Feature: Magic Ulster final moments

Ahead of Sunday’s blue ribbon showdown, Niall Gartland looks back at some of the highlights from Ulster finals over the last decade

2025: Oisin Conaty leveller
FIRST of all, what a game of football – for the fourth year running, the Ulster final went to extra-time and it was holders Donegal who repeated their previous year’s victory over Armagh to retain their title. It was a game packed with special moments – the most significant of which was a glorious 88th minute winner from substitute Niall O’Donnell.

2024: Shaun Patton’s decisive shoot-out save
SORRY Armagh fans, look away now. This was a wondrous game of football that was eventually settled on penalties, and Donegal goalkeeper Shaun Patton was the hero of the hour as he denied Shane McPartland after the final kick of a marathon contest. It wasn’t the greatest penalty in the world and it’s a cruel way to settle such a significant contest, but you still have to credit the Donegal keeper for holding his nerve in front of more than 30,000 spectators.

Darragh McMullen – Armagh’s unsung hero

2023: Brendan Rogers score
BACK-TO-BACK for Derry, and it certainly wasn’t a straightforward day at the office with this epic encounter with Armagh going all the way to penalties. Odhrán Lynch pulled off three saves in the shoot-out, so he was certainly the hour of the hour, but we’ll give the ‘magic moment’ to Brendan Rogers for an early point from play after weaving through a number of challenges. He also scored a goal on a day where everything seemed to go right for the Sleacht Néill star.

2022: Conor Glass’s winner
BRENDAN Rogers was at the heart of this one as well with Derry clinching their first Ulster Senior Championship since 1998 in a claustrophobic, tense encounter with Donegal. The game went to extra-time and Derry held firm with points in the dying embers from Rogers and Glass. It was Roger’s assist for Glass’s score that lives in the memory as he embarked on a lung-bursting run in sweltering conditions.

2021: Rory Beggan’s intervention
TYRONE claimed the title with a point to spare at Croke Park, but perhaps the moment that stands out in the memory is the remarkable intervention from Rory Beggan, who was caught stranded as Mattie Donnelly raced forward for a possible goal. Beggan put on the afterburners and somehow managed to get a hand in to perfectly dispossess the Tyrone stalwart. A brilliant play but ultimately it was Tyrone who edged a cliffhanger final.

BIG GAME PERFORMER…Brendan Rogers played a leading role in Derry’s back-to-back Ulster title wins over 2022 and 2023

2020: Conor Madden’s late goal
CAVAN stunned hot-favourites Donegal behind closed doors at the Athletic Grounds in a low-scoring but enthralling contest. The defining moment came in stoppage time when Conor Madden smashed home a goal after Shaun Patton had parried a booming delivery from Gearóid McKernan. After that, there was no way back for Donegal on a historic evening for Mickey Graham’s men.

2019: Jamie Brennan’s goal
JAMIE Brennan put this game to bed with just under an hour played when he shook off the attentions of two Cavan defenders before dinking the ball soccer-style to the net. It put Donegal into a 1-18 to 0-12 lead and that was basically that. The two teams met again the following year – though this time with a very different outcome.

2018: Ryan McHugh goal
ANOTHER fairly lop-sided affair. Fermanagh were underdogs and never really got going against a seasoned Donegal side who ran out 2-18 to 0-12 victors on a sun-splashed day in Clones. Donegal’s class was written in bold print all over this decider and Ryan McHugh’s goal was a real peach, unleashing a rocket of a shot to the net.

2017: Ronan O’Neill
ANOTHER goal more than worthy of flagging up. Tyrone ran riot against Down on their way to retaining their Ulster title and second-half sub Ronan O’Neill bagged two goals during his time on the pitch. One of them was a thing of beauty, lobbing goalkeeper Michael Cunningham for his second goal six minutes from the end.

2016: Sean Cavanagh
A CLOSE call, this one. Tyrone edged into a one-point lead when Peter Harte banged over a phenomenal score with the outside of his boot, but arguably even better was Sean Cavanagh’s equaliser. He carried the ball from deep, horsed past a few Donegal challenges and then while off-balance somehow steered a miraculous shot over the bar. It was a huge day out for Tyrone as they gained redemption for a series of disappointing defeats to Donegal in the earlier part of the decade.