'We probably got out of jail' - Paul Coney relieved as Rock set up St Peter’s showdown

ROCK’S provincial odyssey shows no sign of coming to an end, and they’re preparing for the third leg of their Ulster Club Intermediate Football Championship adventure.

A 2-14 to 1-13 victory over Antrim champions Naomh Eanna secured a semi-final spot for the Tyrone title-holders, who will battle it out with St Peter’s Lurgan on the weekend after next for a place in the decider.

The Glengormley side, who reached an All-Ireland final at this level a few seasons ago, travelled to Dungannon with a firm belief that they could carve out a result.

And they caused serious problems for a Rock side that took some time to settle to their task.

The home side coughed up three goal chances in the opening 10 minutes, and but for the heroics of ‘keeper Oisin MacNia, who pulled off a couple of superb saves, the story of the game could have unfolded much differently.

“I was certainly worried. We had talked about trying to get off to a fast start ourselves, after last week’s match, when we didn’t play particularly well in the first half,” said manager Paul Coney.

“We knew what quality they had up front, and we thought we had guarded against it by watching the videos and having boys primed, but they did catch us out in the first 10 of 12 minutes and they had a couple of good chances.”

As the game opened out, Rock also crafted goal chances, missing a couple, but crucially hitting the net twice in the second half, first through midfielder Diarmaid Carroll, before Liam Nugent sealed the deal with a late strike.

“It was a bit open, and there were two sets of really good forwards there, so you’re always going to get those opportunities,” said Coney.

“We probably got out of jail in the first half, but we had two good goal chances up at that top end but didn’t take them.

“In a way, we were happy enough to go in at half-time only two points down, because we knew we weren’t performing at the standards or the levels that we had been.

“Throughout the match we probably had three or four good goal chances, but we hung in there, and full credit to the lads.”

While they were winning the midfield battle through the efforts of Thomas Mackle, Diarmaid Carroll and Shane Murphy, the St Patrick’s were struggling to find attacking fluency from a forward unit that has sparkled in previous championship games this year.

“We just weren’t as fluid as we had been. Liam (Nugent) as getting on the ball, but he just wasn’t having the support runners coming off him.

“We were probably trying to cover a lot of threats that St Enda’s had around the middle, and that maybe didn’t help us in getting forward enough, because we were tagging those threats.

“So at half-time, we reassessed that, and in the second half we did create openings, we pushed a lot of bodies forward and gave it a good rattle.”

And Rock created a handful of goal chances of their own, missing a couple before they netted for the second time late on.

“We were two points up and we had a couple of good chances for goals and even points, but maybe with a wee bit of decision-making and composure we could have done better,” said Coney.

“But you can’t fault the lads, we won a lot of big balls around the middle, and a lot of scrappy balls towards the end, and it got us those opportunities to tag a couple of points.

“It created a wee bit of daylight and thankfully we got over the line.”

And as the tension mounted in the closing 10 minutes of a closely fought contest, the crowd got behind the Rock men, with a sizeable number of Edendork fans arriving for the senior game, as well as a body of neutrals from local clubs.

“It’s a brilliant venue for that, with the reverberation around the stand.

“There was a lot of the Edendork crowd in, and a lot of people from around east Tyrone, who got behind is, you could see all the different club tops and coats.

“It was a huge bonus playing at home, because there was a great crowd there, with people coming in for the Edendork game, and it helped us that last 10 or 12 minutes.

“Once you get a couple of points and you hear that roar from the crowd, it spurred us on.”

Tough games on successive weekends have taken their toll on the Rock players, and Coney is grateful for the opportunity to use the two-week break to renew energy levels ahead of the next big challenge.

“We have a lot of sore, tired bodies, so we’ll get recovered over the next few days and towards the latter end of the week, we’ll start focusing on St Peter’s.

“At this stage, it’s a matter of making sure our injuries are to a minimum and keeping boys fresh.”

Coney possesses some useful nuggets of inside information about his side’s Ulster Club IFC semi-final opponents St Peter’s.

A few seasons spent on the Armagh club scene, where he managed Maghery and Granemore, brought him into close contact with the Lurgan outfit, and he’s fully aware of the quality they possess.

“I was in Armagh football for a couple of years, so I have come across them a few times,” said Coney.

“They have only dropped down to intermediate, they have been a senior side, a really good senior side.

“I think we’re coming up against another step in class. They have a few boys who have played for the county, a few classy players.”