BY COLM SHALVEY
Clontibret 1-09
Doohamlet 1-02
CLONTIBRET returned to winning ways in the Drumlin Group of Credit Unions Senior Football League when they proved too strong for parish rivals Doohamlet at home last Sunday.
Clontibret went in on the back of three straight defeats, while Doohamlet were in confident form after beating Ballybay the previous Wednesday, but that mattered little as the hosts ran out comfortable winners.
Clontibret, who brought John Paul and Dessie Mone back in but were without the suspended Fergal Mone, could afford to kick ten wides and still have seven points to spare. Despite strong performances from Colin Walshe, Barry McGinn and Gabie Casey, Doohamlet sorely missed the injured Paul McArdle and they struggled up front, with McGinn their only scorer, all but a point of which came inside the last ten minutes.
Clontibret took the lead almost straight from the throw-in, as Dessie Mone marked his return to club action by bursting through to kick a good point. Conor McManus quickly opened his account from a 20-metre free after a foul on Pauric Boyle, before adding a point from play, but Doohamlet got off the mark on ten minutes when good pressure by their forwards forced a Clontibret defender to touch the ball on the ground, allowing Barry McGinn to tap over a close-range free.
The remaining 20 minutes of the first half developed into a war of attrition, with a raft of frees and five yellow cards being accompanied by just one point – a 40-metre free by McManus after a …