Ethan elated with Eglish showing against the Fianna

AFTER a blitzkrieg of knock-out action in the first round of the Tyrone Championships over the past weekend, the standout individual display was a no-brainer- the seventeen point haul scored by Ethan Jordan for Eglish as the St Patrick’s stunned Coalisland in a classic Intermediate clash in Dungannon last Thursday night.

The Fianna, ten times Senior champions, just had no answer to Jordan who lit up a thrilling contest with some dazzling scores, including a couple of vital two pointers at the death as Eglish took the spoils 0-25 to 1-19.

Whatever about his eye-catching personal haul however, the potent attacking star felt that the collective effort was what helped the ‘men in black’ to get over the winning line.

“Seventeen points was some kicking but it was all about getting into the next round. I felt the squad as a whole made a massive impact in that last ten minutes. It was unbelievable.

“We probably don’t have the pedigree that Coalisland have. Lots of people talked about it. Our character was really tested and that was the challenge we set ourselves. It was okay beating them in the league but could we do it in the Championship.

“We knew it would probably come down to one kick at the very end. That’s what happens in big games in the Tyrone Championship. It’s just great to be in the next round.”

While Eglish trailed by two points at the break, Jordan conceded that the gap could have been much wider with Coalisland on top for long spell of the first half.

“We knew at half-time we were lucky to be two points down. We put in the same type of performance against Clonoe a few weeks ago in the league and were ten or twelve points down at half-time.

“We were happy enough therefore because our performance was poor in the first half. We didn’t do what we set out to do. But in the second half we went from two down to three up.”

While Eglish could have been forgiven for cursing their luck when the first round draw matched them with one of the county’s traditional heavyweights, Ethan argued that they viewed it in a positive light

“Whenever the draw first came out we knew it would be a tough game but when we sat down and analysed it we said let’s have a big push in the Championship. So when you look at it this was a great first game to have.

“People probably wrote us off even after beating them in the league because they had men missing. But we had boys in America all summer too who are just home and they really helped to push us on.”