Declan Coulter scored 14 points as Setanta defeated Na Magha to reach the Ulster Junior Hurling Championship final.
Setanta 2-20 Na Magha 1-16
Coulter scored eleven frees and three points from play, while a Ruairi Campbell goal looked to guarantee the win for the Donegal side, and Sean Ward’s goal with five minutes to go put icing on the cake for Setanta in Healy Park in Omagh.
Setanta got off the mark first as Declan Coulter scored a free, the first of many for him.
On the 15 minute mark the Donegal champions would be pegged back as Na Magha scored a goal to tie it up at 0-6 to 1-3, with four more Coulter points, two from play, and a point from Oisin Marley making up the scorers.
A back and forth period of scoring saw the Derry side take the lead twice but Marley and Davin Flynn brought it level both times at 0-8 to 1-5.
But a period of Setanta dominance, led by Coulter and some sublime free taking had them ahead by five points at half time.
Coulter pointed five more times, four from frees while Josh McGee Cronolly got his first score as Na Magha only registered one point back in this period to leave it 0-14 to 1-6 at half-time.
The Derry side had a good opening to the second half as they reduced the lead to three points, while another two frees from Coulter made it 0-16 to 1-10.
Two points from either side, again twice from Coulter had the game in the balance with a goal in either net having a huge impact on the outcome of the game.
And when Setanta needed that score, Ruairi Campbell stepped up and fired the sliotar into the net to give them a massive boost and a six point lead, 1-18 to 1-12.
Two more points for either side, Davin Flynn getting both for Setanta, kept the sides at six points but when Sean Ward struck Setanta’s second goal of the game with five minutes remaining, it looked certain that they would be contesting the Ulster Junior Hurling Championship final.
And Na Magha could only muster up two more points as it finished 2-20 to 1-16 as Setanta will meet Shane Uí Néill from Antrim in the final.
