Pomeroy rue a couple of late ref calls

THERE was heartbreak for Pomeroy as they lost by the finest of margins in the first round of the Ulster Intermediate Club Championship last Saturday evening in O’Neill’s Healy Park against Cullyhanna.

The Plunketts led by a point at half time and extended that lead to three early in the second half, but coach John McElholm recognised the quality which the Armagh champions possessed and knew that they were always going to muster a fightback.

“We knew they were going to come out all guns blazing. They probably haven’t been in that position at half-time this year and had breezed through Armagh.

“We really wanted to put it up to them and ask lots of questions of them. We expected them to have a purple patch, but yeah, it did go on a bit too long, and Jason Duffy won two, maybe three kick-outs in the middle of the field and it put us on the back foot a bit.”

Heading into injury time the sides where level but Pomeroy were left to rue multiple missed chances to retake the lead as McElholm explained.

“We were still defending fairly well, there was nothing much in the game, and we knew that we were only a couple of points behind, that we would be able to claw it back.

“And we did, we went level, and by that stage, it was a bit chaotic.

“We had brought on a couple of our impact subs, we had gone man to man, and we were getting a lot of joy in the last five of six minutes, we were in a dominant position.

“We missed a couple of chances that might have won it for us, but we’re just really disappointed with how it ended up.”

Pomeroy may feel aggrieved as some late calls in the game as well as the timing of the final whistle, as McElholm explained.

“I don’t know what the free was for, and I thought they were generous in terms of the yards that the free-taker took, and he nailed it, to be fair to him.

“But to blow a game like that up, an Ulster Club game, with one point in it, us on the attack with everybody ahead of the ball and looking really good, to blow it up when we hit the 40 metre line, was something that I haven’t seen too often before.”

Pomeroy must now try to move on from the disappointment and look ahead to next season back in the Tyrone Senior League and Championship. A point echoed by the Plunketts coach.

“Pomeroy need to push on now, they need to establish themselves as a senior team, and that’s going to be difficult. Every game will be like that in senior football.

“ But they have the players there, they have the infrastructure there, the set-up is there. They need to just keep dripping through a couple of young players every year.

“There’s plenty of men on the bench there well capable of stepping into that standard.

“I think in the long term, Pomeroy see themselves as a senior club, which I suppose every club in Tyrone wants to be doing.

“There’s fantastic development going on, there is lots of work going on there on and off the field, and I just hope that they’re able to do that.”