TYRONE IFC: Gervin goals sends Derrylaughlan into Intermediate Final

Derrylaughan made it through to the Intermediate Championship final when they ended surprise packets Aghaloo’s hopes at Healy Park on Friday evening.

There was little between the sides throughout with Ciaran Gervin’s third quarter goal ultimately proving to be decisive.

There was less than 20 seconds gone when Ciaran Quinn opened the scoring but Aghaloo levelled matters in the third minute with a well struck long range free off the ground from Niall McElroy. The Loughshore men though were the better side early on and after Quinn had put them back in front efforts from Fergal McAliskey and Tomas Carney left it 0-4 to 0-1 with only seven minutes gone on the clock.

Moments later Aghaloo had a let off when Paul Donnelly blasted the ball off the crossbar. That seemed to be a wakeup call for Aghaloo and by the 19 th minute they had got back on level terms thanks to points from Conor Mullen, Gary O’Gorman and Ruairi McGlone. A well struck “45” from Carney put the Kevin Barrys back in front bit Aghaloo wasted little time in responding with a quality effort from centre half forward O’Gorman. Aghaloo had the bit between their teeth and after Mullen had put them in front for the first time Darragh Muldoon made it a two point game. Derrylaughan though had the final say of the half when Carney cut in from the right wing to split the posts to leave it 0-7 to 0-6 at the break.

Liam Gervin sent over the equaliser in the opening moments of the second half with a superb score after going past a couple of challenges. In the 39th minute the crucial score of the game arrived. It was the result of a flowing five man moved that was well tucked away by Ciaran Gervin. Aghaloo though hit back and going into the final quarter they only trailed by the minimum margin thanks to points from the McGlone brothers Ruairi and Jody.

Quinn got his third of the night for the winners but experienced substitute Stephen Donnelly kept Aghaloo in touch with a fine free from an acute angle.

With ten minutes to go it was level pegging again when Donnelly played in a searching ball which O’Gorman got on the end of to punch over. It was anybody’s game but in the next attack Liam Gervin landed a wonderful score to edge Derrylaughan back in front once more. The same player then hit the score of the game from fully forty seven metres out before a free from his brother Ciaran made sure of their place in the decider.

Derrylaughan scorers: Ciaran Gervin 1-1, Tomas Carney 0-3, Ciaran Quinn 0-3, Liam Gervin 0-3, Fergal McAliskey 0-1

Aghaloo scorerss: Gary O’Gorman 0-3, Conor Mullen 0-2, Ruairi McGlone 0-2, Darragh Muldoon 0-1, Jody McGlone 0-1, Niall McElroy 0-1, Stephen Donnelly 0-1.

Referee: Eamon McHugh (Aghyaran).