Errigal Ciaran delighted to progress after coming through 'tough' schedule
Errigal Ciaran's Dermot Morrow celebrates scoring a point with Ruairi Canavan
A COMPLETE team performance saw Errigal Ciaran march into the last four of the Ulster Club Football Championship as they emphatically swept aside Antrim champions, Cargin at Corrigan Park on Sunday.
Enda McGinley's team were on top from start to finish as their pace, power and insatiable work-rate saw them build the platform for victory.
Cargin were second best throughout and although they had the odd spell, there was never a sense they were able to put it up to the Tyrone side who came into this came off the back of a preliminary round win over St Eunan's last week.
Even though shooting would prevent Errigal from moving out of sight int he first half, they still held a six-point gap at the short whistle and were able to manage it in the second period.
Over the hour, Enda McGinley's men had 10 different scorers and this epitomised a team effort as they limited Cargin to just three points from play and they will be delighted with their day's work.
"Delighted, mostly because of the schedule we've come through that was tough," said Errigal manager, Enda McGinley.
"At the back of our mind, you know that one one hand, you're battle-hardened, but on the other you're hoping Cargin might be rusty as you can't replace games with training and I think that told in the first half.
"They were chasing and even though it was pretty even in the second half, the fact we started better and got a good few scores under our belt meant we were in a good position.
"Cargin underperformed today, so we are delighted to survive and that's the only thing that counts, but we're well aware it doesn't carry any aggregate into the next game."
Errigal had the first two scores through Thomas Canavan frees, both awarded for holding off the ball as referee Martin McNally set out to lay down a marker.
Ruairi Canavan grabbed their first from play as David Johnston went into the book for a foul in the build-up and the Tyrone champions were flying as their pace of attack left Cargin chasing shadows.
However, their shooting began to let them down with five straight wides, yet Cargin were still having no joy getting anything going in the opening period and it took goalkeeper John McNabb to finally get them off the mark with 16 gone.
The Antrim champions enjoyed a mini spell as Tomás McCann and Sean O'Neill replied to one from Ben McDonnell, but the Tyrone side reasserted themselves over the final 10 minutes of the opening half with six of the last seven scores as Joe Oguz, Tiernan Colhoun and Peter Og McCartan assisted the Canavans, Darragh (two) and Ruairi as they took a deserved 0-10 to 0-4 lead into the break.
Ciaran McGinley extnded the lead shortly after the break as Cargin sought a response with McCann responding from a free, but points from Joe Oguz and Ruairi Canavan pushed the gap out to an unassaible eight.
Cargin were relying on McCann from placed blls as Errigal managed the game out with McGinley and Canavan hitting back and in added time, substitutes Mark Kavanagh and Ronan McCrory got in on the act to cap a fine afternoon for their side as they will now enjoy a well-earned break before seeting their sights on a last four clash.
"We didn't turn up at all," conceded Cargin manager, Ronan Devlin.
"We didn't compete, do the basic stuff, got cleaned out on the breaking balls, made mistakes and gave the ball away. After a bad start, we worked our way into it but then just silly mistakes let them chop away - it was a bad day all round.
"It was just so flat, dead - just not good enough. We've nobody to blame this time but ourselves."
Scorers for Cargin: T McCann 0-6 (5f, 1 45), J McNabb 0-1, S O'Neill 0-1, R Gribbin 0-1.
Scorers for Errigal Ciaran: R Canavan 0-4 (3f), D Canavan 0-2, T Canavan 0-2 (2f), J Oguz 0-2, C McGinley 0-2, P Og McCartan 0-1, T Colhoun 0-1, M Kavanagh 0-1, R McRory 0-1.
CARGIN: John McNabb; Kevin O'Boyle, Kevin McShane, Ronan Gribbin; Justin Crozier, Sean O'Neill, Jamie Gribbin; Michael McCann, John Carron; David Johnston, Tomás McCann, James Laverty; Conhuir Johnston, Eunan Quinn, Pat Shivers.
Subs: Paul McCann for D Johnston (HT), Benen Kelly for J Crozier (HT), Conan Johnston for E Quinn (37), Ronan Devlin for B Kelly (46), Tom Shivers for Conhuir Johnston (51) ERRIGAL CIARÁN: Darragh McAnenly; Cormac Quinn, Aidan McCrory, Thomas Canavan; Peter Og McCartan, Niall Kelly, Tiarnan Colhoun; Ben McDonnell, Joe Oguz; Pauric Traynor, Peter Harte, Ciaran McGinley; Ruairi Canavan, Darragh Canavan, Odhran Robinson.
Subs: Mark Kavanagh for P Traynor (46), Ciaran Quinn for T Colhoun (46), Padraig McGirr for O Robinson (51), Eoin Kelly for T Canavan (51), Ronan McRory for D Canavan (57) REFEREE: Martin McNally (Monaghan)
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