Semi-final places up for grabs in Electric Ireland Ulster MFC
Electric Ireland Ulster MFC Round two (Saturday, 12pm)Armagh v Donegal (the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds)IT’S just five weeks since Armagh made the journey to Letterkenny to face Donegal in the Ulster Minor Football League semi-final. Their hosts proved too strong that day, winning 3-11 to 1-9 to reach the decider.Goals from Joseph Gibbons, Matthew Enright and Joe Doherty were key for Barry Ward’s side in that eight-point win, although they couldn’t back it up in the final against Tyrone, which they lost by eight points.Now, it’s all about the championship and the pair lock horns in round two today after opening victories two weeks ago – Armagh seeing off Antrim and Donegal accounting for Monaghan.Goals from Ryan Dynes and Daithi O’Callaghan made all the difference for the Orchard county as they earned a five-point win in Crossmaglen, with O’Callaghan really catching the eye, finishing with 1-4 from midfield.Armagh boss Barra Ó’Muiri lost corner-forward Eoin McCreesh in the pre-match warm-up, the Cullyhanna youngster picking up a late injury, but Keelan McEntee did return to action, entering the fray after the half-time break.McEntee was a member of the team that reached Ulster and All-Ireland finals last year, losing on both occasions to Derry, and the Crossmaglen clubman could find himself lining out from the start this weekend.Donegal held off a strong comeback from preliminary-round winners Monaghan, with Enright, Kalvin McLaughlin and Conor Farrell all raising green flags.Tomás Carr, who kicked 0-4 in that recent league clash with Armagh, pulls the strings from centre half-forward and is a player with huge potential. Armagh will have to keep him quiet if they are to have a chance of coming out on top.It’s nine years since Donegal have been in an Ulster final, one they went on to win before reaching an All-Ireland semi-final.Today’s winner will go straight to the last four of the competition, while the loser will face one of the winners from today’s round two qualifiersTyrone v Cavan (O’Neills Healy Park)TYRONE’S minors will surely be buoyed by the midweek success of the county’s U20 footballers, who claimed the Ulster title against Donegal.That was the county’s fifth provincial win in seven years at that level. Their minor record isn’t too bad either, although they haven’t reached the final since 2022, when they went back-to-back.Gerard Donnelly’s youngsters made a bright start to this campaign, hammering Fermanagh on the opening day, just a few weeks after winning the Ulster league title, when they beat Donegal by 1-15 to 1-13 in the decider.Peter Garrity and Eoin Long scored goals against Fermanagh, with the latter finishing with an impressive personal haul of 1-5, including a brace of two-pointers.Cavan will provide a much sterner test for Tyrone as they themselves have huge momentum behind them. They ended Derry’s impressive winning run with that 1-12 to 1-7 win at Kingspan Breffni in round one. Mark Reilly bagged a first-half major but it was a final-quarter onslaught that got Cavan over the line, outscoring their visitors 0-7 to 0-1, with goalkeeper Cian McConnell and Nathan Quigley claiming 0-3 each on the day.Cavan will be full of confidence and won’t fear their trip to Omagh as they eye up a place in the semi-finals of the competition.All the home teams won in the first round, so Tyrone will be hoping that that trend continues today.Qualifying round two (Saturday, 12pm)Down v Derry (Downpatrick)AFTER suffering a first defeat at minor grade since the 2022 All-Ireland semi-final, Derry got back on track by beating Fermanagh 3-15 to 0-11 last weekend and now travel to Downpatrick to take on Down today.The loser will exit Ulster and enter either Tier 2 or Tier 3 of the All-Ireland series, while the winner will take on one of the losers of today’s round-two games for a place in the Ulster semi-final.The Oak Leafs have been the team to beat at this level over the past few years, having collected back-to-back Ulster and All-Ireland titles, but they came up short in the opening round of this year’s competition against Cavan.A new-look Derry side led by the minimum at the break, with a Dáithí McCloskey goal putting them 1-6 to 1-5 ahead, but they scored just once after the turnaround at Kingspan Breffni.Down also lost their first outing of the season, with Monaghan earning a four-point preliminary-round win. Benny Coulter’s men will be eager to get back on track and will hope home advantage aids their cause.Monaghan v Antrim (St Tiernach’s Park)MONAGHAN are the only team in the qualifiers with a win under their belts having defeated Down in the preliminary round.Mochara Lynch and Oliver Kelly both nailed important three-pointers for Kevin Nolan’s men as they picked up a 2-11 to 0-13 victory on the opening day of the campaign and they carried that goalscoring form into their round-two clash with Donegal.Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to see them advance and Monaghan missed out on a spot in round two following a 3-10 to 3-8 loss. Harry Hamill, Tristan Nugent and Harry Treanor all raised green flags.Antrim ran Armagh close in their first round but ultimately came up short, with the Orchard County picking up a five-point win. For long periods of the game, the Saffrons were right in the mix and will be encouraged by that.Odhran Doherty impressed at centre half-forward for Joe O’Kane’s side, scoring four points from frees, while goalkeeper Cayden Smith pulled off a few fine saves and Cormac Trainor and Peter Molloy formed a solid centerfield pairing.
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