The final score flatters a Newtowne side that found it hard going against a spirited Claudy Rovers side. Both teams were short their talisman, Newtowne in Johnstone and for Claudy Martin Donaghy. Claudy were understrength due to a Gaelic match.

Trevor McSparron gave Newtowne the lead early on but the home side failed to capitalise on their promising start. After 17 minutes Claudy got back in the game when Ben McGuckin pounced on a defensive error.

From this point to half time Claudy matched the home side, if anything they showed more desire and determination. Willie Canning rolled back the years in a fine first half showing. He won ball after ball and kept the younger heads going.

Chances were few and far between in a tight first half. Ferris had a good effort go over the bar while McDermott went close for Claudy.

The second half initially followed a similar pattern. Claudy extremely industrious and defending in numbers. Despite this Noel McDermott shot just wide in the 50 th minute. Newtowne were playing into Claudy's hands. They booted the ball up the middle and didn't use the wide men enough. The central defensive pairing of Gary McCloskey and Rory McColgan were brilliant for Claudy. McColgan was particularly good.

As the game went on frustration set in. This became even more palpable when Kieran O'Reilly saved brilliantly from Ferris.A hard game almost spilled over after this point. Referee Cyril Hargan dealt with the situation well and tempers did cool.

In my opinion the turning point was Neil Mullan's decision to push up from defence into midfield. He began to get the ball out wide and thus stretch Claudy. The crucial second goal came 13 minutes from time. Newtowne got a contentious corner, the ball was cleared off the line from Ferris but Mickey O'Brien hammered the ball into the net.

The goal killed a spirited Claudy who were dead on their feet at this point. Newtowne scored twice late on. The third was a real gem. Great work from Marty Harkin saw him evade two tackles and his exorcet cross was guided beautifully into the net by Andy Ferris. Conor O'Hara scored late on for Newtowne. Mullan almost capped a fine display when he had a fine volley skim the bar late on.

Newtowne finished well, they showed good levels of fitness. In the absence of Johnstone it was good to see the younger heads of Morrison, Gary Moore and O'Reilly trying to lift Newtowne. I was really impressed by the spirit of Claudy. They worked tremendously hard and looked capable of holding on to a draw. With a full time they will be a real handful and they will take points off teams.

Newtowne Callaghan O'Reilly (c ) O'Brien Mullan Morrison McSparron G Logue O'Hara R Logue Ferris Moore Subs Harkin Woods