Glenswilly’s young guns run out convincing winners away to Malin in Division 1

Glenswilly picked up their fourth win of the season to move up to second in Division 1 when they had six points to spare over Malin at Connolly Park on Friday night.

Daithi Gildea led the way for a youthful Glenswilly side, hitting six points from full forward and he was well assisted by Mark Bonner, Pauric Devine and Shane Tinney.

Leading by five at the break, visitors opened up a ten point lead midway through the second half and were cruising until Malin hit a purple patch, reeling off five unanswered points from the Conlon brothers Josh and Zach and Paul McLaughlin.

That halved their deficit going into the final ten minutes but Gary McDaid’s side were never in much danger and were able to see the game out and, appropriately enough, it was a 55th minute free from Daithi Gildea that ended the Malin revival.

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Glenswilly led by 0-8 to 0-3 at half time.

Paul McLaughlin had opened the scoring for Malin inside 60 seconds, but the visitors dominated proceedings for the rest of the half.

Daithi Gildea landed a couple of points, Shane Tinney converted two frees while Mark Bonner, Sean Collum and Jack Gallagher were also on the mark.

Pauric Devine hit the point of the half for Glenswilly, swinging over with the left from the left side of the field to put them seven clear by the 30th minute, and the same player would score a similar point from the ‘wrong side’ in the second period too.

Malin had chances throughout the first half, but mostly from long range with Glenswilly successfully defending the arc until the end.

The homesters hit five wides and dropped another few short but Josh Conlon landed a two point free with the last kick of the half to reduce the deficit to five at the break.

Young Ryan McGeoghegan got the opening score of the half, from so close to the sideline that he was almost in the Malin dugout when he hit it.

Glenswilly were non-plussed and dominated the third quarter, repeatedly cutting Malin open with Gildea popping over three points and midfielder Mark Bonner getting his second of the night.

Bonner also broke through the Malin defence in the 40th minute with his side’s only goal chance of the game, but Zach Conlon came out to close the angle and made a fine save.

Gildea added another, while Shane Tinney and Pauric Devine both fired over excellent points: Tinney after fieldling high and swinging over on the spin with Devine pointing from wide on the left off his left foot.

Glenswilly have contested a couple of minor and U21A finals over recent years and manager McDaid’s starting XV was drawn heavily from those squads, goalkeeper Caolan Kelly and defender Cormac Callaghan the only experienced heads amongst them.

Malin too were young, the team that reached the Intermediate final in 2023 and semi-final last year has broken up through a combination of retirements and emigration, with manager Paul Gallagher also missing leading marksman Christopher McLaughlin and the mercurial Benny McLaughlin through injury.

Light though their squad may have been, Malin gamely stuck to their task.

Zach Conlon, who showed good variety to his kickouts despite a hard Glenswilly press over the 60 minutes, came forward to stroke over a 45 that kickstarted their mini-revival.

Josh Conlon then landed his second two point free of the night, and when Sean O’Neill intercepted the resulting kickout the Glenswilly defence preferred to concede the free kick rather than let him charge through and Conlon had a simple tap over.

Paul McLaughlin then pointed with eight minutes of normal time remaining but it was to be their last score of the night.

A scrappy conclusion followed, with a few yellow cards issued by referee Anthony Finn for tired looking challenges and a raft of substitutions disrupting the flow of play.

Daith Gildea hit the final score of the night, a close range free in the 55th minute, and Glenswilly were out the gate with the two league points tucked in their back pocket. They’re gearing up for a big match against Glenfin next weekend.

Malin have two draws from their opening five games, and their next outing is away to Mac Cumhaill’s.

Malin: Zach Conlon (0-1, 45); Mac McLaughlin, Taylor Bonner, Gary Farren; Finn Ward, Ciaran Doherty, Sean Byrne; Ciaran O’Kane, Sean O’Neill; Christopher Doherty (PM), Josh Conlon (0-5, 1f, 2 2pt frees), Ryan McGeoghegan (0-1); Paul McLaughlin (0-2), Cormac Cullinan, Darragh Douglas. Subs Ben Curley for R McGeoghegan (47 mins); Michael Walsh for Finn Ward (55 mins); Damian Harkin.

Glenswilly: Caolan Kelly; Jack Gallagher (0-1), Sean Collum (0-1), Jake Kelly; Donal Gallagher, Cormac Callaghan, Liam McGinley; Mark Bonner (0-2), James McCauley; Oisin McGrenra, Reid Kelly, Pauric Devine (0-2); Shane Tinney (0-3, 2f), Daithi Gildea (0-6, 2f), Conor Kelly. Subs: Oisin McDaid and Oisin Crawford for Liam McGinley and Shane Tinney (both 49 mins); Killian Bonner and Keelan McFadden for Conor Kelly and Pauric Devine (both 59 mins).

Referee: Anthony Finn (Naomh Colmcille).