DERRY CLUB GLEN remain on course to retain the Ulster club football championship with a four-point win over Antrim kingpins Cargin, 0-11 to 0-7, at Celtic Park.

Cargin were coming in as big underdogs but felt that wasn’t indicative of their potential. However they were dealt a hammer blow after 26 minutes when star attacker Tomás McCann was given a straight red card for a challenge on Conleth McGuckian.

They put together a bit of a late rally but on a day when the football was gritty, Glen just had too much and the extra man to help them. Emmett Bradley registered four frees, Danny Tallon two, while Cargin only scored two points from play throughout the entire game.

At Kingspan Breffni, local Cavan champions Gowna looked set to secure a rare victory for Cavan sides in this competition, only for Naomh Conaill’s Kevin McGettigan to pop up with almost the last kick of the game to secure a one-point win for the Donegal men.

Having led by four at the break it looked as if Naomh Conaill were playing the more composed game but it took the intervention of some veterans to turn the tide. Anthony Thompson, an All-Ireland winner in 2012 played a give-go with Mark McDevitt and angled in a hopeful ball skyward.

With around two dozen players going for the ball, it fell to McGettigan at the back post to poke home and secure the 2-8 to 1-10 win. They will now have Glen in the semi-final.

A huge first half performance from Roscommon’s St Brigid’s against Sligo champions Coolera Strandhill had them heading to the changing rooms at the break, 0-9 to 0-0 up.

There was an element of them pulling up in the second half, with their Connacht semi-final against Leitrim’s Mohill next weekend, but they were still huge value for their 0-13 to 1-3 win.

However, they will be concerned about what looked to be a serious knee injury with All-Star nominee Brian Stack, ahead of the meeting with the Eamonn O’Hara’s managed Mohill.