Football

Clonoe make the most of an unusual weekend by beating Trillick

Clonoe's   Ryan McCabe    in action   with Trillick's  James Garrity and James McCaughey       in yesterday's Tyrone Division One League Game.<br />Picture   Seamus Loughran
Clonoe's Ryan McCabe in action with Trillick's James Garrity and James McCaughey in yesterday's Tyrone Division One League Game.
Picture Seamus Loughran
Clonoe's Ryan McCabe in action with Trillick's James Garrity and James McCaughey in yesterday's Tyrone Division One League Game.
Picture Seamus Loughran

Tyrone ACFL Division One Group Two: Clonoe O’Rahilly’s 3-12 Trillick St Macartan’s 0-9

THE big wedding and the big match are two events that have long defined the Irish as a people. In Clonoe, this weekend summed up the strangeness of these times.

On Saturday, locals Paul Coney and Kathy Donnelly were married. They were only allowed fewer than 50 people in attendance, but the community pulled in around them.

Due to welcome county champions Trillick to the parish the following day, the county board wouldn’t agree to move the big game to Friday night, even though their visitors did.

So with his brother Gary playing 60 minutes at wing-back, Paul came off the bench just before half-time to soldier through his own half hour.

A big victory, some post-match drinks (socially distanced) and a few beats was the best answer Clonoe could have found in the circumstances.

With each and every minute that passed in the second half, the men in white grew another inch taller and their chests took in more air.

It started poorly but once they found themselves after two quick goals, they became a team that had counted every second of lockdown and were determined to leave all their frustration out.

This was everything you expect of July football, except the rustiness. The sun baked the lush, dry sod as the ball skimmed like a stone through the oceans of space in both defences.

Trillick were especially guilty, but the first quarter suggested that it wouldn’t matter. Of the game’s first nine attacks, Trillick had eight. Of Clonoe’s first nine kickouts, Trillick won eight.

Yet they only took two scores and were caught out when a quick ball down the other end to Collie Doris allowed him to spin Ruairi Kelly and lay on Dan McNulty for a fine finish across Ryan Kelly.

Within two minutes, they had a second goal. Same blueprint, the long early ball, this one to Conor McAliskey. He popped it off and even though PJ Lavery miscued his shot, Kelly in goals lost his feet and the ball hobbled into the bottom corner.

It was hard to know how Clonoe had ended up 2-1 to 0-2 ahead, but for the remainder of the game, each time they stretched the advantage it was because their dominance kept expanding.

They turned the midfield battle around, with the central trio of Patrick Doris and Stephen and Dan McNulty imposing themselves on a game that carried something of a pre-season cut until Trillick’s pride began to show a bit of redness.

Physicality wasn’t lacking, but there was a layer of rust on both sides, particularly that of Nigel Seaney and Liam Donnelly’s men, that the next few weeks will wash away.

Mattie Donnelly completed his first 60 minutes since the horror hamstring injury suffered in the Ulster Club loss to Derrygonnelly last November, playing most of it at full-forward.

He was unhindered but there was less comfort in Lee Brennan, with the sky blue hamstring tape giving a proper indication of why Trillick lacked the same movement inside.

Clonoe didn’t need to be subtle about it once they worked out the benefits of being direct.

If it was kicked towards Doris, he used his arse to continually spin one of the county’s premier full-backs, Ruairi Kelly. If you half closed one eye, you’d nearly take the big Clonoe man as a ringer for Bryan Sheehan.

McAliskey bounced around the place like a pup. His two points from play were superb, but it was the ball-winning, the vision and the delivery of some superb passes that stood out.

Whether the early ball is Plan A under McDonnell remains to be seen. Few full-back lines would ever cope one-on-one with McAliskey and Doris, but then few full-back lines will ever be left one-on-one with them again.

You’d have to think that if they were to meet somewhere down the line, it would be a very different affair. None of Trillick’s key men every really got into it and they were toothless in attack beyond the first 15 minutes.

For that opening spell, they threatened a goal every time they came forward. They came at Clonoe in waves, opening them up down the middle, and Lee Brennan should have had an early goal.

Clonoe settled and the rapturous, prolonged applause that rattled out of their subs’ bench for one particular turnover showed how far into their teeth were sunk by 20 minutes in.

The home side led 2-1 to 0-5 at the first water break and hit all six of the half’s remaining scores thereafter to take a significant eight-point lead off.

But with the likes of James Taggart showing up well, Daryl Magee enjoying a few moments before a late red card and Dan McNulty a major influence, McDonnell’s smile broadened the longer his first game in charge went on.

A 12-point win over the county champions was the stuff of dreams. They earned it too, though the injuries to Patrick Doris and PJ Lavery may yet leave a bittersweet taste.

It’s not normal, not near it yet.

No two events could have displayed it better than the big match and the big wedding.

But if Clonoe make as much of the next three months as they did the last three days, they’ll be alright.

MATCH STATS


Clonoe: M O’Neill; C O’Neill, R Quinn, J Taggart; C Corr (0-1), P Doris, G Coney; S McNulty, D McClure; R Corey, D McNulty (1-3, 0-1 free, 0-1 45’), PJ Lavery (1-0); D Magee (0-2, 0-1 free); C McAliskey (0-4, 0-2 frees), C Doris (0-2)


Subs: P Coney for Lavery (29), B T O’Neill for P Doris (31), R McCabe (1-0) for R Corey (41), L Quinn for C Doris (46), C Convery for Taggart (60)


Red card: D Magee (55)

Trillick: R Kelly; S O’Donnell, R Kelly, D Kelly (0-1); M Gallagher, D Gallagher, G McCarron; R Donnelly, R Brennan; R Gray, N Donnelly, L Gray (0-1); J Garrity (0-1); L Brennan (0-4 frees), M Donnelly (0-2, 0-1 free)


Subs: S Garrity for L Brennan (48)



Referee: S Hurson (Galbally)