Tone slip up again
Newtownstewart 0-8
Drumquin 0-7
A SEVEN-game unbeaten run for Drumquin was ended by Glenelly the previous week and Newtownstewart inflicted a second reversal on the Tones here, one made all the more costly by the fact that Strabane won to take over the outright mantle of table-toppers.
Sunday's far from summer style weather made flowing football tricky and this was borne out by a gap in the second half scoring after the St Eugene's had showed ahead at the interval by 0-6 to 0-4.
Dean Arnold accounted for three of those home points in the first segment of play, Ryan McCallion in chief and Liam Patterson on target at the opposite end.
The teams went 22 second half minutes without troubling the umpires but Arnold and Kevin Gallagher had key points to keep Newtownstewart noses in front.
New leaders at top
Errigal Ciarán III 2-5
Strabane 3-15
WARNER Mullen bagged two spot kicks as Strabane soared to the top of Division Three in impressive fashion away to Errigal Thirds.
Drumquin's defeat by Newtownstewart saw the Sigersons take full advantage at Dunmoyle, the visitors seeing off an in-form home side without too much in the way of fuss. Errigal were left chasing the play after Strabane established a wind-assisted 0-10 to 0-0 advantage with Mullen, John McLaughlin, Chris Devine and John Paul Gallagher in the scoring mix.
Dara Tierney and Aodhan McCullagh had Errigal goals on the night as the Valley men tried to stem the tide despite being reduced to fourteen players.
But a brace of Mullen penalties plus points from varied sources and a goal via Devine wrapped it all up for the new divisional leaders.
Goal seals Eire Ogs fate
Brackaville 1-12
Clogher 0-9
THE return of some injured players to Brackaville's fold helped make a significant difference as the Roes overcame Clogher to potentially kick start their season at this midway stage.
Exchanges proved pretty even during the first half, Brackaville edging matters on a margin of 0-7 to 0-5. Ciaran Gervin drove over four of those scores, Ciaran Shields hitting four points in open play for the Eire Ogs.
Shields added point number five as Clogher tied the game up at 0-7 apiece in the third quarter. Sean McCaffrey also scored for Clogher but Brackaville enjoyed a quick points burst to forge 0-11 to 0-8 up with time ticking away.
A Gervin goal set the seal on Brackaville's victory and Clogher now must concentrate on their impending championship opener to come shortly against Beragh.
Second half Fintona surge
Fintona 0-15
Owen Roes 0-6
OWEN ROES are still searching for a first win in the current league campaign but their hopes of breaking that duck here fizzled out as Fintona pulled clear during the course of the second half.
The Roes held their own adequately enough in the opening 30 minutes, ending it with five points to Fintona's six via the efforts of Kevin O'Neill, Chris Kelly and others to leave the North Tyrone team with some reason for optimism.
Sean Monteith nabbed three of Fintona's first half tally, Benny McCarney landing two and Monteith tagged on another one in the final half.
Mark Donnelly drilled over four second period points, one from a 45 metre free, as the Pearses opened up increasing daylight. Fergal McCann and Pauric Kelly converted further points, Owen Roes only able to find a solitary reply.
First half foundations
Augher 1-11
Derrytresk 0-7
THE only goal of the game by Aidan McElroy helped Augher to maintain their winning run of late at home to a spirited Derrytresk side on Friday evening.
McElroy took advantage of good approach play by Aidan Cassidy to fire home on 17 minutes, Cassidy with three first half points and Jamie Donnelly belting over two as back-up. Derrytresk struggled to get going in the first segment and trailed at the break by 1-6 to 0-2, Cathal O'Neill spearheading a revival of sorts after the resumption as he hit some eye-catching scores, O'Neill finishing the tie on six all told. Niall Galvin got their other point on the night.
Augher, though, never really saw their lead seriously threatened and late points via Donnelly, Conor Hackett and Stephen McCaffrey secured success.
St Eugene's show spirit
Beragh 1-11
Castlederg 2-11
THE visiting St Eugene's rallied superbly to turn this game around during the second 30 minutes and leave Beragh with some head scratching to do leading up to their championship date against Clogher early next week.
All looked to be going reasonably well to plan for Beragh at the halfway juncture as they led on a scoreline of 1-8 to 0-5, Martin Rodgers netting the home goal and Mickey Ward plus Rodgers himself knocking over useful points.
Castlederg set out their stall more emphatically after the restart and they soon had the Beragh defence on the backfoot. Mark Corey led the points charge, ably assisted by Aidan Lynch and Damian Leonard. The game slipped beyond Beragh's reach when Brendan Coyle and Sean Meehan claimed majors to copper fasten the Castlederg revival.
Honours even at Glenelly
Glenelly 2-6
Drumragh 0-12
MARTIN Taggart rescued a point for Drumragh as they displayed commendable battling qualities to get some reward from a visit to a Glenelly team that approached the game in a decent vein of form.
The first of two Seamus Harkin goals enabled Glenelly to enjoy a 1-5 to 0-5 cushion at the midway mark, Cathal Nicolas and Harkin also on points duty for the host St Joseph's.
Drumragh, who registered opening half points via Taggart, Paul Maguire and company, were playing a bit more like their old selves. Gavin Starrs and Gavin Quinn got on the scoresheet as well and they went one up inside the last ten minutes. Harkin then struck for his second goal(2-3 overall), although Drumragh refused to panic and a Maguire score pre-empted Taggart's levelling contribution.
Donnelly on song
Aghaloo 2-13
Dregish 2-11
THIS was a good contest and Dregish showed plenty of pluck to push the Valley team close in a free-scoring encounter.
Stephen Donnelly landed a string of fine home scores throughout, some frees complementing efforts from play and he added a goal in harvesting 1-10 overall.
Aghaloo led 1-7 to 1-2 at the halfway stage, Peter McCrossan bagging the Dregish three-pointer as the Pearse Ogs stayed within relative range.
Sean Douglas and Martin O'Neill fired over home points after the resumption but Dregish began to find their scoring stride with Aidan O'Kane and Chris O'Kane hitting some tidy points plus Chris O'Kane rattled the back of Aghaloo's net. The away team edged narrowly in front inside the last quarter but a Martin O'Neill major subsequently clinched the spoils for Aghaloo.
