Tyrone Senior Football Championship round one: Omagh St Enda’s 0-13 Killyclogher 2-8
ONE of the players explained afterwards that his father stays away from championship games because his nerves can’t take it. Well, this one would have had them in shreds.
Killyclogher looked head-and-shoulders the better side for the first 20 minutes, then Omagh took complete control and scored seven on-the-trot to lead by four before the game swung again in a helter-skelter finale.
Two points reduced the deficit to two and there was stunned silence in the stands at Carrickmore when debutant Sean Broderick hit the back of the Omagh net in the final seconds of the fifth minute of injury-time with a poachers’ goal.
Hearts went out to Omagh at the finish. You might say they deserved to win but ‘deserves’ doesn’t come into it in Tyrone: Killyclogher move on to face Carrickmore and shell-shocked Omagh bow out.
“Killyclogher started well but our boys showed their character and came back,” said Omagh manager Owen Devine.
“We kept ourselves in the game at half-time and in the second half for large spells we were dominating the thing and we got the scores on the board, but it’s never over to the final whistle…
“It’s the old saying about a two-point lead being dangerous. They went for it, we got a block on the first shot but they got a second chance at it and that was it, game over.
“The lads are devastated. They put a lot of energy and commitment in throughout the year and we felt that for the majority of the game we gave a good account of ourselves. Maybe we switched off at the end and it cost us.
“There’s no back door in the Tyrone championship, we have to take it on the chin and hopefully learn from it.”
‘Jeopardy’ is one of the buzz words in the GAA and there is never any lack of it in Tyrone’s cutthroat championship. The straight knockout format meant tension hung thick in the air around the excellent Carrickmore venue but Killyclogher settled quickly and had 1-4 on the board (1-1 from the excellent Gavin Potter) before Omagh, who hadn’t really looked like scoring, eventually did score.
Conor O’Donnell’s point did get them up-and-running and two more, both from Ronan O’Neill, left it 1-5 to 0-3 at the break.
With the wind at their backs, Omagh looked a different team in the second half and they began it when O’Donnell broke through and went for goal. His shot was blocked by Simon O’Neill but O’Donnell stroked the ensuing 45 over the bar.
Omagh put the full press on O’Neill’s kickouts and won the next two which led to scores for Fionnbarr Taggart and Ronan O’Neill. Dara Hayes replied for Killyclogher but it was only temporary respite because all the action was at the other end of the pitch where their defence was struggling to hold back the black-and-white tide.
Artful dodger Ronan O’Neill added another free and then, after Killyclogher had hit the upright, Omagh broke the length of the field and O’Donnell picked off another excellent score. It was rumoured that Malachy O’Rourke, favourite to be confirmed as Tyrone manager before long, was watching and O’Donnell’s performance will have impressed him.
So too will Oisin Miller whose smart turnover and instinctive pass led to the equaliser (1-6 to 0-9) with 11 minutes of normal time remaining.
Playing into the wind, Killyclogher were guilty of running into contact too often and Omagh countered with precision as Ciaran McLaughlin and Miller sent them into a three-point lead. When substitute Bradley Fox turned and hammered over another point it seemed Omagh had done enough.
They hadn’t.
A spectacular turnaround began with a Mark Bradley free but even then it appeared to be little more than a defiant gesture. Two and-a-half of the five minutes of injury-time had gone when Matthew Devlin cut the lead to two and then, with seconds left, Killyclogher punted the ball high into the square,
It broke to Danny Gorman but his shot was blocked. Debutant Broderick picked up the rebound and fired a perfectly-placed bullet through a forest of legs to win it for his club.
Omagh defender Hugh Gallagher (a doctor by profession) briefly lost his composure in the melee that ensued. He was red-carded and marched off only to turnabout and go to the aid of the injured Killyclogher player as the final whistle blew.
A heart-warming finish to a nerve-shredding game.
Omagh: N McGinn; E Corry, A Clarke, B Tierney; C McLaughlin (0-1), E McCaffrey, C Daly; C Grugan (0-1), C Taggart; D McGuigan, F Taggart (0-1), O Miller (0-2, 0-1 45); J McAnulla, R O’Neill (0-4, 0-3 frees), C O’Donnell (0-3)
Subs: B Fox (0-1) for F Taggart (53), H Gallagher for McGuigan (60)
Red card: Gallagher (65)
Killyclogher: S O’Neill; S Broderick (1-0), D Gorman, M Rafferty (0-1); J Barton, M Murnaghan, G Sludden; T McCann (0-1), M Flanagan; P Corcoran, C McCann (0-1), G Potter (1-1); D Hayes (0-1), M Bradley (0-2 frees), E McFadden
Subs: O McCann for Flanagan (45), M Devlin (0-1) for Sludden (54)
