Omagh exit at the hands of Ardboe

ARDBOE 1-8   OMAGH 1-6

DESPITE being reduced to 14 men for the final third of this low-key contest, Ardboe did enough to stamp out the Senior Championship challenge of old adversaries Omagh at Pearse Park in Galbally on Saturday afternoon.

While in mitigation St Enda’s can point to a number of high-profile absentees (with neither Conor Meyler or Ronan O’Neill fit to start) they can have few grumbles about the outcome overall.

Meyler did come on for the second half and underlined his worth to the team with a stunning individual goal, but it was a strangely listless and disjointed display from Omagh for the most part.

They trailed by five points (0-7 to 0-2) by the 40 minute mark but even after Shay McGuigan was sent off, after picking up a second booking, St Enda’s struggled to make many inroads against a fervently committed Ardboe defensive unit.

The blustery conditions no doubt contributed to the scrappy nature of the exchanges, especially in the first period, where prolonged spells of lateral and laboured passing plighted the spectacle.

Playing into the breeze, Omagh were content to play keep-ball though they were boosted by the opener from Fionbharr Taggart on seven minutes after he dated through to rifle over.

The lively Cormac Devlin injected some urgency into Ardboe’s game when he belted over from distance to level things up, while full-back Oisin Devlin and Shay McGuigan (free) also registered to ease them two in front.

Conor O’Donnell lifted the tedium when he blasted over a superb point for Omagh from the 45m range, but scoring opportunities were at a premium, despite the best efforts of Cormac Devlin and especially Shea O’Hare for Ardboe.

Rossas defender Michael Cassidy roamed up the right flank to curl over a sublime score and coming on the back of a ’45’ from keeper Conall Quinn it handed the loughshore men a 0-5 to 0-2 cushion at the break.

They widened that gap as O’Hare belted through to convert and Quinn knocked over a free, but with McGuigan then seeing red Omagh were handed a lifeline.

The trademark runs of Meyler at last injected some urgency and penetration into their approach work and Jason McAnulla was denied a goal when full-back Oisin Devlin pulled off a stunning block.

Points from Conan Grugan (free) and defender Damien McGuigan left it 0-7 to 0-4 but with ten minutes remaining Omagh were hit by a sucker punch. Cormac Devlin set O’Hare in the clear and he finished crisply past Cathal McCarron into the net.

Callum Daly benefited from good work by Meyler to split the posts before Meyler then took the bull by the horns, steaming up the centre and shooting superbly high past keeper Conall Quinn.

To their credit though Ardboe maintained their poise as the dynamic O’Hare registered again and despite a spell of late pressure all Omagh
could muster was another Grugan free.