CLUB | Narrow But Deserved Championship Win For Drumragh

Saturday 20.08.2016

Club

Drumragh found themselves holding on at the end of this first round Junior Championship tie with Newtownstewart at Greencastle on Saturday evening. However in spite of some heavy pressure from the Newtown men late in the game it was the Sarsfields who edged it by a single point on a final score of 2-9 to 2-8.

The North Tyrone side enjoyed the perfect start with a Mark Mc Elhatton goal after four minutes. Drumragh responded well with a neat score from Paddy Colgan before Shane Cleary converted a seventh minute penalty to put his side in front.

Both teams enjoyed periods of prolonged possession and territorial supremacy but it was the Drumragh midfield pairing of Colgan and Benny Drumm who were bossing the middle third. They ensured their forward colleagues received plenty of the ball and ten minutes in one such pass led to the Sarsfields’ second goal.

Full forward Tommy Murphy, who was impressive throughout, laid the ball off to Shane Cleary who finished low to the net for his and his team’s second major of the night. Points from Marty Taggart and Tommy Mullin extended the lead to five points before Newtown narrowed the gap with points from Piaras and Aidan Mc Sorley to leave the half time score 2-3 to 1-3 in favour of Drumragh.

The North Tyrone outfit had the advantage of the breeze for the second half but it was the Sarsfields’ that began best. Five unanswered points inside the first ten minutes of the second period put Drumragh eight clear and even though there were still twenty minutes left  it looked like the game was up for Newtown.

However as we saw on Thursday night at Garvaghey anything is possible in championship football. Drumragh moved 2-9 to 1-4 in front following a converted 45 into the wind by goalkeeper James Colgan.

Just when it seemed they would coast to victory Drumragh found themselves in a real battle. They were reduced to fourteen men when they lost Patrick Colgan to a second yellow card with fourteen minutes remaining and suddenly Newtown sensed the game was there for the taking.

A brace of points from Aidan Mc Sorley and another from Mark Mc Elhatton gave Newtown hope before Piaras Mc Sorley finished a fine move to the net to leave two between the teams. Another point from the boot of Aidan Mc Sorley left the bare minimum in it and it seemed a draw was the most likely outcome.

However Drumragh dug deep and turned the ball over twice in injury time to earn a well deserved but hard fought win over a disappointed Newtown team.

Final score: Drumragh 2-9, Newtownstewart 2-8.