Late McCann goal gives Killyclogher victory at Trillick

TRILLICK 0-12  KILLYCLOGHER 1-11

AN opportunist goal from Tiernan McCann in the last minute leapfrogged visitors Killyclogher into the lead at Donnelly Park on Friday night in this repeat of last season’s League Final.

St Mary’s appeared to be playing a forlorn game of catch-up for much of the evening until former county star McCann swooped on an errant pass by Trillick keeper Joe Maguire to coolly loft the ball into the empty net as the match ticked into injury time, and hand his side their first lead of the contest.

His brother Conal then drilled over a free from out on the left touchline with the last kick to give the away side further breathing space and with that the spoils went with the sky blues down the road again.

Such a scenario seemed unlikely twenty minutes in, with a fluent and focused Trillick team leading 0-7 to 0-2, the likes of Matthew Donnelly, Lee Brennan and Daire Gallagher posing all sorts of issues for their guests.

However Killyclogher gradually got to grips with their task, Michael Rafferty, the McCann brothers and Mark Bradley imposing themselves on proceedings, but it looked like they would come up short until that late late twist in the tale.

The Reds flew out of the traps, James Garrity and Lee Brennan (free) with the opening couple of scores inside the first two minutes. At the other end Bradley sold a few audacious dummies before floating over a quality score, but there was slim pickings overall for the Killyclogher inside attack in the first quarter.

They were pegged on the backfoot as Trillick wrested a firm grip. Daire Gallagher and Ciaran Daly each split the posts with confident strikes, while Brennan tagged on another pointed free. Gallagher then fed Ruairi King as the hosts launched a blistering counter-attack but the backtracking Emmet McFadden pulled off an excellent block to divert aside the goal bound shot from the Trillick half-back.

Ciaran Daly hoisted another wonderful effort over the black spot, and while McFadden replied with a sharply taken effort, a point courtesy of a Liam Gray ‘mark’ had the Reds five to the good.

Killyclogher could have faced an even steeper deficit if Tiernan McCann hadn’t got back to block down Daly’s effort at goal, before the latter then fisted against the base of the post in the follow-up.

The visitors made the most of this reprieve with three points on the spin. Rafferty cut in from the left to drill over a score, and Bradley was twice on target (one free), but a long range placed ball conversion by Brennan had Trillick three ahead-0-8 to 0-5- at half-time.

Garrity (‘mark’) and Gavin Potter traded scores on the restart, and while Bradley cleverly swivelled to make space to split the posts, there was no real indication that Trillick were going to relinquish their advantage.

A further Brennan free and top notch Garrity score had the Reds four up, and that remained the gap with ten minutes to go (0-12 to 0-8) after Bradley (free) and Ryan Gray planted points at either end.

The gap was split in half when Bradley added another free and Conal McCann surged up the centre to bang over a point, but it was his elder brother Tiernan who made the most decisive impact with that dramatic major towards the close.