Edendork 1-10 Loughmacrory 1-10
EDENDORK and Loughmacrory shared the spoils on a gloomy Friday evening at Arthur Mallon Park in ACL Division One. This was a result that looked unlikely after 30 minutes of play, with the away side 1-7 to 0-4 ahead at the break.
Loughmacrory may have been disappointed not to have extended that six point advantage further having missed a number of big opportunities and kicked six wides in the first half.
The home side would make Loughmacrory pay for their inefficiency, making a blistering start to the second half, kicking 1-2 without reply to leave only a point between the sides with 20 minutes remaining.
Loughmacrory looked to have wrestled back the momentum as they established a three point lead heading into the closing moments but two points from Darren McCurry and a brilliant last-ditch point from Conn Kilpatrick rescued a point for St Malachys.
Within a minute of the start of the contest Loughmacrory had the ball in the net. Dara Curran won a breaking ball inside the 21 which left him one on one with the keeper and the defender showed great composure to finish low to the bottom corner of the net.
Loughmacrory dominated the opening ten minutes of the match but couldn’t make it count of the scoreboard kicking a number of scoreable shots wide.
Despite struggling, Edendork scored the next two points, Darren McCurry gaining possession, turning brilliantly and kicking a point from 30 metres. The East Tyrone side would get their second point after good run by Conn Kilpatrick resulted in a long range score from centre half back Ben Cullen.
St Teresa’s re-established their three point lead with Cathal Donaghy winning a turnover in his own half and kicking his side’s first point. Then two minutes later Pauraic Meenagh registered his first of five points.
The West Tyrone side may have been out of sight if it wasn’t for the superb Darren McCurry who scored three of the St Malachys four first half points. Good work from Ben Cullen and Niall Morgan, gave McCurry the space to kick a point from a difficult angle. The full forward then did it all himself, making a fantastic overhead catch before converting the mark. That made it 1-3 to 0-4 after 20 minutes.
But Loughmacrory ended the half strongly by scoring four unanswered points in the final five minutes. Pauraic Meenagh showed his quality dummying an Edendork defender before scoring from distance.
At the other end of the field, St Teresa’s fullback Nathan Kelly made a magnificent block from a Darren McCurry shot that looked destined to be heading over.
Moments later the lively Cathal Donaghy kicked his second point of the contest after good work by Ruairi McCullagh. Pauraic Meenagh then scored his third and fourth points in the tie, one from a free and another from play to leave Loughmacrory in a comfortable position with a six point advantage at half-time.
Whatever was said at half time in the Edendork dressing room definitely had a positive effect on the home team as Niall Morgan won the second half throw up and scored a superb long range point from outside the 45.
>body2text<A few minutes later Ben Cullen got his second score after good team build up to reduce the deficit to four points.
In the 36th minute Loughmacrory kicked their seventh wide and from the resulting kick-out ,midfielder Niall Morgan kicked the ball to the opposing 45. Conn Kilpatrick caught the ball brilliantly before offloading it to Darren McCurry who looked destined to find the net but Loughmacrory keeper Oisin O’Kane dived early and made an unbelievable save. Niall Morgan converted the resultant 45 to leave three points between the teams at 1-7 to 0-7.
The St Teresa’s side were struggling but got a much needed score through forward Gareth Donaghy who kicked his side’s first score of the second half after an electric run by Dara Curran.
Both defences were on top over the next ten minutes, with defenders Nathan Kelly and Ronan Fox impressing for Loughmacrory while Declan Cullen and Ben Cullen stood out in defence for Edendork.
A massive moment came in the 45th minute when a high ball by Stephen Corr was caught by Niall Morgan who turned on a dime and placed the ball to the corner of the net. Loughmacrory’s goalkeeper Oisin O’Kane got a hand to the shot but was unable to keep it out to leave the score at 1-8 to 1-7 heading into the final quarter.
St Teresa’s wrestled back the momentum kicking the next two points, with man of the match Dara Curran standing up in the big moment and kicking a colossal point. Curran then won a free for his side which Pauric Meenagh converted to leave the away side leading by three heading into the final 10 minutes.
Edendork looked to have spurned their opportunity to reduce the deficit, failing to score for 15 minutes after their goal; McCurry missing a scoreable free and Niall Morgan kicking a long range effort just short with Oisin O’Kane handling well.
Edendork, however, never gave up and kicked a point in the 59th minute through Darren McCurry. He scored yet another point moments later, his fifth, dummying the shot off his left foot before scoring off his right, leaving a single point between the sides heading into stoppage time.
Loughmacrory lattempted to hold on to possession and run out the clock deep into stoppage time but St Malachy’s forward Fionn Devlin won possession back from the St Teresa’s defence. The ball eventually found its way to Conn Kilpatrick who kicked an outrageous acute point under pressure to earn Edendork an unlikely share of the spoils.
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