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Donegal SFC

McLoone sees black as Naomh Conaill complete Donegal SFC final four

Naomh Conaill join Glenswilly, St Michael’s Dunfanaghy and St Eunan’s in the semi-finals.

Naomh Conaill 0-9

Ardara 1-5

NAOMH CONAILL COMPLETED the semi-final line-up of the RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta Donegal SFC with a narrow derby win over neighbours Ardara tonight at Ballybofey.

Eight Naomh Conaill second half wides left the door ajar and Marty Shovlin’s last-minute goal for Ardara brought it back to the bare minimum in the quarter-final replay.

Glenswilly, the county champions, had the luxury of taking events in from the terraces following their comfortable 2-9 to 0-4 win over Termon on Sunday .

This Saturday night’s meeting of St Michael’s from Dunfanaghy and Letterkenny side St Eunan’s — under the floodlights at MacCumhaill Park — will be the first of the semi-finals.

In Donegal Town on Saturday, Naomh Conaill and Ardara couldn’t be separated as the team from Pearse Park, who were five points up nine minutes into the second half with Ryan Melly the goalscorer, had to be content with a 1-9 to 0-12 draw.

When the sides met again tonight, Daragh Gallagher popped over three times in the first half, Brendan McDyer twice, while Dermot Molloy and Aaron Thompson were also on target as Naomh Conaill went in 0-7 to 0-2 in front at half-time.

Leo McLoone, though, was black-carded by referee Jimmy White two minutes before the break for a trip on Kenneth Doherty.

Slowly but surely, Ardara grew back into the game with CJ Molloy and Gareth Concarr scoring points, although it looked as though their arrears were too much as they were four down approaching the finish.

Shovlin’s goal, smashed under McGrath, when Kevin Harron provided the ammunition, led to a tight finish but Naomh Conaill held on through five minutes of injury time to win by the slenderest of margins.

Open Thread: We’ve picked our 2014 Allstar football team but what’s your prediction?