Section B
Cavan 3-9
Armagh 1-11
Cavan claimed their first victory in this year’s Dr McKenna Cup tonight with a four-point win over Armagh in the Athletic Grounds tonight.
Terry Hyland’s men bounced back from last weekend’s loss to Down in Kingspan Breffni Park against an Armagh team who were making their 2013 debut in the competition.
With just three teams in this group due to Queen’s University’s decision to withdraw, the outcome will now be decided by Wednesday night’s last game between Down and Armagh in Newry.
Cavan entered the game knowing that they required a victory to maintain their interest in the competition and they got to a brilliant start when Tomas Corr fired to the net in the 9th minute to propel them into a 1-2 to 0-0 lead.
And nine minutes later Martin Dunne, their chief scorer last weekend against Down, raised their second green flag.
But Armagh fought back before half-time with Stefan Forker, who grabbed 0-6 overall, impressing in the scoring stakes and Gavin McParland struck their first goal of the match to leave them only trailing by 2-5 to 1-5 at the midway mark.
Armagh trimmed the deficit further in the early stages of the second-half to leave them only 2-6 to 1-8 adrift by the 40th minute but then Dunne pounced for his second goal of the game for Cavan.
And the Breffni county kicked on from there with midfielder Gearoid McKiernan, who shot 0-4 during the game, leading the way as they ran out winners by a four-point margin as Armagh manager Paul Grimley saw his team defeated in his first game in charge.
Derry’s James Kielt. Pic: INPHO/Presseye/Lorcan Doherty
Section C
Derry 1-13
UUJ 0-6
Derry collected their first points in this year’s Dr McKenna Cup this evening in Celtic Park with a comfortable victory over UUJ.
New boss Brian McIver saw his team claim a success after the two-point loss they suffered against Tyrone in Healy Park last Sunday.
Derry lead by 1-6 to 0-3 at the interval with Ciaran McFaul providing them with a huge boost when he found the net just before the break.
Key attackers James Kielt and Eoin Bradley had been amongst their point-scorers in the opening half.
Derry maintained their dominance in the second-half with Enda Lynn to the fore in keeping the scoreboard ticking over.
By the 55th minute they were ahead by 1-11 to 0-5 and ultimately ran out ten-point winners.
