Down and Derry into Ulster hurling semis

Down and Derry comfortably booked an Ulster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final date against each other, following today’s opening games.

At Clones Down never looked troubled as they ran out facile 1-31 to 0-10 winners over Donegal.

In the curtain-raiser to the Ulster SFC game between Monaghan and Tyrone the sides were well matched in the opening quarter, but Down kicked on.

Missing two key players in Danny Cullen and Enda McDermott, with Cullen ruled out for 9 months with a cruciate injury and McDermott serving a one match ban following a straight red card against Fingal, Donegal were always up against it.

Despite this Ray Durack’s charges put it up to the 2013 Christy Ring Cup champions in the opening stages and only trailed by 0-8 to 0-6 after 15 minutes.

Ciaran Mathewson (0-5), Michael McGee and Paddy Hannigan kept Donegal in touch on the scoreboard, but Mathewson’s missed penalty cost them.

Four minutes later Ryan Brannigan netted Down’s lone goal as the Mourne County built-up a 1-16 to 0-7 half-time lead.

Donegal failed to recover from this and were outscored by 15 points to three in the second half as Down romped to victory with Scott Nicholson (0-7) and Johnny McCusker (0-6) among those who impressed.

Derry led throughout as they claimed a 4-16 to 3-13 away victory over Armagh at the Athletic Grounds.

An early Brendan Rogers goal gave the visitors a 1-3 to 0-0 lead after five minutes and they never looked back.

Derry continued to edge the lead at the break by 3-6 to 2-3 with Rogers bagging his second goal, while Aaron Kelly claimed a third.

The sides were evenly matched in the second half scoring 1-10 apiece, with Johnny O’Dwyer scoring Derry’s final goal.