Coach hails Pomeroy ‘resolve’ after title triumph

POMEROY coach John McElholm put his team’s Intermediate Championship Final win over Moy at the weekend down to “resolve” as they hit four points after shipping two goals in a game they controlled.

“In my eye, I can see John McCourt at full-stretch and he is a brilliant ‘keeper… it was a top drawer finish,” McElholm said of Ryan Conroy’s flicked goal.

It was followed by a Diarmuid McKeown goal after McCourt had saved Ryan Coleman’s penalty and Moy were 2-4 to 0-9 ahead.

“The boys showed some resolve to kick the next four scores,” McElholm said.

“Frank (Burns) kicked two of them, from away out on the far side, two worldies.

“He backs himself and we back him.

“We trust the players and they trust us so there is a really good dynamic there.”

“It’s the attitude these boys have, it’s never say die and the panic button wasn’t pressed.

“It was a six-point turnaround in minutes,” McElholm said of the exciting finish.

“They (Moy) have lots of quality and experienced players and I thought we were in bother but they settled down and won a couple of balls.”

Pomeroy stuck to their plan. Their positivity picked out the gaps as Moy went “for broke” to save the game.

“Four points in a row, it is dreamland material… the harder you work, the luckier you get,” McElholm said through the smile that spoke a thousand words.

To top it off, Frank Burns delivered a winning speech that ticked every box and really brought out the emotion of the occasion.

“This is such a big deal for the club,” McElholm stressed. “We had set our targets at the start of the year.

“It was one game at a time but in the back of everybody’s minds, these boys wanted to be back in senior football and they wanted to lift that cup.

“They are delighted to be back and they deserve every minute of this because they have worked their socks off.

“Division One is the currency here in Tyrone and those top drawer county players like Frank and Kieran (McGeary), they are in the top four or five county players in terms of appearances over the last four or five years.

“That’s how motivated they are and they know their teammates are capable of playing at the
level and good players want to test themselves at the top
level.”