Clontibret seal victory with timely goals

Ulster Club SFC quarter-final replay/ Clontibret 3-8 Cargin 0-10: Clontibret (Monaghan) powered their way into the semi-final of the Ulster senior football club championship with this deserved victory over Antrim champions Cargin (Antrim) at Clones yesterday.

Goals effectively sealed the outcome of this match which produced a sparkling performance from both sides despite the atrocious playing conditions.

Cargin started the brighter with two early points from Shane Devlin and Kieran Close but Clontibret went on to dominate the opening quarter and two goals, by Vincent Corey in the eighth minute and Rodney Gorman in the 13th, put then firmly in the driving seat.

Clontibret led at half-time by 2-4 to 0-5 and consolidated with a brilliant third quarter where they held the opposition scoreless and tagged on three excellent points to give them an eight-point lead entering the final quarter.

Cargin's chances of making a fight of it were dealt another blow in the 19th minute when Clontibret crashed in goal number three courtesy of Noel Morgan and even though they had to play the final 10 minutes of normal time and the three minutes of stoppage time with 14 players following the dismissal of Pauric McGuigan on a second yellow card, Cargin never looked like turning it around.

To their credit Cargin threw caution to the wind in the final 10 minutes when they went on all out attack but their only reward was four points as they never looked like breaching a solid Clontibret rearguard for the goals they needed to turn this one around.

Clontibret now play Crossmaglen Rangers in the semi-final at Kingspan Breffni Park next Sunday at 2pm.

CLONTIBRET: P McElroy; E Greenan, E Ward, P Duffy; R Gorman (1-0), D Mone, D McKenna; J P Mone (0-1), D McKeown; P McGuigan (0-1), F Mone, C McManus (0-1); M Hughes, V Corey (1-1), N Morgan (1-4). Subs: B Óg Magennis for R Gorman, B McSkane for N Morgan, M Rooney for F Mone.

CARGIN: E McAuley; N Scullion, M Johnston, K O'Boyle; T Scullion, E McCann, D Johnston; E O'Neill, E Quinn; T McCann, J Crozier, S Devlin (0-2); K Close (0-6), M McCann (0-2), E McKee. Subs: K Doyle for E McKee, D McPeake for N Scullion.

Referee: M Hughes (Tyrone).