first league game without them having played a competitive game for us is a difficult situation.”

CJ McGourty sealed the deal for UUJ with his side’s last four points against the Ulster champions. The teams were level at 0-5 apiece at half time, Chris Clarke having scored three points for the visitors. For Donegal, Dermot Molloy scored five from play but, with Neil Gallagher sent off late on for two yellow cards, McGourty took control in the final quarter.

At Breffni Park, 14-man Derry, who had Eugene Scullion sent off, pipped Cavan 0-13 to 0-12. Although three points down at an early stage and one down at the start of the second half, John Brennan’s team came out on top. Caolan O’Boyle scored four points as Mark Lynch and Niall Holly won it for Derry.

Meanwhile, 2010 All-Ireland finalists Down started the year on a high with a 2-12 to 0-10 Section B win over neighbours Armagh in Newry. Ryan Brady scored a 15th-minute goal to give Down a 1-7 to 0-5 interval lead before Conor Laverty sealed the win.

Down are joined on top of the section by Monaghan, who enjoyed a 0-14 to 0-6 win over St Mary’s in Clones yesterday. Monaghan were best served by familiar faces — Ciarán Hanratty chipped in with four points and Paul Finlayfinished with five.

Queen’s were within three points with just over 10 minutes left, thanks mainly to goalkeeper Niall Morgan doing a Stephen Cluxton with a couple of frees, but Monaghan scored five points late on to give the scoreboard a more comfortable look.

Section A started well for new Fermanagh manager Peter Canavan as his side beat Antrim 2-11 to 1-6, while Tyrone had eight points to spare after a 1-13 to 1-8 win over Queen’s.

The teaching college were a constant menace throughout and a shock looked on the cards when Caolan Rafferty edged them into the lead on 38 minutes. But with Tommy McGuigan and new-boy Johnny Lafferty impressing, the three-time All-Ireland winners resumed normal service when Ronan O’Neill netted 20 minutes from time before a succession of points gave Mickey Harte’s team the win.