A late scoring burst helped Drumragh U16 boys to a win over Strabane on Thursday evening.
Two quick goals from the home side saw them lead when the game entered the final 10 minutes. But late goals from James Gallagher and Conor Fyffe helped Drumragh secure all points.
It was Drumragh who opened the scoring when corner back Aaron Duncan came up the field to pop the ball over the bar following a strong run through the Strabane defence from Conor Fyffe. Drumragh had other chances early on, but good attacking play from Connor McLaughlin, Ben McCullagh and James Fyffe was not reflected on the scoreboard.
Strabane came more into the game as the half progressed. They levelled the game with a free, but were finding the Drumragh defence in a determined mood. Oisin Walsh, Matthew Barrett and Sean O’Donnell stopped various attacks when it looked like Strabane would score. Matthew O’Doherty was a safe pair of hands in the Drumragh goal too, confidently dealing with a number of high balls that dropped short into the square.
Ollie Hagan then put Drumragh back in front when he reacted quickest to James Fyffe’s shot coming off the crossbar to steer the ball past the goalkeeper. James quickly extended Drumragh’s lead with a super score from play after good play from Oisin Walsh, Joseph Taggart and Niall Burt in the build-up.
Ben McCullagh won the ball back for Drumragh, and it was then moved upfield through the hands of Connor McLaughlin and Matt Gallagher and eventually to James Fyffe who sent over another excellent point from the right hand side. A Strabane free left Drumragh with a four-point lead at half-time.
Both sides had chances in the early stages of the second half. Lorcan Starrs, Niall Gormley and Matt Gallagher were unlucky not to score while Matthew Barrett, Tiernan O’Donnell and Aaron Duncan did well to prevent Strabane from doing so.
Strabane made it a one-point lead when they were awarded and converted a penalty. They soon added another goal to take the lead for the first time in the game.
But the Drumragh response was impressive. The team, along with all subs introduced, upped the level of performance and hit 2-4 unanswered to secure the win. Niall Gormley set up Matt Gallagher for a point, before Lorcan Starrs equalised with an assured point from distance.
Drumragh then hit the front. Connor McLaughlin took a midfield mark, and kicked the ball into Matt Gallagher. Matt’s clever cross-field pass found James Gallagher in space who stylishly finished to the bottom corner of the net.
A great bit of defending from Matthew Barrett protected that lead, and that led to goal number three. A quick exchange of passes between several players put Conor Fyffe through on goal and he fired the ball to the back of the net.
Matt Gallagher was on target, while Lorcan Starrs’ pop-pass allowed James Fyffe to complete the scoring and continue Drumragh’s unbeaten start to the season.
SCORERS: Ollie Hagan 1-0, James Gallagher 1-0, Conor Fyffe 1-0, James Fyffe 0-3, Matt Gallagher 0-2, Lorcan Starrs 0-1, Aaron Duncan 0-1
TEAM: Matthew O’Doherty, Sean O’Donnell, Matthew Barrett, Aaron Duncan, James Gallagher, Oisin Walsh, Conor Fyffe, Shea Mullin, Connor McLaughlin, Niall Burt, Joseph Taggart, Ben McCullagh, James Fyffe, Matt Gallagher, Ollie Hagan
SUBS: Niall Gormley, Che Corry, Sean Boyle, Christopher Forde, Tom Barrett, Tiernan O’Donnell, Mark O’Neill, Ryan Colgan, Shay Donnell, Lorcan Starrs
Drumragh forward James Fyffe drives forward against Strabane on Thursday evening
