Ballinderry defeat Ballinascreen to complete a three-in-a-row of Derry titles

Ballinderry 3-10 Ballinascreen 2-7

Ballinderry found the net twice in the space of 60 first-half seconds to set themselves on the road to a hat-trick of Derry titles.

Underdogs Ballinascreen had started well with Michael McBride’s 11th minute goal offering hope of an upset.

But goals from Darren Lawn and Michael McIver in the 21st and 22nd minutes proved decisive for the Shamrocks.

Ballinascreen missed two penalties as Ballinderry cruised to victory in the second half with Daniel McKinless adding a third goal to seal the win.

'Screen showed no signs of being overawed in the opening exchanges as Seamus Bradley opened the scoring after two minutes. Ballinderry took the lead following Ryan Bell's long range free and a lovely point on the turn from Colin Devlin.

Ballinascreen levelled through midfielder Michael McBride and with 11 minutes gone he added a goal with an emphatic finish to make it 1-2 to 0-2.

Level matters
But Ballinderry responded in the style with Darren Conway pointing, Ryan Bell converting a 45 and man of the match Devlin adding his second to level matters after 18 minutes.

Having achieved parity, Ballinderry hit two key goals within a minute. On 21 minutes Darren Lawn's shot which looked like a point attempt looped over Danny Devlin and crept under the bar. Less than a minute later Devlin was picking the ball out of the net for a second time after Michael McIver rocketed a shot home from the edge of the big square.

Ballinascreen's Benny Heron tamely scuffed a penalty wide following a foot block by Gareth McKinless. Conor Nevin got forward to kick the last score of the second half as Ballinderry led by 2-6 to 1-2 at the break. McKinless's goal on 44 minutes ended the game as a contest although Paul Burnsdid get a late consolation goal for Ballinascreen.
BALLINDERRY: M Conlan; R Scott, C Nevin (0-1), M McIver (1-0); R Wilson, G McKinless, D Lawn (1-0); K McGuckin, J Conway; D McKinless (1-0), D Conway (0-1), D McGuckin; C Devlin (0-5), R Bell (0-3, 0-1 free, 0-1 45), C Gilligan. Subs: A Devlin for D Conway (half-time), E Muldoon for G McKinless (48 mins), F Bell for D McKinless, M McGeehan for M Conlan, C Wilkinson for Gilligan (all 62 mins).
BALLINASCREEN: D Devlin; P McGlade, M McShane, D Scullion; R Devlin, D McBride, K Conway; M McBride (1-1), P Bradley; J Scullion, B Heron (0-1, 45), C McWilliams (0-1); S Bradley (0-3, 0-1 free), Gavin Kelly, Eamonn Murray. Subs: E McKillion for J Scullion (44 mins) E Murray for Kelly (47 mins), G Conway for Bradley (63 mins) S Woods for R Devlin (65 mins), P Burns (1-0) for Eamonn Murray (66).
Referee: B Cassidy (Bellaghy).