Ballinderry Shamrocks

Ballinderry had to pull out all the stops to see off the determined challenge of Craigbane who were in contention right to the final whistle, their failure to convert scorable frees a major factor in their defeat.

A well-taken point from a free in the 28th minute by Conrad McGuigan tied the scores at 1-4 each after a close and entertaining opening half at Dungiven.

Cassidy pointed three frees on the restart but a 20th minute goal by John Donaghy reduced the deficit to a point just minutes after Kieran McElhinney had dropped a Gilligan 45 into his own net.

In the closing minutes Cassidy brought his tally to seven points as Shamrocks held on for victory.

Ballinderry: A Rocks; P Wilson; K McGuckin; S Mullan; R McGuckin; D Conway; J Bell; J Conway; S Donnelly; C Gilligan 2-0; E Muldoon 0-1; B McOscar; G Cassidy 0-7; A McGuckin 0-2; S McGuckin. Subs: F Muldoon for S McGuckin, D Crozier for

J Bell; D Bateson for F Muldoon.

Craigbane: P McLaughlin; M McGinty; F Moore; D McLaughlin; F Crossan; J McCluskey; A Dallas 0-2; K McElhinney; J Donaghy 2-0; K Moore; G McLaughlin 0-1; C McGuigan 0-2; T Coll, P Brown 0-2. Ref: Dessie Kearney, Maghera