ST Gall's may or may not win the All-Ireland club football championship, but they can certainly file an entry for Eurovision if their post-match song fest is any guide.

The stand at Pairc Esler, Newry rattled as victorious skipper Colin Brady led the chants and the tunes in tribute to the Antrim club's return to the winner's podium in the Ulster championship.

A comprehensive victory over Derry's Loup, the side which defeated St Gall's in the Ulster final of 2003, put the Antrim champions through to the AIB All-Ireland semi-finals, but that's for another day.

Yesterday was all about the boys in blue reclaiming the Ulster title they last held in 2005, giving them the third provincial crown in their history.

The form guide held up as Loup, who have defied many predictions to reach the provincial final, found this one a bridge too far.

Willingness they had in spades, and no doubt their players will feel they have more ability to show than they displayed yesterday, but St Gall's outclassed and outlasted the Derry men.

As a contest, the game held up for just about 25 minutes, with the score tied at 0-4 each. Then St Gall's pumped up the pressure and over the next five minutes, Conor John McGourty (two), Rory Gallagher and Sean Burke fired over points to put the Antrim team in the clear on 0-4 to 0-8.

Corner-forward McGourty, whose brothers Kieran and Kevin also played on the St Gall's side, was deadly from free-kicks. He scored six points in total, five of them from frees.

Within 10 minutes of the restart, the game was effectively out of Loup's reach as four more points were tacked on by CJ McGourty, Anto Healy, Kieran McGourty and Terry O'Neill.

Given an eight-point lead with 20 minutes to go, there was no way St Gall's would be denied their third Ulster championship.

Could it have been different if a couple of goal chances had yielded fruit for Loup? Not really. The power, pace and overall quality of St Gall's saw to that, although the winners had a scare midway through the second half.

A ferocious goal-area scramble resulted in first the upright and then goalie Ronan Gallagher preventing a Loup goal by Gavin Mallon.

Midfielder Aodhan Gallagher won the man-of-the-match award, but his industry and drive was matched all over the park by his colleagues.

St Gall's had great strength down the centre, as exemplified by nominal centre-back Healy, who, in fact, played further forward.

Healy, Kevin McGourty, Sean Burke, Anto and Rory Gallagher all contributed to St Gall's dominance between the respective '45s' and on the flanks, Mark Kelly, Kieran McGourty, Terry O'Neill, CJ McGourty, and the lively Kevin Niblock posed a regular threat.

All Loup's five points came from frees by Paul McVey, Johnny McBride, Paul McFlynn and Ciaran Devlin.

Indeed, 17-year-old Devlin, who came on as a sub, got the only Loup score of the second half which says pretty much everything about the trend of play.

In contrast to the songs and celebrations of his players, St Gall's boss Lenny Harbinson was cool, calm, and collected as he reflected on the win.

"I'm delighted for my club. It's a bit of a dream. To have played for the club and to have managed them to an Ulster title, I'm absolutely delighted.

"Our first key goal was to win Antrim. I knew the capability of the players and I knew if they performed the way they could perform, then it would take a very, very good team to stop us.

"We've had some battles and had a bit of luck that went with us at different stages, but they're a great bunch of players.

Loup manager John Brennan couldn't argue with the outcome.

"To reach an Ulster final, you're not a bad team. Our players deserve credit. We have won seven championship matches to get here."

Scorers -- St Galls: CJ McGourty 0-6 (5f), K Niblock, R Gallagher (1f) 0-2 each, A Gallagher, S Burke, K McGourty, A Healy, T O'Neill, S Burns 0-1 each. Loup: P McVey 0-2 (2f), J McBride (f) P McFlynn (f), C Devlin 0-1 each.

St Gall's -- R Gallagher; P Veronica, A McClean, C Brady; M Kelly, A Healy, S Kelly; S Burke, A Gallagher; Kieran McGourty, Kevin McGourty, T O'Neill; CJ McGourty, R Gallagher, K Niblock. Subs: K Stewart for Kieran McGourty (48), S Kennedy for P Veronica (53), S Burns for T O'Neill (56), C Gallagher for K Niblock (59).

Loup -- S McGuckin; D McVey, J O'Kane, C McVey; B McVey, B Doyle, F Devlin; J McBride, A McAlynn; P McVey, P McFlynn, J Devlin; D McVey, SM O'Neill, P Young. Subs: G Mallon for SM O'Neill (23), C Devlin for J Devlin (38), C Kielt for B McVey (40), S McFlynn for D McVey (49), J O'Kane for G Mallon (58).

Ref -- P McEnaney (Monaghan).

- ST GALL'S 0-16 LOUP 0-5 Liam Kelly ULSTER CLUB SFC FINAL

Irish Independent