KILLYCLOGHER soared to a runaway win over 14-man Coalisland in a one-sided Donnelly Vauxhall Tyrone SFC final replay at Healy Park on Friday night.
As a sequel to a gripping drawn game, this was a bitter disappointment. Coalisland never recovered after being hit by a stunning start from St Mary’s and their lethal finisher Mark Bradley. And when they lost talisman Padraig Hampsey to a second booking at the start of the second half, they faced a hopeless situation. Bradley was in the mood, hitting some wonderful s scores on his way to an eight-point tally, six of them coming from play.
The famous club has returned to the pinnacle of Tyrone football. Thirteen years after their only previous title the men from Ballinamullan are back, a club whose proud history is matched by bold ambition and visions of a future filled with promise of further success, within and beyond the county boundaries.
In one of the most difficult championships to win, they performed with steel and courage in a particularly challenging season, defeating big guns Errigal Ciaran, Dromore and champions Trillick, before finally getting the better of Coalisland at the second attempt to land an emotional, tearful triumph.
The newly-crowned champions have little more than a week to prepare for an Ulster Club SFC clash with Cargin, whose manager John Brennan, no stranger to the club scene in Tyrone, was an interested spectator on Friday night. The players made light of the inconvenience and disruption caused by last Sunday’s false start and subsequent uncertainty over the rescheduled replay, particularly Bradley, who flashed over three delightful points inside the opening eight minutes. Tiernan McCann drove from deep to ease Killyclogher four ahead, the Fianna caught cold by their opponents’ high-octane start.
Last year’s beaten finalists were right on song, and could not have approached the game more positively, committing men from the back and pressing high. Bradley had kicked two more by the time Padraig Hampsey was assigned to mark him, but he promptly brought his tally to six inside the opening 20 minutes, all from play.
Eoghan Bradley used all his experience to organise a defence that tackled with high intensity, frustrating a Coalisland attack that took 20 minutes to get their opening score, a Cormac O’Hagan ’45. Gabhan Sludden and Martin Swift kept it tight at the back, while Gary Wallace and Emmet McFadden took every opportunity to get forward, eager to provide the in-form Bradley with as much ammunition as possible.
Coalisland introduced Peter Donnelly in an attempt to apply some stability to a creaking defence, and Plunkett Kane rallied the Fianna troops late in the half. They did pull back a point when Eoghan Hampsey sent Dermot Thornton in to split the posts, but it was Killyclogher who led 0-9 to 0-2 at the interval.
Coalisland’s evening took another turn for the worse when they lost Hampsey, their outstanding player this season, to a second yellow card with less than three minutes of the second-half gone. They had been struggling to contain the runners from deep from the outset, and now their cover was even more flimsy.
Aidy Kelly, Simon O’Neill and the McCann brothers all landed scores, and Bradley, who had already overtaken Clonoe’s Danny McNulty to secure the Forbes Trophy Top Scorer award, knocked over a free to open up a 12-point margin midway through the half.
Coalisland’s efforts to find a spark proved futile, and while they did pull back scores through Stephen McNally and Michael McKernan, the destiny of the O’Neill Cup had long since been decided.
MATCH STATS
Killyclogher: S Fox; M Swift, D Gorman, G Sludden; T McCann (0-2), E Bradley, G Wallace; C McCann (0-2, 0-1 45), F Meenagh (0-1); A Kelly (0-1), S O’Neill (0-4, 0-2 frees), N Donnelly (0-1); E McFadden, M Bradley (0-8, 0-2 frees), L Meenan; Subs: T Flanagan for Kelly, J Carlin (0-1 free) for O’Neill, C Donnelly for Sludden, D Carlin for E Bradley, N McFadden for M Bradley
Coalisland: J Curran; S Hughes, L O’Neill, M McKernan (0-1); E Hampsey, N Kerr, D Fee; P Hampsey, P McGahan; P Kane (0-1), C O’Hagan (0-1, 45), S McNally (0-2 frees); C Quinn, B Toner, D Thornton (0-1); Subs: P Donnelly for Fee, C Bayne for O’Hagan, J Carberry for Quinn, S Corr for Hughes, G Toner for McGahan, N Fox for E Hampsey
Referee: F Ward (Errigal Ciarán)
