Portaferry in club glory bid

15 October 2014

PORTAFERRY booked their place in the AIB Ulster Club Senior Hurling Championship final following their comprehensive win over Lisbellaw from Fermanagh at Clones on Sunday.
The Ports were definitely not at their best as the underdogs gave them a stern test, but the Ards side did enough to progress to a showdown with either Slaughtneil or Cushendall, who face a replay after their drawn game on Sunday.
Two first half goals from Conor Mageean and Robert Magee did a lot of damage to Lisbellaw and although they found the net themselves five minutes into the second half through Sean Corrigan, the Ports were never really troubled at St. Tiernach’s Park.
Lisbellaw never stopped trying and points from John Duffy and Daniel Teague kept then in the hunt, but Portaferry simply upped a gear and scores from Ciaran Coulter and Aaron O’Prey left them firmly in control.
Portaferry manager Sean Young was more than happy to get over this hurdle and can now start planning for the final.
“We knew Lisbellaw were waiting for us and we never expected an easy game,” he said after the final whistle.
“We knew that they are a team on the rise and stressed that on the day it was 15 against 15 and we had to go out and win the game. Fair play to Lisbellaw, they could have come out and hid, but they didn’t and they gave our boys a really tough, hard match.
“Thankfully, we are over the line and we will go away and concentrate on working hard and getting ready for the final,” he added.
“The players have really bought in to things, but we had to work hard to remain focused this week as everyone was saying we were going to with the game easily.
“Now we can just concentrate on the next game. We are focused on just one thing now and that is giving the Ulster final a damn good rattle.”
Portaferry: K. Keating, C. Taggart, C. O’Neill, C. O’Prey (0-2), M. Conlon, J. Convery, C. Coulter (0-1), A. Savage (0-1), C. Mageean (1-1), B. Coleman, P. Braniff (0-6), A. O’Prey (0-2), S. Mageean (0-1), E. Sands, R. Magee (1-3). Subs: S. Murray for Coleman, F. Rodgers for Braniff.
Lisbellaw: M. Curry, D. Teague (0-1), F. Bannon, C. Corrigan, M. Teague, M. Slevin, O. Russell, J. Duffy (0-5), R. Porteous, B. Duffy, T. Cleary, K. Kehoe, J. P. McGarry, S. Mulholland, S. Corrigan (1-5). Subs: A. Breslin for Porteous, C. McShea for Mulholland, J. Gavin for Russell, M. Williamson for Cleary.
Portaferry 2-17
Lisbellaw 1-11
ULSTER SHC SEMI-FINAL

Tweets by @TheDownRecorder