Newbridge overcome Dunloy in Ulster club opener

Newbridge saw off the challenge of Dunloy on Saturday night

Newbridge produced a strong finish to defeat Antrim side Dunloy 1-14 to 0-11 in the Ulster Club Senior Football Championship preliminary round encounter at Owenbeg.

The Derry hosts moved in front early in the game and led by two before Keelan Molloy and Deaglan Smith hit two-pointers to give Dunloy a 0-8 to 0-6 lead at the break.

Dunloy stretched their lead to three but Oisin Doherty split the posts before Newbridge scored the game's only goal on 42 minutes.

Oisin Doherty's pass set up Callum McGrogan to palm into the net at the back post.

Seann Elliott levelled for Dunloy before Newbridge stormed clear late in the match to book a quarter-final meeting with Armagh champions Madden.

"It was always going to be (tight). We knew the quality Dunloy had up front, so we knew it would go down to the wire," said Newbridge manager Gary Hetherington.

"We probably made it more difficult than we should have with missed chances. That's the story of our year, but we're happy enough.

"We missed opportunities in the second half and missed three or four when we talked about finishing out the attacks to not give Dunloy the chance to counter-attack like they did against Cargin."

Newbridge have the final say

Dunloy were making their first appearance in the Ulster Club SFC thanks to winning the Antrim crown after an 89-year gap.

They trailed Newbridge for most of the first half but three points from Molloy helped keep them in touch before finishing the first half in style to lead by two.

Oisin Doherty, Sean Young and Conor Doherty fired over two points apiece for Newbridge.

Molly put Dunloy three ahead on the restart and that advantage was restored by Ryan McGarry after a Mark McGrogan score.

The rest of the game belonged to Newbridge as they hit 1-7 while Dunloy could only muster a single point.

Conleth McGrogan and Oisin Doherty slotted over two-pointers as the Derry men marched on to the next round.