Killyclogher fend off stubborn Ardboe

    Killyclogher 2-13  Ardboe 1-14

A HANDY one for Killyclogher? Not a bit of it – Ardboe haven’t anything to show for their efforts in this year’s Division One campaign to date, but they certainly produced a credible challenge away from home on Friday night.

The Loughshore side pushed Killyclogher all the way in an entertaining contest laced with eye-catching scores, but in the end, they didn’t quite have the firepower to snatch an upset.

That isn’t to diminish the quality of their attacking play – Cormac Devlin played his heart out and Oran Mulgrew landed a couple of skyscraper points – but Killyclogher had a bit more guile and incisiveness up front, exemplified by the efforts of Mark Bradley and All-Ireland U20 winner Gavin Potter.

Bradley finished his day’s work with 10 points, four of which came from play. The highlight was an outstanding free from the sideline, mere yards from the endline, in the first-half, and his general play was a delight to behold throughout. He remains one of the elite performers in Tyrone club football.

Potter took a little longer to impose himself on proceedings, but he stepped it up several notches in the second-half, driving at the Ardboe defence and scoring a cracking goal in the 41st minute to inject fresh life into the Killyclogher challenge.

On that note, all three of the game’s goals were superbly taken – Ardboe wing-back Conall Morgan couldn’t have picked his spot any better when he unleashed a rocket of a shot to the top-corner of the net late in the first-half, and Killyclogher responded in the very next attack when Tiernan McCann tucked the ball home after a characteristic run from Potter.

Ardboe stated their intentions from the offset with enterprising scores from Shay McGuigan and Oran Mulgrew, while Killyclogher felt their way into the game with two classy points from Mark Bradley.

As the half wore on, Bradley came further out the pitch, orchestrating Killyclogher’s attacking play from the half-forward line, and while Ardboe’s temporarily long ball strategy didn’t pay dividends, they reasserted themselves with a couple of fine points and the aforementioned goal from Morgan.

Tiernan McCann had the final say of the first-half in the 29th minute with Killyclogher’s first goal of the game, and the dying embers of the half couldn’t have gone more worse from an Ardboe perspective as Matthew Bell was red carded and Conan Devlin was forced off with a nasty ankle injury shortly afterwards.

Killyclogher carried a 1-6 to 1-5 lead into the interval but 14-man Ardboe bossed the opening exchanges of the second-half with a spurt of three successive points. They were giving Killyclogher plenty to think about, particularly in the hotly contested middle sector, and it really took that 41st minute goal from Gavin Potter for Killyclogher to get back on their feet.

Ardboe kept chipping away with Shay McGuigan frees with Cormac Devlin proving a handful for the Killyclogher defence, but Killyclogher had a wider array of threats and kept their noses in front with points from midfielder Tiernan McCann (who finished his day’s work with 1-2 from play) and Mark Bradley.

The scoreboard read 2-13 to 1-13 in Killyclogher’s favour heading into injury time. Ardboe made a decent fist of conjuring a goal opportunity but Peter Devlin was fouled on the edge of the square and the resultant free was blasted just over the crossbar by Shay McGuigan.