10 YEARS AGO

DERRY bowed out of the championship in gut-wrenching fashion in a Round 4A qualifier defeat to Tipperary. In arguably the best game of the 2016 championship to date, Derry were undone by three-injury time points in a high-scoring contest, and they had grounds for grievance as they were awarded just 12 frees by referee Martin Duffy, while Tipperary were granted 32 frees on the day. Manager Damian Barton elected not to blame the referee; instead he pointed to a concession rate of 1-21, acknowledging that his charges were too porous on the day.

Elsewhere, Ulster U21 Minor Champions Antrim were swept aside by Galway at the quarter-final stage of the All-Ireland race on a scoreline of 2-22 to 0-8.

There was also quite a bit of chat (and consternation) about a low-scoring Division One clash in Donegal. Glenswilly overcame St Eunan’s by 0-3 to 0-2 in a game blighted by poor shooting from both sides.

20 YEARS AGO

ANTRIM hurling had a mixed weekend while their Down counterparts suffered a massively disappointing defeat to Carlow.

The Ardsmen slumped to a shock defeat in the Christy Ring Cup semi-final, losing by 2-19 to 5-8, despite Paul Braniff scoring an incredible 4-6.

Antrim seniors had no problems reaching the final of hurling’s Championship second tier, easily thrashing Kildare by 2-24 to 0-11 in the middle match of the Mullingar triple-header.

The curtain-raiser in Cusack Park brought tears to Antrim’s minors, who played superbly but lost by 4-7 to 1-7 against Galway.

30 YEARS AGO

TYRONE retained their Ulster Championship with a 1-9 to 0-9 victory over Down at Clones.

Manager Art McRory singled out midfielder Pascal Canavan for special praise, describing his display as “magnificient.” He also highlighted excellent performances from Brian Dooher and Paul Devlin as key factors in a hard-earned victory. Down manager Pete McGrath, meanwhile, said that “it was just one of those games when things just didn’t go for us.

The goal when it came gave them a nice cushion and it was always going to be a struggle for us after it went in.”

In the curtain-raiser at Clones, a late point from Donegal minor Johnny McLoone earned his side a replay after a scrappy match with Derry.