Two championship games – two stunning late goals to keep Killyclogher alive in the most dramatic of finishes.
That’s the magic of the Tyrone Senior Championship, a competition that delivers the most memorable moments and enthrals all who follow its fast, furious and beautifully unpredictable pathway.
In the first round it was neighbours Omagh who felt the wrath as they were dumped out by Sean Broderick’s strike deep into added time, and on this occasion, another injury-time goal, punched home by Dara Hayes, denied Carrickmore victory and sent a gripping quarter-final to a replay.
“That’s’ twice now that we’ve left it pretty late, but we pride ourselves in our never-say-die attitude,” said Killyclogher centre back Matthew Murnaghan.
“We keep battling to the end, and thankfully twice now we’ve got a late one to push it for another day.”
The St Mary’s went in at half-time with a two-pointule lead, but Carmen’s third quarter flourish saw the, reel off five points on the spin to go three ahead.
It was a difficult spell for the men from Ballinamullan, but they never felt the game was slipping away from them.
“Past experience has shown us that we don’t die. Every team gets a purple patch at some stage of the game, and it was that period that Carrickmore got it,” said Murnaghan.
“Listen, we knew it was still there. We were always within reach, and there was only three points in the game at that stage, a single score.
“And we back ourselves that we’re still going to be in that game coming up the last few minutes.”
Mark Bradley turned on the style at a crucial stage of the game, hitting three glorious second half points to keep his side in touch, all trademark scores from the former Tyrone attacker.
“Sparky is a big game player he has been doing that for us for years, and now we have a few more boys who are coming and lightening the load on him a wee bit.
“But when he gets that opportunity, he really flourishes in those pressure moments. He’s a class act.”
Having gone toe to toe with two great rivals in enthralling championship ties, Murnaghan expects another close encounter in Thursday evening’s replay at O’Neills Healy Park.
“That’s the way the Tyrone Championship is. There’s a bounce of a ball between every team.
“It was the same for us the last day, same again against Carrickmore, and I’m sure it will be tight again when we go at it again.”
And he stressed the need for the men from Ballinamullan to remain focused at all stages of the game.
“It’s about working hard and staying focused. We’ll reflect on that when we get watching this game back.
“We’ll identify a few things that went wrong in that patch, and we’ll get ready to go again.”
Neither side will engage in any heavy training during the short turnaround between games, with the emphasis firmly on nursing knocks and bruises and soothing aching limbs following a hard-hitting encounter.
“They’ll be in the exact same boat, there’ll be the same number of rest days and same number of training days as Carrickmore, so we just have to get ready to go again.”
And extra game squeeze into a busy schedule could help the eventual winners built momentum, of conversely may place excessive strain on players in the midst of a fiercely demanding series.
“Time will tell what sort of effect that will take. We’ll get an extra game and the winner of the replay will maybe come out a bit more battle-hardened, so there’s two sides of the coin. But we’ll not really know until then.”