‘Castle are flattened by the Fianna

Coalisland 2-11  Greencastle 0-7

GOALS in both halves combined with wind advantage during the second period saw Coalisland confidently progress to the Senior Championship quarter finals courtesy of this ten point victory in Pomeroy

It’s a result which means that Greencastle are officially relegated back to the Intermediate ranks for 2024. But they can have few complaints as the Fianna dominated when it mattered most in this Saturday afternoon tie.

Tiarnan Quinn was the star for the East Tyrone side. His accuracy from frees and play, and a great goal, gave Coalisland the vital edge, and the experience of Padraig Hampsey, Michael McKernan, Plunkett Kane and Niall Devlin also proved decisive.

However, it was effectively honours even during an intriguing opening period in this curtain-raiser at Plunkett Park.

Coalisland began with a real blitz, racing into a 1-1 to no score lead.

Sean L Corr put them ahead, before the opening goal saw them cut through the Greencastle defence just seconds later. A fine interception from Paddy McNeice culminated in him setting up Bailey Leonard who made no mistake in hitting the net from close ramge.

The East Tyrone side were making all the right moves at this stage. Padraig Hampsey and Niall Devlin orchestrated many of them, Sean L Corr moved out from the full-forward line to good effect and Ruairi McHugh worked hard at midfield.

All was set for the Fianna to extend that lead, but things didn’t go according to plan. Paddy McNeice continued to cause problems for the St Patrick’s defence and they created some good scoring opportunities only to see them go abegging.

Instead, Greencastle upped the pace and began to battle hard. Shane Coyle, Conor Carson and Sean Warnock all worked hard for them and their patience paid off eventually during the middle part of that first half. Shane Coyle opened the scoring to make it 1-1 to 0-1, and before Sean Warnock increased their total. Their goalkeeper, Dara McDermott, was also on his toes in saving a shot from Niall Devlin who had ran through in determined fashion.

All of this meant that Greencastle were in the ascendency and were soon back on level terms. A brace of scores courtesy of Mark Carson meant that they equalised at 1-1 to 0-4, to set up an intriguing finale to that first half.

Coalisland, though, held their nerve to restore their advantage as control ebbed towards them just before half-time. Three points, including two from Tiarnan Quinn frees and a third courtesy of Sean L Corr completed the interval scoreline of 1-4 to 0-5 in favour of the Fianna with everything to play for on the resumption.

More than eight minutes had elapsed by the time the first score arrived on the resumption. Coalisland’s calls for a penalty were waved away when Paddy McNeice appeared to have been pulled down. The ball trickled wide, and Cormac O’Hagan confidently converted the resulting 45. That left the Fianna enjoying a 1-5 to 0-5 advantage and things got even better for them thanks to their second goal. It came after ten minutes of that second period and was a masterclass in creating attacking space.

Michael McKernan’s long range ball into the danger-area was taken by Paddy McNeice who provided a deft pass to Tiarnan Quinn. He held his nerve to slide the ball into the net and leave Coalisland in pole position on a score of 2-5 to 0-5.

But they didn’t stop there and two further scores courtesy of Tiarnan Quinn really left them in the driving seat.

The efforts of the attacker left them enjoying a 2-7 to 0-5 lead entering the final quarter, and there wasn’t much which Greencastle could do.

The St Patrick’s worked hard to try and stem the tide, and Sean Warnock and Enda Clarke battled well from midfield. However, Padraig Hampsey, Louis O’Neill and Jack Fee were in no mood for messing and their interceptions kept that eight point lead firmly intact.

It took Greencastle 18 minutes until Mark Carson opened their account for that second half. He added another soon after, but by then it was too little too late. Instead, as the game filtered out, Coalisland firmly maintained their grip on proceedings. Tiarnan Quinn hit the cross, added another point and then was substituted after an impressive performance.

His efforts made all the difference for a Fianna side who closed out the final few minutes to proceed impressively to the quarter finals.