THE entire St Enda's Omagh contingent among the 3,455 Celtic Park crowd yesterday afternoon must have shut their eyes and prayed deep into stoppage-time.
St Eunan's, Letterkenny were trailing by three points when Cillian Morrison grabbed John Haran's pass and had the St Enda's goal at his mercy.
The Cork City striker was the best forward St Eunan's had yesterday. He'd bagged two fine scores earlier in the game. You would have placed your mortgage on him finding the net from close range to force this see-saw semi-final to extra-time.
Under serious pressure from a packed Omagh defence, Morrison pulled the trigger and narrowly missed the target.
The Tyrone champions breathed a huge sigh of relief. Within seconds of the restart, referee Noel Mooney blew his whistle for the final time and St Enda's were through to their first-ever provincial final against Slaughtneil.
In the last 20 minutes, Laurence Strain's men did their best to throw this semi-final away.
Their seemingly interminable decline could be traced back to the enforced substitution of Joe McMahon in the 43rd minute.
The big Tyrone midfielder's day was cut short due to a dead leg. St Enda's struggled without him.
St Eunan's owned the ball in the final 20 minutes. Sean McVeigh fired over in the 49th minute to reduce the arrears to 1-6 to 0-7.
And five minutes later, St Eunan's corner-back Conor Morrison made it a one-point game after a wonderfully patient passage of play from the Donegal champions.
St Enda's led 1-5 to 0-5 at the interval and when they needed someone to step up in the closing stages, young Conor McMahon hit his second and third points to restore his side's three-point advantage heading into stoppage-time.
"It was a poor last 20 minutes from us," acknowledged St Enda's boss Laurence Strain afterwards.
"We didn't really cope well when we lost big Joe at midfield. We lost our shape, we didn't regroup properly but, again, we battled to the end.
"Credit to St Eunan's, they were brilliant in the last 20 minutes. They ran and they ran and they ran - and that's their eighth week in-a-row."
In truth, the Tyrone men should have been out of sight in the first half hour. They created three glorious goal opportunities in the first half and only managed to convert one.
St Eunan's 'keeper Sean Patton made an outstanding save to deny Cormac O'Neill in the 13th minute.
In the 22nd minute, Patton made an instinctive block from the in-rushing Barry Tierney after great approach play involving Connor O'Donnell.
Two minutes later, though, Tierney made amends with a fine finish after Ronan O'Neill picked him out with a pass that only Ronan O'Neill was capable of delivering.
Tierney's major put St Enda's 1-4 to 0-4 ahead - and it was the score that proved crucial at the end.
Up to that point St Eunan's had performed admirably. The two best players on the field in the first half were Ronan O'Neill of St Enda's and Cillian Morrison of St Eunan's.
Neither defence could get to grips with them.
As well as setting up the goal, O'Neill hit three points from play in the first half, the last of which was from a ridiculous angle.
At the other end of the field, Morrison was edging his contest with Hugh Gallagher as he registered scores in the ninth and 11th minutes in a nip-and-tuck
opening 20 minutes.
It was a surprisingly open contest with the first converted free of the day coming after 21 minutes through the boot of Rory Carr of St Eunan's.
"Cillian Morrison gave an exhibition out there for a man playing his first full game of Gaelic football in four years," said defeated St Eunan's boss Maxi Curran.
"He carried the fight to them on his own for a large part of the first half."
Two minutes after the restart, Jason McAnulla swung over a score with the outside of his boot to put four points between the sides, and it looked as though St Enda's would coast to the finish line.
But if the Ulster Club Championship has taught us anything, a game is never over until the fat lady sings.
S u b c o n s c i o u s l y or otherwise, St Enda's appeared to sit back and tried to protect their lead. It wasn't a wise
move. The Donegal champions played like hungry wolves.
Rory Kavanagh and Kevin Rafferty began winning primary possession around the middle of the field. Impressive wing-back Darragh Mulgrew started winning breaks and the men in black and amber attacked in droves.
Between the 32nd and 54th minute, St Enda's didn't register a score. St Eunan's simply wouldn't allow them to get beyond their own '50.
"People will say we only got on top when Joe [McMahon] went off," added Curran, "but I don't agree with that. That's just the psychology of football.
"Last week, against Roslea, we were excellent in the first half, but we let them back into it. I think the same might have happened Omagh.
"They were in a good place and felt that they were comfortable. We got a foothold when Rory Kavanagh started to dominate in the middle and we pushed on. We just didn't have the quality to kick the scores."
Caolan Ward of St Eunan's was sent off for a yellow and black card in stoppage-time while Conan Grugan of St Enda's suffered the same fate moments later when a black and yellow combined equalled red.
But once Morrison didn't take his goal chance in the dying embers, St Eunan's remarkable journey had concluded.
"The scary part is that it's an awful long journey to get back here," said Curran.
"This was a really good opportunity. We came here knowing that we had a chance of making the final.
"We weren't up against a team like Crossmaglen - we were playing a team we felt we were capable of beating. You have to give Omagh credit, they were the better team.
"Football at this level is a serious business and we just made too many unforced errors."
MATCH STATS
St Enda's, Omagh: R Clarke; H Gallagher, Justin McMahon, S Mullan; C McLaughlin,
B Tierney (1-0), C McMahon (0-3); Joe McMahon, C Grugan; A Grugan, J McAnulla (0-1), C O'Neill; C O'Donnell (0-1), R O'Neill (0-3), C Meyler Subs: for C McCarron for Joe McMahon (43), C Starrs for C O'Neill (48), D Kerr for
C McLaughlin (58), C McLaughlin for
C McMahon (60)
Yellow cards: C Meyler (33), C Grugan (51),
C O'Donnell (55)
Black card: C Grugan (63) not replaced St Eunan's Letterkenny: S Patton; C Park,
S Hensey, C Morrison (0-1); C Ward, E Doherty, D Mulgrew; K Rafferty, R Kavanagh; C Gibbons (0-1), C Dunne (0-1 free), S McVeigh (0-1); R Carr (0-2, 0-1 free), J Haran, C Morrison (0-2) Subs: M Magowan for Hensey (h-t),
M Miller for Magowan (53)
Yellow cards: C Morrison (23), C Ward (35),
J Haran (42)
Black card: C Ward (62) not replaced Referee: N Mooney (Cavan)
Attendance: 3,455
STAR MAN
Ronan O'Neill (St Enda's, Omagh)
IT was tempting to give the award to Conor McMahon for his two late scores that saw St Enda's over the line, but it would be churlish to not give it to Ronan O'Neill.
The Tyrone ace scored three brilliant points in the first half and his pass for Barry Tierney's goal was fantastic. He also assisted for Conor McMahon's final score of the day.