Steelstown shine in impressive Championship victory over Drumsurn

Steelstown 3-14, Drumsurn 0-11

Steelstown's hopes of flying under the radar as far as the Intermediate Championship contenders is concerned all but disappeared with this scintillating quarter-final victory over Drumsurn at a sun soaked Banagher on Saturday.

Billed as the Intermediate clash of the weekend, Steelstown flew out of the blocks with 1-01 in under 90 seconds and barely put a foot wrong for the remaining 60-odd minutes with Ben McCarron unplayable at times.

The irony was Drumsurn didn't play badly. In fact they fashioned at least three gilt edged goal chances which could have changed the complexion of the game but in every key moment, it was a blue shirt who came out on top.

McCarron was superb but the Steelstown team was littered with pace and intensity to such a degree that the players were able to rotate positions almost at will, the likes of Gareth Logue and Eoghan Bradley as likely to pop up with a last ditch covering tackle as slot one over the bar. Eamon Gibson's team have all but dispensed with the usual attacking and defensive lines and move as one collective midfield full of pace and power and with the fitness levels required to maintain an incredibly intensive running game that Drumsurn simply couldn't match.

In the past, the Brian Ogs have often lacked the scoring spread their tidy build up play deserved and it has cost them championships. Not this year. Eight different scorers from across the team and the ability to spring the likes of Stephen Cleary, Jacob Duffy, Oran Sweeney and Stephen McCauley from one of the most competitive benches in Derry. This was seriously impressive stuff.

Not that Gibson will be fooled into thinking this display, as excellent as it was, brings anything other than a place in the semi-final draw. The Steelstown manager knows personally the pain of championship defeat and will have warned his players that no trophies are ever handed out for good quarter-final victories.

Drumsurn minds must be drifting back Lissan's decision not to field in the group stages, a walkover victory that probably condemned Drumsurn to the qualifiers' pot for the quarter-final draw rather than the group winners pot as the best runner up. St. Matthew's again dropped Tiarnan McHugh deep but in the face of the Brian Ogs pressure, Drumsurn's most potent weapon was too deep, appearing more in the '6' role rather than the '10' his team would like to have seen him springing forward from.

Three times they threatened goals and each time three points could have brought them right back into the game but championship margins are thin.

St. Matthew's had yet to score and trailed by six when Shea Murray was inches from touching a deflected shot into the empty net on nine minutes but he couldn't quite stretch. The same player saw a brilliant low shot smack the inside of the Steelstown post and scrambled clear minutes before half-time as well, while second half substitute Pearse McNickle found himself clear but thwarted by a brilliant Marty Dunne block on 50 minutes with the score at 2-10 to 0-10.

That save was huge because four minutes later Steelstown substitute Jacob Duffy put the game to bed with the Brian Ogs' third goal after great work by the impressive McMonagle.

Yet even the most ardent of Drumsurn supporters couldn't deny Steelstown were worthy winners. From the moment Ben McCarron charged forward from throw-in to set up Mickey McKinney for the game's opening score, the Steelstown stall was set and anyone in Fr. Mcnally Park could not have helped but be impressed.

Second's later Mark Foley couldn't believe his luck as the Drumsurn defence parted to allow him a clear run through and forward like Foley don't pass up invitations like that. Barely 90 seconds in Steelstown were 1-01 and starting to go through the gears.

It took 13 minutes for Drumsurn to register through a McHugh free but on 20 minutes McCarron had his side's second goal for a 2-04 to 0-02 lead. If McCarron was the executioner - stepping left and inside the Drumsurn cover to fire home - the goal owed everything to McMonagle's exquisite cross-field pass which picked McCarron out in front of the Drumsurn posts.

The half-time score of 2-08 to 0-6 barely did the Steelstown display justice, and Drumsurn knew they needed a huge second half. Despite improving, they didn't quite manage it with Steelstown's ability to introduce fresh legs ensuring the more St. Matthew's committed forward, the more vulnerable they were to counter-attack and the Brian Ogs simply picked them off with Duffy's goal putting the seal on an emphatic passage to the last four.

The big battles still lie ahead, but Steelstown are building real momentum.

Steelstown Brian Ogs: Ben McCarron (1-5, 4f), Mark Foley (1-0), Jacob Duffy (1-1), Mickey McKinney (0-2), Cahir McMonagle (0-3, 2f), Darren McDaid (0-1), Jason McAleer (0-1), Stephen Cleary (0-1, 1f)

Drumsurn scorers: Tiarnan McHugh (0-6, 5f), Daryl Mullan (0-1), Tiarnan Woods (0-1), Ruairi Rafferty (0-2, 1f), Shea Murray (0-1)

Steelstown Brian Ogs: Martin Dunne, Jason McAleer, Kevin Lindsay, Ryan McCloskey, Eoghan Concannon, Neil Forester, Diarmuid Baker, Michael McKinney, Emmett Deane, Gareth Logue, Eoghan Bradley, Ben McCarron, Mark Foley, Cahir McMonagle, Darren McDaid. (Subs) Oran Sweeney for G Logue, 37mins; Stephen McCauley for E Deane, 39mins; Stephen Cleary for E Bradley, 46mins; Jacob Duffy for M Foley, 50mins.

Drumsurn: Steven Harbinson, Eoin Ferris, Aaron Butcher, Dane Mullan, Daniel McNicholl, Dara Rafferty, Tiarnan Woods, Cahir Mullan, Mark O'Connor, Daryl Mullan, Ruairi Rafferty, Sean Butcher, Harry Foster, Tiarnan McHugh, Shea Murray. (Subs) Ryan Mullan for M O'Connor, HT; Pearses McNickle for H Foster, 42mins; Christopher Harbinson for S Butcher, 42mins;