Derry restricted Fermanagh to just two scores as they hammered the Erne County 5-20 to 0-03 in their Ulster Under-20 championship clash at at Find Insurance Celtic Park.
Mattie McDermott's fine two-pointer put Fermanagh ahead in tough conditions, but Derry hit two goals in two minutes, through Conall Higgins and Luke Grant, with Ger Dillon adding a third at the end of the half as they led 3-09 to 0-02.
McDermott had a penalty saved early in the second half by Jack McCloy, and Derry added fourth goal in the 42nd minute with Higgins grabbing his second.
McDermott did point in the 50th minute – only Fermanagh’s second score of the day after his early two-pointer – but there was still time for a fifth Derry goal as Jude Bryson finished in the final moments.
Also in Group A, Donegal made it three wins from three after a 2-19 to 2-07 win over Antrim in Ballyshannon.
After Donegal had scored the opening three points, Antrim responded with a goal in the 11th minute to level it up.
The hosts responded with a quickfire 1-03 – midfielder Darragh Hennigan with the green flag – before Portglenone’s Ryan McKeever struck Antrim’s second goal of the half in the 25th minute, the sides going in level at the turn - 1-06 to 2-03 - with the hosts set to have the elements in their favour for the second 30 minutes.
The second half did indeed belong to Donegal though as they out-scored their opponents 1-13 to 0-04.
Donegal’s Shane Callaghan took his tally to 0-04 with a two-pointer to open the second-half scoring and goalkeeper Lewis McCaughan quickly added another as Donegal streaked clear.
The scores kept coming from there with Thomas Lenihan finding the net in the 53rd minute as the side built on their wins over Fermanagh and Monaghan.
Clare made it two wins from two in the Munster first phase after a 1-12 to 0-06 win over Waterford in Lemybrien.
Clare led 0-07 to 0-04 at the break, their cause helped considerably by a couple of orange flags, Diarmuid McMahon opening the scoring from the edge of the arc before Donncha O’Dwyer added a second to put the Banner in a good position.
However, a two-pointed free from Paddy McCarthy off the deck reduced the gap to three points on the stroke of half-time.
That was as good as it got though for the hosts with Daire Culligan hitting 1-02 for the Banner in the second half, ensuring they will be one of two teams going forward to join Cork and Kerry in Phase 2.
