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St.Endas Into County Final
Saturday 30.09.2017
Omagh demonstrated great commitment and fighting spirit at Pomeroy on Saturday evening as they outscored a gallant Trillick side 1-5 to 0-1 in the final twenty minutes to qualify for the County final on October 15th.
It was a clash that brought together the 2014 and 2015 O’Neill Cup winners and it didn’t disappoint in front of a crowd of around 5000. Trillick began well and led 0-3 t 0-1 at the end of the opening quarter with Lee Brennan [2] and James Garrity getting their points. Trillick keeper Joe Maguire then made a great save to deny Connor O’Donnell a goal. Brennan and Richard Donnelly stretched Trillick’s lead but back came Omagh in the closing stages of the half. O’Donnell fired over from forty metres out before Conan Grugan weighed in with a superb brace. In the last attack of the first half Omagh almost got in for a goal but O’Donnell rattled the crossbar to leave it 0-5 apiece at the turnaround.
Trillick made a great start to the second half with Ryan Gray, Mattie Donnelly and Daire Gallagher all notching quality points within three minutes. O’Donnell opened Omagh’s second half account with a fine point from distance but Garrity cancelled that out before Richard Donnelly scored a brilliant 39th minute goal to put his side 1-9 to 0-6 in front.
The old adage that you are at your most vulnerable when you score a goal was certainly true here as within thirty seconds Michael Gallagher found Ronan O’Neill who finished in style low to the bottom right hand corner of the net. His brother Cormac then fisted a point before Ryan Gray replied from distance at the other end of the field. With a dozen minutes left to play though that proved to be Trillick’s last score of the game. Wing half back Barry Tierney fired a goal chance over the bar before Ronan O’Neill left the minimum between the two sides. With six minutes left to play a free from Grugan, his fourth point, levelled matters. As the tension rose Omagh Captain Joe McMahon was the coolest man in Plunkett Park as he converted a “45” to send his side through to the final on a 1-11 to 1-10 scoreline.
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