Downings 1-11
Glenswilly 1-21
By Matthew Wilson
Glenswilly maintained their one hundred percent record in the Senior Football Championship following a ten-point win over Downings at Pairc na nDunaibh on Sunday afternoon.
The Pairc Naomh Columba residents held a six-point advantage over the hosts at the interval, landing four two-pointers in Act One.
The Downings men tried to battle back after the restart but Darren McGinley’s charges pushed on to secure a superb victory on the road.
Glenswilly got the afternoon’s scoring underway inside two minutes, with Michael Murphy finding the target.
Just a minute later though, Downings landed a big score in the form of a major.
Cian McBride laid the ball off to wing-back Paidin Shields who rifled it into the bottom corner of the net.
The contest’s next two scores were traded between Murphy (45’) and Keelan McGroddy before Kealan Dunleavy saw the orange flag raised for his fine effort to level proceedings.
Murphy soon added his third point of the half courtesy of a free but it was quickly cancelled out by Patrick McElwee at the other end.
On the quarter hour mark, the Pairc Naomh Columba residents kicked home a goal of their own.
An attempt from Matthew Enright was blocked down on its way to goal but the ball soon arrived into the hands of Sean Collum who made no mistake in finding the back of the net.
The home side responded well to this setback, kicking back-to-back points through McElwee to level the contest once again.
However, Darren McGinley’s outfit landed five successive scores in the next number of minutes to build up a five-point cushion.
This period was commenced by a good point from Shane Tinney before Oisin McGrenra found the target from outside the arc to see the orange flag raised.
This was shortly followed by another successful two-point attempt, with Murphy slotting over a fine placed ball from distance.
The in-form McElwee responded with a fisted point for the Pairc na nDunaibh residents.
But the final score of Act One fell in favour of the away side, with Murphy firing over another two-pointed free following a breach to leave Glenswilly six ahead at the break.
Glenswilly’s Matthew Enright and Downings’ Johnny McGroddy exchanged efforts in the early stages of the second stanza.
On 41 minutes, Murphy stepped up to slot over another fantastic long-range free for the Pairc Naomh Columba residents to extend their cushion to eight points.
Shane Tinney soon added another point to the scoreboard as he curled over a tidy attempt to leave the visitors nine to the good as we entered the closing quarter.
Act Two’s next four points were shared evenly between the sides, with Dylan McGlone and McElwee finding the target for the hosts.
Meanwhile, Shane Tinney (free) and substitute Daithi Gildea added to Glenswilly’s tally for the afternoon.
With just under five minutes left on the clock, Glenswilly captain Kealan Dunleavy slotted the ball over the bar from close-range to move his team ten clear.
The impressive McElwee continued to add to his personal tally, firing over two superb scores either side of a Murphy 45’.
The afternoon’s scoring was concluded by Glenswilly substitute, Caolan Kelly, who posted a point deep into stoppage time, capping off a fine showing from Darren McGinley’s men.
Teams
Downings: Kyran Gallagher; Alex Gerwatowski, Tiarnan McBride, Daithi McGroddy; Paidin Shields (1-0), Ronan Gallagher, Dylan McGlone (0-1); Cian McBride, Shane Coll; Oisin Boyce, Keelan McGroddy (0-1), James Travers; Gary McClafferty, Patrick McElwee (0-8), Johnny McGroddy (0-1). Subs: Paul McGroddy for Daithi McGroddy (25 mins), James Lee McBride for Travers (50 mins), Owen Bamforth for McClafferty (52 mins).
Glenswilly: Donnacha Gallagher; Cormac Callaghan, Jamie McCauley, Mikey Toner; Dylan McAteer, Sean Collum (1-0), Liam McGinley; Mark Collum, Kealan Dunleavy (0-3,1tp); Reid Kelly, Eoghan Scott, Shane Tinney (0-3,0-1f); Oisin McGrenra (0-2,1tp), Michael Murphy (0-10,3tpf,0-2f,0-2 45’), Matthew Enright (0-1). Subs: Daithi Gildea (0-1) for Enright (47 mins), Caolan Kelly (0-1) for Tinney (52 mins), Donal Gallagher for McCauley (53 mins).
Referee: Daniel Carlin (Naomh Padraig, Lifford).