AIB Ulster Club SFC quarter-final: St Mary’s, Killyclogher (Tyrone) 2-10 Erin’s Own, Cargin (Antrim) 1-8
THERE were more than a few sore heads among the Killyclogher contingent at the beginning of the week as they celebrated their first Tyrone title in 13 years.
And judging by the opening 15 minutes of yesterday’s Ulster quarter-final with Cargin in Omagh, there was compelling evidence to suggest the celebrations may have lasted longer than they should have.
The home side couldn’t buy a score in the opening exchanges, missing with four efforts and dropping another into the Cargin ’keeper’s hands.
But then the game shifted decisively in the Tyrone champions’ favour following a quite magnificent goal from Mark Bradley.
Trailing by two points – a free apiece from Tomas McCann and Kieran Close – Bradley hammered the ball into the roof of the net from roughly 25 yards after 14 minutes.
As soon as the ball left Bradley’s left boot, Killyclogher had shaken off the cobwebs, found their stride and never looked back.
Cargin were left reeling four minutes later when James Carlin palmed the ball into the Antrim champions’ net which left the visitors trailing 2-2 to 0-3 after Tiernan McCann won a kick-out from Killyclogher ’keeper Sean Fox.
The ball was ushered up the field by Simon O’Neill and Conall McCann before the unmarked Carlin had the simplest of tasks of slapping the ball home. Cargin never really recovered from the concession of two first half goals and left Omagh yesterday evening with plenty of regrets.
“That was the worst performance in the two years I’ve been here,” said Cargin boss John Brennan.
The Erin’s Own men mustered just two scores from play (1-1) and didn’t get any joy from kicking the ball long into full-forward duo Michael Magill and Ryan McKernan.
After their ropey start, it was abundantly clear there was more coherence about Killyclogher’s strategy. They were defensively solid and their running game had Cargin chasing shadows a lot of the time.
Killyclogher led 2-2 to 0-5 at the break and although a Tomas McCann free reduced the lead to two points at the start of the second half, the St Mary’s men rattled off the next six points to completely demoralise their opponents.
“It took us a while to get going,” said Killyclogher boss Dominic Corrigan. “We told the players that we weren’t going to have a day like the Coalisland game [in the Tyrone final replay] again or a performance like that again where everything we hit went over.
“The first four or fives shots were off target and we kind of worried about that but the character of the team shone through.
“We kept plugging away, kept working and I thought Mark Bradley’s goal was crucial in getting a really strong foothold in the game and the boys grew in confidence after that.”
Tomas McCann was Cargin’s greatest attacking threat, while Justin Crozier and Michael McCann emerged to have really strong second half performances.
But the damage was done by Bradley and Carlin’s first half majors. And although Ryan McKernan raised a green flag for Cargin in the closing stages after a mad scramble to cut Killyclogher’s lead to five points, it was a mere consolation.
“For some unknown reason, we just lost our shape,” said Brennan.
“Killyclogher played better football on the day, more controlled. The controlled football we played two weeks ago [in the Antrim final win over St Gall’s] deserted us today.
“Killyclogher were the much better team, they deserved their victory and I wish them good luck. But that was not a Cargin performance.”
Mark Bradley was a real livewire from start to finish for Killyclogher, who celebrated their first ever win in Ulster.
After almost taking the net off its hinges with his glorious 14th minute goal, the Tyrone ace assisted for a James Carlin’s point later in the half and added three more points (two frees) to his tally in the second half.
Kevin O’Boyle, Bradley’s marker, had to come off at half-time with a recurring hamstring problem and despite Donagh McKeever’s best efforts there was no stopping Killyclogher’s diminutive attacker in the second period.
Bradley’s team-mate Simon O’Neill tagged on a couple of points in the second half under very little pressure, while Conall McCann hit an eye-catching score in the 43rd minute to ram home Killyclogher’s superiority.
Cargin substitute Tony Scullion was sent off for two yellow card offences on 56 minutes and Killyclogher captain Martin Swift suffered the same fate in stoppage-time.
“Some of our point-taking and score-taking has been excellent over the last number of games and thankfully it carried through there today as well,” said Corrigan.
On the prospect of facing Slaughtneil in two weeks’ time, the Fermanagh man added: “Slaughtneil are one of the top teams in Ulster.
“We’ve a few casualties in there at the minute but we’ll sort ourselves out and we’ll dust ourselves down. I suppose what we’ve been doing all year has been focusing on ourselves and getting the best out of ourselves and we know we face a massive challenge. But we’re delighted to be there to face that challenge.”
MATCH STATS
Killyclogher: S Fox; M Swift, D Gorman, G Sludden; T McCann, E Bradley, G Wallace; J Carlin (1-1), F Meenagh; A Kelly, C McCann (0-1), N Donnelly (0-1); M Bradley (1-3, 0-2 frees), S O’Neill (0-4, 0-2 frees), E McFadden Subs: T Flanagan for Carlin (34), C Donnelly for E Bradley (43), T Cox for McCann (52), D Leonard for Kelly (60). Yellow cards: E Bradley (27), M Swift (45, 61), F Meenagh (52). Red card: M Swift (61)
Cargin: J McNabb; D McKeever, M Kane, G McCorley; R Devlin, J Crozier, J Lavery; G McCann (0-1), J Carron; K Close (0-2 frees), M McCann, P McCann (0-1); T McCann (0-4 frees), R McKernan (1-0), M Magill. Subs: T Scullion for K O’Boyle (h-t), M Kelly for Magill (41), E McGroggan for Close (43), K McShane for Devlin (45), P McKeever for P McCann (53). Black card: J Carron replaced by D Johnston (57). Yellow cards: K Close (25), R Devlin (32), T Scullion (37, 56), M Kane (46), G McCann (47), P McCann (50), P McKeever (59). Red card: T Scullion (56)
Referee: P Hughes (Armagh) Attendance: 4,670
