Down and Derry advance to Ulster Hurling Semi Final

Down and Derry progressed in the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship with quarter-final wins over Donegal and Armagh respectively on Sunday.

They will now meet in the provincial semi-final on June 29. The winners of that game play Antrim in the Ulster final on July 13.

Ulster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Quarter-Final:
Derry 4-16 Armagh 3-13

A strong finish in a free-flowing game at the Athletic Grounds sealed Derry’s passage to the last four of the Ulster Championship.

The Oak Leafers were 3-6 to 2-4 up at the break, with two of their goals coming from the influential Brendan Rogers and another from Aaron Kelly. Pauric Hughes and Artie Guinness struck the majors for the Orchard County.

Armagh hit five points without reply at one stage in the second half to close the gap to just one goal with 10 minutes to go, but Jonathan O’Dwyer killed the game off with Down’s fourth goal.

Odran Corvan replied with a late goal for Armagh, but it proved to be little more than a consolation as the visitors advanced into the semi-finals.

Scorers for Derry: B Rogers 2-5, R Convery 0-5 (4fs), J O’Dwyer 1-1, A Kelly 1-0, M O’Hagan 0-2, D O’Neill, O McCloskey 0-1 each.

Scorers for Armagh: C Carvill 0-10 (2 ’65’, 6fs), A McGuinness, P Hughes, O Curry 1-0 each, J Corvan, F Bradley, P Gaffney 0-1 each.

DERRY: D McDermott; P Cleary, A Rafferty, E McGuckin; R McCloskey, S McGuigan, C McQuillan; K Hinphey, M O’Hagan; B Rogers, R Convery, A Kelly; J O’Dwyer, D O’Neill, O McCloskey.Subs: T McCoy for D O’Neill (h-t).

ARMAGH: S Doherty; C Devlin, C Clifford, M Garvey; D Mone, N Curry, C McAnnalen; F Bradley, P Gaffney; D Coulter, J Corvan, K McKernan; C Carvill, A McGuinness, P Hughes. Subs: O Curry for Coulter (4).

Referee: G Duffy

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Ulster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Quarter-Final:
Down 1-31 Donegal 0-10

Down eased into the last four of the Ulster Championship with a convincing 24-point win over Donegal at Clones on Sunday afternoon.

Down led by 0-8 to 0-7 after 17 minutes, but then hit 1-8 without reply in the second quarter to take complete control of the game. The Mourne me led by 12 points, 1-16 to 0-7, at the break, Ryan Brannigan hitting the only goal of the game in the 32nd minute.

Down added a further five points without reply after the restart, with Donegal failing to register a score for 35 minutes either side of the half-time whistle.

Ciaran Mathewson finally ended that barren spell with a free in the 53rd minute, but Donegal were already well beaten at that stage.

Scott Nicholson was the stand-out performer for Down, hitting seven points from play over the course of the game.

Scorers for Down: S Nicholson 0-7, J McCusker 0-6 (0-1f), R Brannigan 1-1, S Dineen, J Coyle (0-2f) 0-4 each, M Turley, C Woods (0-1 ’65’) 0-3 each, C O’Prey 0-2, M Ennis 0-1.

Scorers for Donegal: C Mathewson 0-5 (0-3fs), P Hannigan, P Sheridan, S McVeigh, K Campbell, Ciaran Kilgannon 0-1 each.

DOWN: S Keith; M Conlan, P Flynn, M Hughes; B Nicholson, C Woods, P Hughes; S Nicholson, R Brannigan; S Dineen, M Ennis, C O’Prey; M Turley 7, J McCusker, J Coyle. Subs: C Hughes for Conlan (38), F Conway for P Hughes (54), M McGee for O’Prey (58).

DONEGAL: P Burns; M McGrath, J Browne, B Tourish; J Donnelly, J Boyle, S Gallen; P Sheridan, R McDermott; C Mathewson, P Hannigan, S McVeigh; M McGee, E Organ, Ciaran Kilgannon. Subs: Chris Kilgannon for McGee (HT), S Gillespie for McVeigh (54), D Laverty for Burns (54).

Referee: Colum Cunning (Antrim).

Report: gaa.ie