New boys Gortin make Omagh battle all the way

Gortin 0-13 Omagh 0-18

AT half-time of Friday evening’s Division One meeting of Omagh and newly promoted Gortin, you’d have been forgiven for thinking the game was as good as over.

St Enda’s had cruised into a 0-12 to 0-4 lead against a Gortin team hosting their first match at this level in 17 full years and the margin was a fair indication of what had just transpired.

Omagh were slick, purposeful, tenacious, all those positive attributes, while the home side just couldn’t seem to click into gear. Indeed, after a promising enough opening, Gortin went nearly the whole half hour without tagging on another score.

They’d do themselves proud in the second half, however. With their talismanic midfielder Ruairi Keenan and Sean Og McAleer particularly prominent, they made hay during a prolonged period of relative supremacy, during which they nailed three two-pointers in-a-row.

0-13 to 0-11 with ten minutes remaining, Gortin had given themselves more than a fighting chance but Omagh wrestled back control of the contest, Barry Tierney, Conan Grugan and Ronan O’Neill bringing all their years of experience to bear as they coolly pieced together an array of points to clinch their first league win of the new season.

The opening minutes of the contest were hugely eventful, All-Ireland U20 winner Liam Og Mossey landing a splendid point before similarly eye-catching points at either end of the park courtesy of Omagh duo Eoghan McNamee and Patrick Brolly and Gortin skipper Odhran Brolly.

St Enda’s started to find their groove and by the end of the final quarter had opened up a 0-8 to 0-2 lead and deservedly so. Conan Grugan landed a spectacular effort from distance while there were a number of neat-and-tidy scores on top of that with Conan Campbell, Fionnbharr Taggart, Damien McGuigan and Callum Daly (who had to go off with a knock in the second-half) at the heart of their attacking efforts.

Gortin were finding it particularly difficult to carry the ball out of defence, Omagh pressing high up the pitch, mopping up the breaks, and compounding their advantage with further scores from Campbell, McGuigan, Grugan and Ronan O’Neill.

With about 25 minutes gone, Gortin trailed by 10 points. They needed a strong finish to the half and they got it, earning themselves a free after a prolonged period of possession, which was converted by Mossey. Not long after, they got another score, a Sean Og McAleer ‘45’, a really eye-catching effort with the rain lashing down (briefly so, thankfully) though there was still a long way back with the half-time scoreboard reading 0-12 to 0-4 in Omagh’s favour.

While Omagh landed the first score of the second half, a peach from impressive substitute Tiarnan McNamee, Gortin propelled themselves back into the game, showing serious bite in the hotly contested middle sector and showing more adventure in attack.

That sense of adventure was rewarded, McAleer landed a brilliant free from distance and Mossey doing likewise before one of the scores of the game, a stupendous strike from out on the flank from McAleer.

With only two points between the teams and Gortin’s comeback nearly complete, Omagh needed a settling score and they got it from Tiarnan McNamee as the clock ticked into the final ten minutes. St Enda’s played some really good stuff in the closing stages with Ronan O’Neill exceptional up front, scoring a beautiful point from play before McGuigan palmed the ball over the bar.

Omagh were playing some really controlled football with the game in the melting pot, and O’Neill played through a super assist to Jason McAnulla in between points from Gortin’s McAleer and Ciaran Brolly in the dying embers of the contest. Still, Omagh had done enough to prevail and both teams will take positives from a game that had simmered into a competitive and enjoyable game of football.

Scorers

Gortin: Sean Og McAleer (0-7, 0-2 45s, 2pt f, 2pt, 1f), Liam Og Mossey (0-5, 2pt f, 1f), Ciaran Brolly (0-1)

Omagh: Conan Grugan (0-3, 1 2pt), Ronan O’Neill (0-3, 2f), Patrick Bradley (0-2, 1 2pt), Conan Campbell, Tiarnan Campbell and Damien McGuigan (0-2 each), Eoghan McNamee, Oisin Miller, Fionnbharr Taggart and Jason McAnulla (0-1 each)

Teams

Gortin: Chris Green, Peter Bradley, Daire McSwiggan, Cormac Bradley, Patrick McCullagh, Fiachra McNulty, Oisin McCreanor, Cian McConnell, Ruairi Keenan, Mark Havln, Sean Og McAleer, Odhran Brolly, Ciaran Brolly, Liam Og Mossey, Peter Keenan

Omagh: Niall McGinn, Eoin Corry, Cormac Corry, Ben Groogan, Barry Tierney, Callum Daly, Ciaran McLaughlin, Patrick Bradley, Conan Grugan, Eoghan McNamee, Oisin Miller, Conan Campbell, Damien McGuigan, Ronan O’Neill, Fionnbharr Taggart. Subs: Tiarnan Campbell for McGuigan, McGuigan for Daly, Jason McAnulla for Bradley

Referee: Fergal Ward (Errigal Ciaran)