Eglish goalie Gibney would love to ‘net’ final berth

INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

IF Eglish are to lift the Paddy Cullen Cup this season then they will have done it the hard way.

Having gone head to head with one time county heavyweights Coalisland in the first round of the Intermediate Championship, they were then pitched in with fellow league playoff contenders Owen Roes in the last eight, and next up is Moy this Friday night in the semi-finals, another of the big cats prowling around in the second tier of Tyrone club football these days.

So far the St Patrick’s have risen to the challenge, with the likes of Matthew Og McGleenan, Luke Donnelly and Ethan Jordan lighting up the Championship.

However their athletic keeper Jack Gibney and a diligent defence have also contributed notably to their performances to date, helping to hold some prolific attacking talent in check up till now. Gibney appreciates that it will require a functioning unit across the board if they are to win the Intermediate title for only the third time in their history (’92 and ’97 the previous two).

“ Ethan was absolutely superb against Coalisland but Owen Roes had their homework done and had men on his heels so others had to step up. In the first half we had seven different scorers and that was what we needed with Ethan a bit quieter.

“ Defensively Aaron (Daly), Coly Mc (Nulty) and Conor (Holmes) deserve a bit of credit too. Defenders don’t usually get credit but when we needed them they stood up to the challenge.”

Six points separated Eglish and Owen Roes at the end of the quarter-final, though the boys in black were relieved to see former Tyrone star Cathal McShane miss a penalty midway through the second half, at a spell in the contest when they were threatening a comeback.

Gibney did produce a fine save from the spot later on, albeit Aidan Hegarty stuck away the rebound, but by that stage it was as good as game over. The Eglish netminder admitted that the Roes had them on the ropes for a period, as they let slip a nine point interval advantage.

“ The final scoreline might look convincing but it was far from that. We were well up at the end of the first half but Owen Roes came out again strong and got their purple patch.

“ Thankfully our defence got in a couple of good blocks and we dealt with a few high balls well. We just about rode it out and then clipped a few good scores ourselves to get home.

“ We were pleased to get into the semi-finals but it left us with a lot to work on. They got two penalties and on another day Cathal probably sticks his in the back of the net and the fella stuck the other in on the rebound. We just had to dig deep.”

Jack is conscious that Eglish are only halfway to attaining their primary goal despite overcoming two of the top sides already at Intermediate level.

“ We still have a lot of hard work to do. We will just focus on the next one now and be ready for that task too.

“Everyone knew about Coalisland’s pedigree coming into the match but Owen Roes themselves finished fifth in the league and they only lost to the four teams above them so that showed how strong they were.

“It was a tough hard-fought victory and we were glad with the end result.”