Ruairi Convery.
Derry 1-13 London 0-10
Derry survived a fright to eventually run out comfortable winners over London in their National Hurling Division 2A clash at Celtic Park this afternoon.
The home side looked to be on their way to a comfortable win when leading by four points in the 22nd minute of the first half.
But the visitors stormed back and settled for a point instead of going for goal from the penalty spot shortly before the break,
It was a decision that was to prove costly as they were reduced to 14 men a minute before the half-time whistle.
Even with a man less, London kept in touch up until less than ten minutes remaining when a defensive error allowed a Convery long distance free to fall into the net.
Oisin McCloskey opened the scoring for Derry with a point as early as the second mintage.
Two points from Convery, one from a free, put the home side three clear in the eighth minute.
A Stephen Lambert free opened London’s account in the 13th minute.
Convery again put over the bar five minutes later but the score was ruled out for a free in favour of Derry, which the captain duly converted to restore the lead to three points.
Brendan Rogers extended the lead with a fine point in the 22nd minute.
London then took command with scores from Darren Moore, Martin Duggan and Stephen Lambert reducing the deficit to a single point by the 31st minute.
London had a golden opportunity to go into the lead but John Grealish put his penalty effort over the bar a minute from the half-time break.
As the half-time whistle approached, London’s Stephen Frawley was shown a red card for striking out at Convery.
Convery points from a free, after a foul on Rogers, and a successful 65 conversion put Derry back in the lead early in the second half.
Johnny O’Dwyer and Chrissy Convery points restored Derry’s four point lead by the 45th minute on a scoreline of 0-09 to 0-05.
But London were not prepared to lie down and reduced the deficit to two points before Convery slotted over a 65 to put three between the teams in the 55th minute.
The game was put beyond London’s reach when a Convery 70 metre free was allowed to drop to the net with only nine minutes left on the clock.
London reduced the deficit to four points with four minutes left before a long range Convery free eased the Derry nerves.
A London point was followed by Johnny O’Dwyer and Brendan Rogers points.
The game is part of a double header at Celtic Park and will be followed by Derry senior footballers National Football League Division One clash with Westmeath at 2.30pm.
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