Derry through to Eirgrid Ulster Under 20 Final

EirGrid Ulster U20 Championship Semi Final

DERRY 0-11 DONEGAL 0-05

Derry will meet Down or Monaghan in the Eirgrid Ulster Under 20 Football Championship final after a six-point victory over Donegal in Owenbeg on Saturday.

Derry established a five-point lead after the opening half hour, and the they were able to hold off any sort of Tir Chonaill fightback in the second half.

The hosts held the majority of possession from the opening stages and Patrick McGurk opened the scoring with a lovely long-range score two minutes in. A Shaun Ward free cancelled that out minutes later, that would prove to be Donegal’s only score of the half as Peter McCullagh (3) and Charlie Diamond (2) added points to put the Oakleafers in control at the break, 0-6 to 0-1.

Aided by with the breeze for the second period, Leo McLoone’s men opened the second half scoring with a well worked Luke McGlynn score but again Derry regained their dominance with Matthew Downey notching a pair of scores before Donncha Gilmore and McCullagh added further points ro stretch the lead to 0-10 to 0-2 by the 46th minute.

Donegal responded with a brace of points from Oisin Caulfield (mark) and Donal Gallagher but another Diamond free of the game stemmed any mounting momentum, a further McGlynn score the final score of the contest.