Ballinderry survived a late scare to reach the Derry SFC final at Dungiven's expense in front of 5,000 spectators at Celtic Park. Paul Murphy had a chance to send the tie to a replay when he stood over a 20-metre free close to the right sideline, but while his effort was on target the ball dropped just short and the final whistle sounded moments later. Ballinderry, who fielded without Enda Muldoon and Kevin McGuckin, looked to be on their way to a comfortable victory when a Brian McGuckin goal helped them to a 1-6 to 0-3 interval lead. But a Cathal Grieve major 12 minutes into the second half brought Dungiven back from the brink and they had narrowed the deficit to the minimum before Murphy's late attempt for an equalizer dropped agonisingly short. The other semi-final between Slaughtneil and Ballinascreen ended in a 1-10 each draw, with the replay set to take place on Wednesday night. Slaughtneil led by 1-7 to 1-5 at half-time and they extended their advantage to three points before Ballinascreen came storming back to force a replay. Tweet

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