M&L Contracts SFC semi-final: St Colm’s Ballinascreen v Eoghan Rua. Throw-in 7.00pm on Sunday 15th Sept at Owenbeg. The senior game is preceded by the Link-It Logistics U14′A’ final: Bellaghy v Ballinascreen (5.30pm).
Anton Rafferty (2) and Carlus McWilliams contest possession in the 2010 semi-final at Banagher (Photo: Margaret McLaughlin.)
Goals. Every ambitious and well organised team has them. In this year's championship, both Ballinascreen and Eoghan Rua certainly fall into that category.
The second of this weekend's semi-finals is intriguing. They've already met which, as we all know, adds spice to any occasion. We only have to cast our minds back to the summer's melting encounters in Celtic Park between Derry and Down. The thinking of both teams will be influenced by the previous meeting.
In Round two, Ciaran McGoldrick scored the vital goal that saw his team past 'Screen in a tough encounter at Owenbeg. Last day out, and at the same venue, his brother Colm ran riot netting twice in their demolition of Loup.
As they proved in their race to the summit in 2010, this Eoghan Rua outfit know the route to goal and often take it, often with supreme efficiency. It's a trademark that their opponents on Sunday will recall from their previous semi-final meeting only three years ago.
Leading by 1-02 to 0-01 after seventeen minutes of the first half, thanks in part to a Dermot McBride penalty, Ballinascreen experienced the Eoghan Rua machine travel through the gears to register 1-06 in thirteen minutes – the goal a fisted effort from close quarters by Gregory Bradley following a Colm McGoldrick cross.
Although Ballinascreen put in a dogged second half performance, culminating in a goal mouth scramble, it was Eoghan Rua who progressed to their first senior final and ultimate glory.
Speaking to the Derry Post after the 2010 game, Manager Sean McGoldrick relived the experience which almost saw the men of 'screen shatter their dreams:
"We had a close call at the very end, they could have had a goal, but I was glad to see it coming off the line. Ryan had made a great save earlier too. We rode our luck a bit but we're there."
Semi-finals are for winning, there's no doubt about it.
Scanning the team sheets from that 2010 encounter and the list of probable's for Sunday, bar one or two changes; most of the key personnel are still in play.
Benny Heron – a 36th minute substitute and scorer of two points at Banagher three years ago – has developed into what looks like the real deal. Under Brian McIver, Heron has gone from a promising underage footballer to a recognised marksman on the inter-county scene. His two goals were the nails in the coffin for a Dungiven campaign which promised much. His play making and scoring ability for club and county will be familiar to many at this stage.
The McGoldrick Clan are just as familiar at this stage. You get the impression they could achieve just about anything they wanted, and in any discipline. If you sat down to design a GAA family from scratch, the blueprint wouldn't turn out a million miles away from them.
Other names less familiar emerged in 2010. Niall Holly was one. A mobile, talented young athlete and footballer, injury keeps him out this time around. However, like the production line they seem to have, you would have been forgiven for mistaking the forward runs of Sean McWilliams from the full back line for those of Holly.
After studying in the US for a year, McWilliams returned to the Eoghan Rua fold, and to Owenbeg earlier this year, prompting nudges and probing questions of: 'Who's that fella there?' among the crowd, with vocal tones suggesting a lasting first impression was made.
On Sunday, two teams will meet who are probably more experienced, each with their own development of young players, and also their complement of experienced heads who will be equally determined to progress.
Whilst impossible to predict, it's probable this will be a very 'modern' game of football to use that awful phrase. The fitness of both appears top notch. Tactically, Sean McGoldrick has been there and done that. Mickey Boyle has proven in games to date that not alone has he made 'Screen very hard to beat; they appear to be developing that ruthless attacking edge at just the right time.
With the final goal in sight, Sunday's repeat of 2010 looks like it could be just as close again. Impossible to call but that's what makes our championships what they are.
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