Derry 0-12
Longford 2-4
DERRY OVERCAME A five-point interval deficit to see off Longford in this afternoon’s Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor football quarter-final at Brewster Park in Enniskillen.
Slaughtneil’s Shane McGuigan was their scorer in chief as he landed 0-7 to enable the Ulster minor champions see off their Leinster counterparts.
Victory propels Derry into an All-Ireland semi-final clash on 23 August in Croke Park where they will face the winners of Monday’s quarter-final tie in Tullamore between Kerry and Sligo.
It was Longford, bouncing back from a Leinster final loss to Kildare, who started brightest.
First-half goals from Conor Berry and Darragh Doherty gave them a strong foothold in a game played in tough weather conditions.
At the interval Longford were in front 2-2 to 0-4 and when Ruairi Harkins pointed in the second-half, they were ahead 2-4 to 0-6 entering the final quarter.
However that transpired to be Longford’s last score of the match with Derry grabbing the last six points of the game and staying watertight at the back.
McGuigan took centre stage to fire four points on the spin to bring the sides level and then in the 57th minute Jack Doherty pushed Derry into the lead.
Conor Glass raised the insurance white flag to seal a two-point success for the Oak Leaf county.
Scorers for Derry: Shane McGuigan 0-7 (0-2f), Conor Glass (0-1f), Jack Doherty 0-2 each, Brian Cassidy 0-1.
Scorers for Longford: Conor Berry 1-3 (0-2f), Darragh Doherty 1-0, Ruairi Harkins 0-1.
