All square as Edendork and Errigal Ciaran face off in dramatic Senior Championship final

All square as Edendork and Errigal Ciaran face off in dramatic Senior

Championship final

Errigal Ciaran 0-15 Edendork 1-12

Edendork and Errigal Ciaran will return to Omagh on Friday evening to settle the argument once and for

all, after the Connollys of Moy Tyrone Senior Football Championship ended in drama, confusion and

stalemate.

Darren McCurry’s spectacular two-point equaliser was disallowed by referee Paul Gallagher as

punishment for a breach signalled by a linesman.

But his attention was drawn to injured St Malachy’s player Correy Bell being treated by medics well

inside his own half, and the decision was reversed, the score was confirmed and the O’Neill Cup was

going nowhere.

Both sets of players will recover, renew and go again in an eagerly anticipated replay, the dream still alive

for a club never before involved in a senior championship final in its 94 year history.

Errigal’s bid for a tenth O’Neill Cup title is also on hold, and they firmly believe that, despite the absence

of ace attacker Darragh Canavan, they can get the job done at the second attempt.

Errigal were just three points ahead after playing with wind advantage in the second half, and a Fiachra

Nelis goal just after the restart had the St Malachy’s ahead for the first time and primed to push on.

But the Dunmoyle men fought back to go ahead late on with an Eoin Kelly two-pointer, before McCurry’s

last gasp leveller saw the game end in drama and controversy.

Errigal Ciaran manager Enda McGinley had no issues with the score being allowed, even though it

deprived his side of what would otherwise been another championship triumph.

“Look, given the strength of remonstrating from Edendork, I assume it was a legit mistake. There might

have been a player down injured, I’m not sure,” he said.

And he conceded that his side had not done enough to merit victory on the day.

“It is what it is. I think a draw was a fair result. I think if we had have won it, I’m not 100 per cent sure we

would have deserved it to be honest.”

McGinley doesn’t believe that Darragh Canavan, who missed the game due to a knee injury, will be fit for

Friday’s rematch.

“That was obviously a blow to the squad and to the group. It is what it is, you’ve got a squad for a reason,

and it’s up to the next man to come in and do well, and that’ll be the same state the next day.”

He added: “There were boys on both teams who had quieter days than their normal standards. The next

game will be very likely quite a bit different, with different players standing up. Some of the players who

stood up well today will be very closely monitored, you would imagine.

“Look, it goes back to that panel thing. The replay will take on a life on its own, and will probably have

very little relevance to today’s game.”

He insisted that while his side went into the game as favourites, he took nothing for granted.

“When you’ve been around enough corners in the Tyrone Championship, you don’t take anybody for

granted.

“We didn’t buy into the talk of being favourites, we prepared as well as we can, we felt we were in a very

good place. Aspects of the performance were good, aspects let us down, and I’ve no doubt Edendork will

be saying the same, so it will be whichever team makes the most gains in the five days.”

Edendork manager Brian McGuckin never had any doubt that the breach call was incorrect, and that there

never should have been any question over the legitimacy of McCurry’s score.

“It was a breach that was called initially. I could see two of our players and I saw Niall (Morgan) crossing

halfway and then someone said to me, don't worry, Correy's to our right and Correy was standing there so

I was fine with that.

“I can understand how the linesman didn't see Correy so I can understand why it was called from his

perspective but I'm just delighted that the officials took time and came to the right conclusion.”

And McGuckin was happy that the right man was in the right position at the right time when the ball was

moved to McCurry behind the 45 metre line.

“Look, there's probably nobody else that we would want on the ball in that moment, in that position,

under that kind of pressure and once the ball left his boot I was in a fantastic position I could see that it

was going over the bar so just delighted to see it go over and relieved that we've got a second chance.”

A dull first half gave way to a frantic second as the St Malachy’s went in front with a goal from substitute

Fiachra Nelis, before Errigal clawed their way back.

Errigal suffered a huge pre-match blow when Darragh Canavan was forced out of the team due to injury,

and with younger brother Ruairi also absent, their attack was severely weakened.

And they struggled to break down a stubborn Edendork defence in which Neil Kilpatrick and Ben Cullen

were outstanding, hitting the target just four times while wind-assisted in the first half, teenager Aodhan

Quinn accounting for 0-4 with a couple of floated two-pointers.

Nine wides frustrated their best efforts to build attacking opportunities, while Edendork, with Niall

Morgan on target with the majority of his kick-outs, raided to pick off scores through Conor Mallon, Neil

Kilpatrick and Jake Ferguson, with Darren McCurry held scoreless by his Tyrone team-mate Cormac

Quinn.

Errigal led by 0-5 to 0-1 after 12 minutes, but managed just one more point in the remainder of the

opening half, a short kick-out intercepted by Shea McDermott, who sent Peter Harte in to score.

At the interval, Errigal led by 0-6 to 0-3, but half-time sub Nelis hit the net with his first touch to put

Edendork ahead for the first time.

Back came Errigal with a flurry of scores from Peter Harte and Peter Og McCartan, pushing them three

clear going into the final quarter.

Four in a row from Edendork, two of them from McCurry, had the, back in front, but Eoin Kelly’s 60th

minute two-pointer, followed by a Quinn score, appeared to have won it for the Dunmoyle men.

But then came saviour McCurry’s glorious equaliser right at the death.

Errigal Ciaran scorers: Aodhan Quinn 0-5 (2 tp) Peter Harte 0-4 (1 free), Peter Og McCartan, Eoin Kelly

(tp) 0-2 each, Padraig McGirr, Shea McDermott (free) 0-1 each.

Edendork scorers: Fiachra Nelis 1-0, Darren McCurry 0-6 (2 frees, 1tp), Conor Mallon, Jake Ferguson,

Patrick McLernon, Correy Bell, Donal Maneely, Neil Kilpatrick 0-1 each.

Errigal Ciaran: Darragh McAnenely; Cormac Quinn, Aidan McCrory, Ronan O’Sullivan; Tiarnan

Colhoun, Niall Kelly, Peter Og McCartan; Ben McDonnell, Padraig McGirr; Pauric Traynor, Peter Harte,

Aodhan Quinn; Shea McDermott, Odhran Robinson, Tommy Canavan.

Subs: Joe Oguz for Canavan, Ruairi Canavan for Traynor, Eoin Kelly for McGirr, Michael Mullin for

Colhoun.

Edendork: Niall Morgan; Donal Maneely, Fionn Devlin, Neil Kilpatrick; Jake Ferguson, Ben Cullen,

Correy Bell; Conn Kilpatrick, Luke Ferguson; Patrick McLernon, Conor Mallon, Harry Og Conlan;

Darren McCurry, Daire Conway, Rian Nelis.

Subs: Fiachra Nelis for R Nelis, Steven Corr for Conway, James Fearon for Conlan.

Referee: Paul Gallagher (Castlederg).