Derry Junior Football Championship: Semi final spots secured

Derry’s Junior Football Championship eliminated four more teams from the competition as the semi-final teams were confirmed at the weekend.

Ballerin, Ballymaguigan, Craigbane, and Lissan are another step closer to lifting the trophy after their quarterfinal victories at the weekend. 

Ballymaguigan were the first to secure their place in the semi-finals on Friday evening, as they just about got over the line against Magilligan, 1-13 to 1-8.

The current holders of the junior championship title were expected to overcome this test relatively easily, but Magilligan pushed them all the way as an unanswered late goal and collection of points as the game edged to the final whistle turned the result in favour of Ballymaguigan.

Magilligan were leading the game throughout but could not get the job done, and so Ballymaguigan progressed.

The South Derry club will realise they survived a scare as they look to secure consecutive championship titles, but will know with the semi-final next that they will need a better performance if they want to secure such an achievement.

Lissan were next to secure their passage to the semi-final with their 2-10 to 1-12 victory over Glack on Friday night.

Glack like Magilligan had very little expected of them coming into the quarterfinal matchup with the South Derry side; Lissan had played a full season at intermediate level and looked impressive in the group stages of the championship.

Yet Glack had not read the script and pushed Lissan right to the final whistle but came up short.

It was very much the story of Glack’s championship, so close but unable to secure a big victory as they lost to Slaughtmanus and Craigbane on close scorelines.

Lissan will be pleased to have gotten over the line and remain in the conversation to lift the trophy. 

The championship action was paused for Saturday before Craigbane reminded everyone why they are the favourites for the competition on Sunday afternoon.

Kevin Moore’s side seemed to be easing themselves into the quarterfinal fixture, as they were lucky to be leading at the interval by two points.

Yet, once the ball was thrown in for the second half, the handbrake seemed to be taken off as Craigbane demonstrated the quality they have, as they won 5-7 to 1-7.

Moneymore fought until the end of the game but were not able to handle the quick and decisive attacking play of the Lilywhites.

The game ran away from Moneymore as they conceded an early second half goal, which forced Moneymore to become more adventurous as they chased the game in the hope of progressing, but this was perfect for Craigbane as they exploited the space in their defence and they picked off their opponents, securing their place in the semi-final.

Craigbane will be a scary proposition for the other three remaining sides in the championship, as confidence looks to be flowing through the club and its players.

Ballerin were the final club to secure their semi-final spot on Sunday evening.

The only club that played junior league football this campaign left in the competition after they defeated the champions of the division, Slaughtmanus, on a scoreline of 1-7 to 0-6.

James McQuillan’s side had not beaten Ballerin in their two previous games this season and were hoping to make it third time lucky, but Slaughtmanus came up short.

Paul Ferris proved to be the difference between the two sides as he scored 1-3, with a goal from the penalty spot proving to be the pivotal score of the match.

The referee pointed to the spot with Ballerin leading 0-7 to 0-6 in the final 10 minutes as Cathal Deery was deemed to have committed a high tackle as Shane Ferris was clean through on goal, earning Slaughtmanus the first of their three red cards.

Niall Barr and Mark Duffy would receive the two other red cards and kill any chance Slaughtmanus had of staging a comeback.

Ballerin deserved their victory and can look forward to the semi-final, as they look to upset the three intermediate sides to claim the junior championship.