By 
ACL DIVISION 1/2 PLAYOFF
COALISLAND captain Tiarnan Quinn has spoken of his mixture of delight and relief at seeing the side return to the big time.
The Fianna accounted for Pomeroy in a draining playoff encounter 1-17 to 0-16 after extra-time at Stewartstown on Saturday to end their twelve months of exile in Intermediate football, having been relegated for the first time in forty years at the back end of 2024.
The scenes at the final whistle at the weekend contrasted markedly with the despondency which gripped the club in the aftermath of losing their top flight status this time last year at the hands of fierce local rivals Clonoe.
Quinn was thrilled to see the Blues book a quick return ticket to Senior football, as a goal from sub Ruairi Campbell in the last minute of extra-time eased them over the winning line against the battling Plunketts.
“ If you are relegated to Division Two you either win the Championship or win the League or win the playoff. The playoff is probably the hardest route be honest as it’s two tough games at the backend of a long season but we managed to come through the hardest route. We are just delighted to be heading back up to Division One next year.”
The Coalisland attacker insisted that the team were in no mood to relinquish this last opportunity to go up having missed out on both League and Championship honours. Even though they trailed by six (0-11 to 0-5) in the 54th minute at stormy Stewartstown Tiarnan refused to accept defeat.
“ It’s great. At the start of the year doing laps and putting in the hard yards at training the goal all along was to be back in Division One next season. It came down to extra-time in the last game. We were twenty minutes away from being in Division One and we knew we had to put the head down and we did.
“ We dogged it out at the end. We were a bit lucky and got the rub of the green but we are just happy to get over the line.
“ We kicked a lot of wides. I know it wasn’t the best day for football but we showed that patience at the end. The skill levels were great moving the ball through the hands and keeping things simple. Peter Herron then obviously went through to get the last score just before the end of full time to draw us level.
“ We went into extra-time with our tails up and we just looked to build on from that. We still fell one down playing with the wind but we cane on strong towards the end which was brilliant.”
Tyrone star Michael McKernan made a huge impact when introduced off the bench in the second half, hitting 0-3, which included a gem of a two pointer. Quinn acknowledged that having their county contingent back within the club fold made a massive difference.
“ Going into the start of the league campaign without our four best players who were involved with the county you are trying to fill in spaces.
“ Yes players are coming in but it makes such a huge difference having those boys come back in. Even this past couple of weeks at training. There was six full weeks having a full panel, with McKernan also back after his shoulder operation.”