Football

Whitecross survive late scare from Tullysaran

ST KILLIAN’S, Whitecross won their first trophy since 2007 on Sunday after surviving a late scare from Tullysaran to win the Armagh Intermediate Club Championship.

Played in the Athletic Grounds, Whitecross sprung out of the traps with four points in as many minutes and they should have been out of sight, but Tullysaran did enough to stay in the contest after an entertaining opening half.

And they almost paid the ultimate price as Tullysaran, who have had an incredible journey after winning the Junior Championship last season, took control during the second half and even levelled the score.

Tullysaran almost bagged a 58th minute winner too, but Whitecross goalkeeper Tomas Canning reacted quickest to Edward Mullen’s low close-range shot.

Having lost in the final last season, Whitecross were eager to make amends to go one better and, with the trophy named after former St Killian’s player and chairman Atty Hearty, Sunday’s win had even greater significance.

This Whitecross team are renowned for having plenty of miles on the clock and, 20 years ago, it was a fresh-faced 15-year-old Barry McKeown who helped Whitecross win the junior championship title (also against Tullysaran). 

McKeown again delivered a polished performance yesterday with quality passes out of defence and into attack. Conor Malone, at 36 years of age, finished top scorer with 1-7 from play.

First half goals from Conor Malone and Ciaran McNulty gave Whitecross a two-goal lead at the break, 2-7 to 0-7, but four points (three frees) from Kevin Corrigan went a long way to keeping Tullysaran in touch.

Within 15 minutes of the second half, Tullysaran had turned the game on its head and were level, 2-9 to 1-12 – Ciaran Mullen’s 44th minute goal along with some wonderful points from corner-back Ryan Conlon putting Tullysaran firmly in the driving seat.

However, they failed to eke out that score to put them in front.

Whitecross relied on experienced campaigners such as McKeown, Mark Shields, Cathal McSherry and Declan Lennon to absorb the pressure. And when they needed to they had Conor Malone, the hero of 2007 when his winning point clinched the Atty Hearty Cup, to swing over the winning scores once more.

Canning denied Tullysaran’s Edward Mallon with a super save and Cathal McSherry, who surely did enough this season to capture the watching Kieran McGeeney’s attention, popped over the final score.

It was a contest worthy of a final and Tullysaran, who are managed by Pearse Donnelly, Malachy McGahan and former Allstar Ronan Clarke, have made huge strides over a short space of time.

Whitecross, managed by Noel Marron, John Shields and Seamus McParland and captained by Dermot Boyle, will prepare for the Ulster Club Intermediate Football Championship where they face the winners in Tyrone.