THE Tyrone championship immediately burst into life as Killyclogher conjured up a dramatic Houdini act to stun neighbours Omagh at the death.
Seven points on-the-trot meant the St Enda’s side looked home and hosed when they opened a four-point lead at the end of normal time. But it ain’t over ‘til it’s over in Tyrone and debutant Sean Broderick’s eye-of-a-needle strike sent Killyclogher through to a second round clash with Dromore conquerors Carrickmore.
“We’ll take it,” said relieved Killyclogher manager Eoin Devine.
“In championship football, it doesn’t really matter how you do it as long as you get over the line so we’re happy enough.
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“I’ve been on other side of it - I’ve walked off plenty of times after we lost by a point in a game we probably should have won. So no sympathy for Omagh, I’m sorry, that’s just championship football, it’s ruthless.
“Getting over this first round against our next door neighbours was always going to be difficult. It definitely was not pretty and you might say we stole it there at the end but, at the same time, you have to give it to our boys – they didn’t die and they kept going to the very last whistle.”
Next up for Killyclogher is a meeting with Carrickmore who grabbed a one-point win of their own on Saturday night thanks to Lorcan McGarrity’s late winner against Dromore. Bradley says Killyclogher’s tendency to start well and then go into their shell has been an issue all season for them and they’ll need to produce a more consistent performance to make further progress.
“It’s been a regular thing this year,” he added.
“We come out of the blocks fast and we get a couple of scores and then, I don’t know, there’s a tendency to maybe sit back a bit and then Omagh started to come onto us. So there’s plenty to work on for the next day.
“We found it very hard to get out of our own half against the wind. We have very good midfielders but it just wasn’t going for us. Oisin McCann is a brilliant lift for us, he got a bad knock four weeks’ ago so we wanted to get him back on the pitch and get him game-time because he’s definitely going to win you ball.
“Nathan Donnelly was a massive lift coming in as well and winning ball. They did well but we have to do a lot better the next day because that’ll not be good enough for Carrickmore.
“With every round in the championship the level goes up, you have to lift your game every time.”
