Ulster Minor football tournament

Termon v Emyvale

Sunday, Colaiste Feirste, 4pm

TERMON laid a few ghosts to rest in Saturday’s Ulster Minor Championship preliminary round win over Silverbridge, according to manager Trevor Alcorn.

The Donegal team’s luck deserted them at the same stage in last year’s Paul McGirr competition (the Ulster U-16 Championship). Depleted by injury, they lost out to Newtownbutler, and it looked like history was about to repeat itself when a few injuries beset the squad before their match against Silverbridge.

However, they produced a great team performance to secure a 1-10 to 0-6 victory, paving the way for this weekend’s quarter-final against Emyvale.

Alcorn commented: “The boys are delighted, it was great to get over the preliminary round. It was a monkey off the back after last year, and was our first win in Ulster.

“Last year we only had a panel of 16 players heading into the preliminary round, and it seemed like our bad luck was returning again this year so it was nice to get over the line.”

Termon still have a few major injury problems to contend with. Brian McGettigan is recovering from a broken collarbone, Kevin McGettigan is also out, and Aaron Reid is recovering from an anke injury. Otherwise, he has a decent enough panel to pick from.

“We were happy to effectively come through the Silverbridge match unscathed. Two fellas had to go off with tight calves but maybe that was just the surface, and there was another boy with a shoulder injury who had to come off but he had that problem going into the game. Other than that we seem to be okay.”

Alcorn, who admits he doesn’t know much about Monaghan champions Emyvale, also says it was delighted by his side’s collective effort against Silverbridge.

Their goalkeeper Emmet Maguire made two smart saves, Jamie Grant was sharp at full-back, while Bobby McGettigan, Stephen and Conor Black, and the midfield partnership of Jack Alcorn and Ryan McFadden all had their moments. Perhaps their best player of all was Conor Cassidy, who collected a mountain of ball as sweeper.

“I couldn’t single anyone out, they worked very hard for each other. Our defence was very, very good and worked very well together.

“It was nice as it was usually our forwards who have been getting us over the line so told Silverbridge to six points was very impressive.”