TULLYSARAN made history yesterday by winning their first ever club championship title after defeating Clonmore 1-13 to 0-8 in a spirited T-Met Armagh Junior Club Championship decider at the Athletic Grounds.
Alongside the management team of Pearse Donnelly and Malachy McGahan, former young player of the year and ex-Armagh star Ronan Clarke also coaches the team and his stamp could be seen all over Tullysaran’s gameplan.
The Reds deployed a direct diagonal long ball into their forward line of John McKeown and Patrick Comiskey with Edward Mallon picking up loose ball and this tactic paid dividends.
Tullysaran dominated the early exchanges with Ciaran Mullen, Comiskey (2) and Mallon giving the Reds a four-point lead.
It took Clonmore, who were without the injured county man Brendan Donaghy, over 20 minutes to make any headway as Tullysaran bombarded the goalmouth with long diagonal balls.
But Ryan O’Hagan opened Clonmore’s account on 21 minutes and within the following nine minutes he converted another four frees.
Mallon and two Ciaran O’Riordan converted frees kept Tullysaran ahead but their narrow 0-07 to 0-05 lead at the break didn’t accurately reflect the game.
But Comiskey’s fisted goal gave Tullysaran an explosive start to the second half and they remained in the driving seat. Clonmore could only manage another three points with only one from play, as Tullysaran’s lively Mullen covered a lot of ground and O’Riordan, Comiskey and Mallon chipped in with points.
