Report

Clonmany Shamrocks           6

QPS                                         1

Clonmany started brightly against a youthful Q.P.S. side and went close in the 11th minute when Jason Devlin and Steve Harkin combined down the left side but Harkin’s shot was off target.Two minutes later the Shamrocks should have taken the lead when Ferghal Harkin’s corner from the right was met at the back post by the run of Paddy Doherty but his header went just past the post.The Shamrocks scored in virtually their next attack in the 17th minute when Brendan Doherty carried the ball out of defence and cut it into midfield where Aiden Friel swept a ball forward for Jason Devlin to come on to at the left side of the box and he finished low past Oisin Burke in the Q.P.S. goals.Clonmany made it two two minutes later when after forcing a corner,the ball was cleared to halfway where Ferghal Harkin swept in a first time ball which found Mark McLaughlin’s run and he rifled into the roof of the net from fourteen yards out.Clonmany were totally on top and added a third in the 38th minute when a lofted cross from the right found Steve Harkin’s head at the back post,with Q.P.S. keeper Burke making a double save to deny Steve,but Steve held on to possession and squared for Mark McLaughlin to drive a low shot past several Q.P.S. defenders and in to the back of the net.The Point almost pulled one back  minutes later when Joe McKinney came on to a loose ball eighteen yards out directly in front of goals,but Clonmany keeper Paddy Harkin dived low to his right to turn the goalbound shot around the foot of the post for a fantastic save. Clonmany kept up the pressure at the start of the second half and made it safe in the 51st minute when Aiden Friel glided past a couple of challenges in the centre circle and lifted a left foot pass into the path of his brother Mikey and he shot low past Oisin Burke to make it four.Mark McLaughlin completed his hat-trick in the 73rd minute when he received the ball on the right side of the box and shot high past an exposed Q.P.S keeper and two minutes later he got his fourth of the afternoon when he proved impossible to mark for the Q.P.S and came on to another loose ball in the box and guided the ball into the net past Burke to make it six .With both teams making substitutions the intensity of the game dropped in the last quarter but Q.P.S. forward Connor Barron was proving lively and had a couple of chances,first one he got crowded out by the Shamrocks defence but the second time he broke forward onto a forward pass down the inside left channel and Paddy Harkin had to be alert to make a good block on the edge of his box.The ball squirted to the byline and Connor retrieved it and set up Denim McLaughlin for a shot from the edge of the box but it curled past the post.In the 86th minute Oisin Burke made a fantasic save to prevent Paddy Doherty adding a seventh goal for Clonmany and in the final minute of normal time Connor Barron got a well deserved goal for the Point when the ball broke to him at the right side of the six yard line and he slotted home from close range .