Errigal captain rues misfortune

ERRIGAL Ciaran captain Tommy Canavan felt that lady luck went against his side during the closing stages of Sunday’s absorbing Ulster Senior Club clash with Glen, as the Tyrone champions bowed out of the competition on a 3-10 to 1-12 scoreline.

The skipper weighed in with a goal and four points as his side pushed the Oak Leaf top dogs all the way at Celtic Park, but they saw an Eoin Kelly fisted goal disallowed for a marginal square ball infringement as the match ticked into injury time which would have set up a grandstand finish.

Canavan believed that from his vantage point close to the action the goal could have stood.

“I thought it was dicey enough (ref’s call) to be honest. We did well to gain possession at that stage and worked it outside of the penalty area. It was squared and we did our best to scramble it in so I was very surprised when the call was made to rule it out. But that’s the way things go and the nature of sport. We just didn’t get the rub of the green at the end there.”

When the dust settles on yesterday’s disappointing result Errigal will be able to reflect on a brilliant season in which they recaptured the O’Neill Cup for the first time in a decade. Canavan appreciates though that it won’t be easy to make an immediate return to the provincial arena given the dog eat dog nature of the Tyrone Championship.

“It was great to be back. We could never afford to look ahead to this stage at all. When you are playing in the Tyrone Championship you can’t do that. You have to take it one game at a time, especially when you haven’t been Tyrone champions in ten years.

“Thankfully we battled our way through Tyrone and it was great for our club to be represented in Ulster again.

“We have done well down through the years in it and we wanted to do the same this time but it wasn’t to be. When you get to Ulster you want to make the most of it.

“We showed plenty of courage and character that our club can be proud of but it’s still very disappointing not to get over the line. We will lick our wounds over the winter and get ready for next year. I’m really proud of the lads and the effort they gave all year.”

Tommy felt that Glen’s greater pedigree and familiarity with Ulster football over the last few seasons probably helped them to get over the line.

“Experience does stand to you if you can get back into it and learn from a defeat. Perhaps that benefitted Glen there today having gone close last year and met tough opposition in Ulster. During our purple patch in the second half we didn’t convert enough chances, and then Glen caught us on a few fast counters and had the space up front to punish us.”