Carmen down Dromore right at the death

Carrickmore 0-11  Dromore 0-10

STIRRING stuff from the men from Carrickmore. Nearly midway through the second-half under lights at O’Neill’s Healy Park on Friday night, they trailed by 0-9 to 0-5 to Dromore and hadn’t scored in a full 20 minutes of play. A first-round Senior Championship exit surely beckoned?

It wasn’t as if Carmen were playing badly – they’d gone full pelt but scores were proving difficult to come by and it was looking like it was just going to be one of those nights.

But they didn’t drop the heads, not once, setting up a grandstand finish in front of an enraptured audience in Omagh.

When Dromore pounced for a late Emmett O’Neill point that made it 0-10 to 0-8 on the scoreboard, it looked like Carrickmore’s goose had finally been cooked. They’d done themselves proud but ultimately left it too late in the day to secure their passage to the quarter-finals.

Nope – there was still time and they landed two quickfire points in a helter skelter finale to proceedings, and it looked like we were all set for a first-round replay next weekend.

But Carrickmore’s tails were up and they went searching for a winner and that winner came when Lorcan McGarrity grabbed hold of possession nearly 45 metres from goal. He could’ve recycled the ball and this was a time for cool minds, but he backed himself and his booming shot sailed between the posts.

60 seconds later, Sean Hurson blew the whistle on what had been an enthralling contest and you have to say that Carrickmore deserved it – they’d outscored Dromore by 0-6 to 0-2 in a second-half display bursting at the seams with sheer effort and energy.

Back to the start, and Dromore’s Declan McNulty got the game’s opening score with an exquisite effort off the outside of his boot with three minutes gone, though it was fairly tentative very early on with both teams sounding each other out.

Dromore had the more productive start overall, however, probing and looking for openings to good effect, and they doubled their advantage with a Peter Teague free, while Carrickmore faced an early blow to their chances when captain Sean Loughran was forced off with injury after only five minutes gone.

Carmen got their account going with a fine point from late inclusion from Aidan Fullerton and they almost pounced for a goal, Daniel Fullerton cleverly playing the ball through to Lorcan McGarrity whose effort at dinking the ball into the roof off the net was judged a fraction too high and rebounded off the crossbar.

Dromore opened up a 0-3 to 0-1 lead with a tricky free judged to perfection by McNulty, but Carrickmore responded with a superb effort from Brian Conway, who had been introduced for the team skipper Loughran.

It had been a cagey enough opening spell aside from the sprinkling of eye-catching scores. Dromore reasserted themselves with a Ciaran McCoy point but Carmen stayed hot on their heels with a Danny Fullerton free as the game entered the second quarter.

Dromore enjoyed a period of prolonged possession, playing the ball around in a composed fashion before young gun Brian Gallagher, who was faring well on his senior championship debut, spotted the opening with a fine score to open up a 0-5 to 0-3 lead.

They coughed up another free, however, again converted by Carmen marksman Fullerton to reduce the deficit to the bare minimum.

Carrickmore did well for a spell from Mark McGale’s long restarts and it was no big surprise when they added another point, a lovely strike from that man Fullerton after he sold his man a delicious dummy – perfecto.

Dromore finished the half with a flourish, however, rattling off three points on the spin. The increasingly influential Niall Sludden weighed in with two of those efforts (the first a trademark point from the former Tyrone star) while his brother Oran popped up with the other, pushing their side into a 0-8 to 0-5 lead at the interval.

It looked for all the world that Carrickmore’s Lorcan McBride was going to rattle the onion bag when he broke through early in the second-half, but Mark McGale was quick off his line and was able to send the ball flying out for a ’45’.

Dromore’s blushes were further spared when Fullerton’s effort from that resulting ’45’ hit the post as they maintained their three-point advantage, but Carrickmore were looking lively again, even if scores were proving hard to come by.

Nine minutes into the second-half, the deadlock was broken with a Peter Teague free while Carmen spurned another chance down the other end of the pitch.

Carrickmore, belatedly, got their first point of the half with Aidan Fullerton finding the target and they got another shortly afterwards, Lorcan McGarrity’s effort from range creeping just inside the posts.

That left Dromore with a 0-9 to 0-7 lead with 46 minutes on the clock and tempers flared for a spell on the sidelines though it was nothing too hot and heavy, it has to be said.

Emmet McNabb entered the fray, but Carrickmore had moved into the ascendancy and reduced the deficit to the bare minimum with Danny Fullerton’s latest free, their third point in succession.

Carmen were bossing the midfield exchanges with Oisin McElroy among those making their presence felt from restarts as the clock ticked into the final ten minutes.

The game was being played on Carrickmore’s terms but the question was whether they could do enough to settle the argument in their favour. Dromore were finding it difficult to get out of their own half – a testament to Carrickmore’s ravenous hunger for possession – but they kept their cool and pieced together a crucial 55th minute point that was finished off by Emmett O’Neill.

Carmen were by no means disheartened though, and scored with their next attack, a superb strike from the impressive Brian Conway, and it looked a replay was on the cards when they forced a brilliant late turnover and won a free which was converted by Lorcan McGarrity, holding his nerve 20 seconds from injury time.

Would there be a winner? Three minutes were called for, ample enough time for either side to seal their spot in the quarter-finals.

Carrickmore coolly held onto possession as they probed for an opening and then the moment came – Lorcan McGarrity showed immense character and an abundance of skill with an awesome point to send the Carmen faithful into raptures.

Dromore had seconds to snatch an equaliser and drove forward in waves but Niall Sludden’s late effort drifted just wide of the posts and that was that – they hadn’t done it the easy way but Carrickmore had prevailed in a championship thriller.