Cloone emerged with a straight forward victory from their Corrib Oil Leitrim Junior Championship first round clash with Annaduff's second string, played this afternoon in St. Mary's, Cloone.

The boys in blue and yellow had the momentum right from the off with hard running from Michael Bohan and his teammates, Annaduff did well to keep the defensive wall intact in the early stages of the game.

They had to hold back a flurry of shots by the Cloone forwards, who put 5 points on the board before the water-break.

Annaduff's youth and pace in the forward lines kept them in the game early on. Some good work from Adam Maxwell and Declan Gill put the "Duff" in good positions up front at times during the opening quarter. Niall Quigley and Alan Glancy were the main scoring threats up front.

Tensions were high after the first waterbreak. An excellent long-range score by Ronan Mulvey kicked Cloone into gear. Eoghan Keegan set up Conor Keegan with a cross-field ball, which he curled off the post and sent the umpire reaching for the white flag in the 21st minute.

Niall Quigley replied at the other end of the field for Annaduff with the conversion of a free which he had won himself, but Eoghan Keegan made sure to keep the game flowing in Cloone’s favour with a point under tough pressure from Annaduff's Michael Murray shortly afterwards.

In the last 10 minutes of the first half, Conor Keegan started his link-up play with Sean Bohan, a duo that proved clinical for the rest of the game. After an excellent collect and turn by Conor, his pass saw a scrappy Annaduff clearance go wrong and Sean Bohan struck the net in the 26th minute.

Cloone's momentum continued as an excellent catch by the midfielder on the following kickout, was cleanly passed to Darren Keegan who cut inside onto his left foot and stuck it over the bar.

Alan Glancy split the posts with a free and Liam Taylor received a yellow card just before the half-time whistle. But both sides were unlucky not to increase the score tally, as they struck 4 wides each in the first half. Cloone lead at the break 1-9 to 0-5.

Liam Taylor started the second half with a strong run from the throw-in. The Cloone men made contact and stopped Taylor in his tracks. However, match referee TP McLoughlin decided that the contact was worthy of a free-in which Alan Glancy converted.

Niall Quigley continued his efforts up front for Annaduff, winning a number of frees. But unfortunately for the lads wearing maroon and gold, only a single score came for the rest of the half.

The visitors were resigned to hitting a number of high balls into the square in the final quarter which came to nothing although Liam Taylor was unlucky to strike the outside of the post on one of those occasions.

Good work rate and ball movement from Brian Donohoe and Niall Quinn on the Cloone attack lead to Sean Bohan splitting the posts a number of times while Eoghan Keegan, Conor Keegan and Ronan Mulvey also raised the white flag as Cloone sealed the win.

A hot and humid Sunday afternoon in Cloone, saw the pre match favourites collect the win with their hard running and fast counterattacks that were just too much for the Annaduff defence. The understanding between Conor Keegan and Sean Bohan was exceptional in the second half as Cloone met the final whistle with a comfortable margin of victory 1-17 to 0-07.