Donaghmore boss rues second half showing

DONAGHMORE manager Mark Counihan insists that his side will have to heed the lessons of seeing a ten point interval deficit wiped out against Moortown in last week’s drawn league clash.

On the back of an early Ronan Cassidy goal the St Patrick’s built up a 1-10 to 0-3 advantage at the break on the banks of the lough shore but they ultimately had to settle for a share of the spoils as Shea Lawn knocked over an equalising two point free with the last kick for the hosts.

Counihan admitted the visitors would probably have settled for a point before the ball was thrown in but given how events unfolded felt it was a tad frustrating not to head home again with the full haul in their back pocket.

“ The Tyrone league starts at 100 miles an hour, everyone is waiting for it. Everyone is trying to get points off each other. That’s five points from five games for us, so it shows every point is hard fought for. We have added another to our tally with this draw so we will take it. You just have to keep taking the points when you get them.”

The Donaghmore boss stressed that the new scoring format in place these days ensured that crawling in big deficits was becoming more and more common.

“ You see this in a lot of games nowadays. Ten points turning against the breeze doesn’t prove to be as big a lead as maybe it used to be seen as. Once the opposition get their tails up and get a couple of two pointers on the board it gives them a serious lift and Moortown got that.

“ The new two pointer rule allows teams to get a grip in the game and climb back into it very quickly. We were disappointed that we allowed that to happen so early in the second half. That gave them a good foothold in the game. It was a ding dong battle and I would say that a draw was probably a fair result at the end of it.”

In recent years Donaghmore have skirted with danger at times towards the bottom end of the table but that shouldn’t be the case this season. Counihan though was guarding against such complacent talk.

“ Everyone is scrambling for points. I know some teams who have come up might be seen to be struggling right now but they have been close in a few games and it won’t be long till they do get points so you can easily get dragged into it if you don’t keep your standards up.

” You could find yourself looking over your shoulder easy enough. You can get a run of good results okay but also a run of bad results.”