N Power Dr McKenna Cup
Derry 1-17 St Mary’s 0-14
Derry booked an N Power Dr McKenna Cup semi-final spot against Tyrone with a six-point victory over St Mary’s at Owenbeg.
The home side went into their final Section B fixture as strong favourites with a 100 per cent record having defeated Ulster champions Monaghan and Fermanagh in their first two games.
But the home side did not have it all their own way and can thank the scoring heroics of man of the match Aaron Kerrigan for securing what in the end was a comfortable victory.
Kerrigan continued where he left off against Fermanagh with a point in the second minute before four points without reply put the students ahead again before Kerrigan reduced the arrears to 0-05 to 0-02 after 16 minutes.
An exchange of points by Canavan and James Kearney kept the gap at three points after 19 minutes before a goal and a point from Kerrigan put Derry ahead for the first time on 28 minutes.
Another point from close range from Kerrigan was cancelled out by a St Mary’s score on 30 minutes before Niall McFeely ended a fine Derry move involving Kerrigan and Anthony O’Neill to leave the score at 1-06 to 0-07 with a minute of the first half remaining.
A Kerrigan goal bound effort was pushed over the bar by the visiting keeper to leave the half time score at 1-07 to 0-07 in favour of the home team.
After the resumption, Brendan Hasson pulled a point back for St Mary’s ahead of Kerrigan once again pointing to keep the gap at three points after 39 minutes.
An exchange of points was followed by two scores for St Mary’s to reduce the deficit to just one point before points from Anthony O’Neill and Lynn restored the three point lead for the Oak Leafers after 50 minutes.
Points from Gerard O’Kane, Enda Lynn (2), Ciaran McFaul, Mark Lynch with just a single reply from the visitors put Derry in command on a scoreline of 1-16 to 0-13 after 63 minutes.
A point from the visitors and another from man of the match Kerrigan saw the game finish on a scoreline of 1-17 to 0-14.
Derry will play Tyrone in the semi-final on Sunday next after Mickey Harte’s side thumped Armagh 5-16 to 0-07.
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