McFadden on fire at full forward

Hugh McFadden delivered a No.14 masterclass in Killybegs’ high-scoring victory over Aodh Ruadh.

Even in the fading light at Fr Tierney Park on Saturday night, the scores flowed in this pivotal group-stage encounter as Killybegs advanced to the preliminary quarter-finals of the Donegal SFC with a 4-14 to 3-12 victory.

McFadden finished the game with 2-4 after his name in brackets, both goals ruthless second-half left-foot strikes following radar-like passes from county colleague Eoghán Bán Gallagher.

It was 2-6 apiece at the break, Christopher Mulligan and Gavin Doherty with the first-half goals for the Fishermen while Matt Gillespie and Jack Gallagher found the net for Aodh Ruadh.

Even though Shane McGrath netted for the hosts early in the second half, McFadden’s brilliant brace broke their resistance and the Ballyshannon men are now headed for the relegation play-offs, where they are joined by St Naul's, Glenfin and Ardara.

Glenfin looked to have done enough to advance to the business end when leading Ardara by 15 points with two minutes left at Pairc Taobhoige on Saturday night, but two late Ardara goals meant Glenfin's eventual ten-point success, 5-17 to 2-16, resulted in both teams going into the relegation semi-finals.