Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GWEEDORE 0-13 SCOTSTOWN 0-12 Gwee are the champions
DONEGAL MEN ON SONG AS THEY CLINCH FIRST EVER ULSTER TITLE
EAMONN MCGEE saluted the “drive and ambition” of youth as Gweedore were crowned kings of Ulster after an extra-time thriller in Omagh.
The veteran defender rated yesterday’s gripping one-point win over Scotstown up with his Ulster and All-ireland successes with Donegal as Gweedore became the county’s first Ulster winners since 1975.
“It’s a special feeling, we have looked on for years and years and it was nearly something you dreamt of,” he admitted.
“It felt like a World Cup final and sure you don’t get to play in a World Cup final. I suppose we used our experience well this year but the younger boys, I couldn’t credit them enough.
“They won an Ulster U21 club title earlier this year and brought the drive and the ambition to us because they were never happy with winning a county championship.
“We won it in 2006 and we were happy enough. They weren’t.”
Shane Ferry’s point in the fifth minute of the second period of extra-time proved to be the winning score but there were a few contentious talking points.
Shane Carey’s straight red card in the ninth minute of extra-time, when Scotstown led by a point, was one of them.
Carey had scored six points and his loss was a blow. While Gweedore also finished with 14 players, Mcgee’s second yellow came so late it had no bearing on the outcome.
Scotstown, seasoned in the Ulster club environment, were seemingly next in line to succeed Slaughtneil as provincial champions.
So this was a heart-breaking defeat and a second time in four years they lost an Ulster final after extra-time – Crossmaglen also winning by a point in 2015.
All-star goalkeeper Rory Beggan’s fairytale year also ended on a sour note.
He had a chance to take the game to a second bout of extra time but surprised everyone by dropping a 45-metre free short. They were level at 0-11 at the end of normal time, though there was a huge call made deep into stoppage time which prevented it from being ended right there.
Micheal Carroll thought he had nailed the winner but referee Noel Mooney disallowed the score for a throw ball by Odhran Mcfadden-ferry in the build-up.
It was a contentious call but TV replays showed it to be the correct one.
So Scotstown, who had led by two at 0-11 to 0-9 with five minutes to go, survived but failed to make the most of the reprieve and were strangely subdued in extra-time.
They were level five times in the first half in difficult underfoot conditions.
However, Scotstown, with Darren Hughes a growing force, appeared to steal a march on Gweedore in the third quarter.
They scored three points on the bounce through two Carey frees and a Conor Mccarthy point to move 0-8 to 0-5 ahead. In the context of the game, a three-point lead looked massive but Gweedore showed a lot of enterprise.
Macniallais finally shook off Damien Mcardle to score the equaliser with one minute to go before the late drama of Carroll’s disallowed point took it to extra-time.