Ulster club SFC: St Gall's stay on course

November 09, 2009
St Gall's (Antrim) 0-10 Pearse Og (Armagh) 0-8 St Gall's stayed on course for this year's Ulster club SFC crown yesterday when they edged out a worthy challenge from Armagh champions Pearse Og at Casement Park to take their place in the last four. In a game which failed to sparkle, it was the Antrim holders that got off to the better start after former Fermanagh ace Rory Gallagher and CJ McGourty (free) lashed over a point each within the opening two minutes. A neatly-struck '45' from Paul Duffy and an effort from Sean Moore levelled the game on 15 minutes for Pearse Og, but Gall's upped the ante thereafter as McGourty (2, 1 free), Sean Kelly and Karl Stewart knocked over the points that put their team four points clear. To their credit, Pearse Og recovered well from that spirited spell by their opponents. A free from Marc Cullen and well-struck effort from Ronan Clarke only saw them trail by 0-6 to 0-4 at the interval. Kevin McGourty and Clarke traded points early on in the restart, and when Duffy popped up from wing back to split the St Gall's posts there was just one point in the difference coming into the final 15 minutes. Sean Burke moved Gall's back into a two-point advantage, but a free from Conor Clarke and an effort from Declan McManus had the sides' level on 51 minutes. Ronan Clarke squandered a shot at glory soon after, as he ran through on goal and blazed his shot wide of the post. That allowed Gall's to regroup, and they drove on towards victory with late points from Kevin Niblock (free) and Kevin McGourty to book their place in the semi-finals against Clontibret.

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