Moortown’s Ulster dream is dashed

By Alan Rodgers

A MOORTOWN side which has kept the flag flying for Tyrone in the Ulster Club saw its hopes of an historic first title dashed in this Intermediate decider.

The St Malachy’s led throughout this tie until right at the end of normal time when Steelstown began a scoring spurt which saw them come from behind to snatch victory on a score of 0-6 to 0-4..

It was a tough finale for the Tyrone champions, who will now regroup to prepare for their return to senior football on the domestic scene later in the spring.

This was a low-scoring and generally poor encounter. Moortown’s defensive discipline and their more positive approach up front were the main talking points from a first half. Steelstown in contrast struggled to make their mark up front due to indecision and inaccuracy.

Three points courtesy of Peter Devlin boosted the Moortown confidence, as the efforts of Brian McLarnon, Christopher McGuigan, Blaine Ryan and Shaun Conway gave them a slight edge.

Steelstown had to wait the grand total of 23 minutes for their opening point of the match which saw top scorer, Chair McMonagle fire over.

Moortown led 0-3 to 0-1 at half-time, and the exchanges remained low-scoring on the resumption as well. But the Derry champions had the edge, especially around midfield.

Cahir McMonagle reduced the deficit to the minimum in the 10^th minute of that second half and brought the teams level just seven minutes from the end. That heralded the start of the scoring spurt which proved decisive in favour of Steelstown.

Points from Emmett Deane and Cahir McMonagle sealed victory for them, and ended Moortown’s dreams of that provincial title.