Slaughtneil and Glen will contest this year’s Derry senior football championship final after their semi-final victories at the weekend.
Defending champions Slaughtneil emerged victorious from their mammoth clash with Lavey after extra time, a team that had beaten them in the group stage of the competition.
The Loup proved to be no match for Glen as they were blown away at Owenbeg in a 23-point defeat.
Slaughtneil survived their biggest test of the Derry county championship on Saturday, October 30 when they dispatched of Lavey, who had finished the group stage ahead of the champions.
Shane McGuigan and Christopher Bradley were on hand throughout the game to get some important scores for their side – the pair combined for 1-12 of their team’s 1-13.
The pacey and young Lavey side had the lead early on courtesy of a Hugh McGurk strike that found the back of the net.
Patsy Bradley was black-carded, like in the group clash but the fixture turned out differently for the holders.
McGuigan got a goal for his side with a penalty and put his side in firm control of the tie after the side outscored their opponents by 1-5 to 0-2 following McGurk’s goal.
However, Lavey fought back and got three scores that crescendoed in an Eamon McGill equaliser that hit the net just moments from time to force the extra 20 minutes.
Yet, they could not keep up with Slaughtneil, who showed why they’re champions against a side who finished the game with 14 players under 24.
Elsewhere at Owenbeg on Sunday, Glen’s audition for a spot in the final was more than enough as they took down The Loup with ease.
Their well-drilled system kept a high-scoring Loup side to a low score as Malachy O’Rourke’s men made their semi-final look easy.
The winners of Group A had been firing on all cylinders in attack but leaking scores at the back heading into this game and O’Rourke and co. made them pay for it.
Glen now head into the Derry county final with an outrageous +81 point difference (130 points for, 49 against) after six games and their momentum could carry them even further.
