Killyclogher v Ardboe Match Report (Courtesy of The Tyrone Herald)
Killyclogher hold nerve to fend off late Ardboe rally
KILLYCLOGHER showed great composure to fend off a late Ardboe surge and maintain their charge at the top of the Division One league ladder in a captivating tussle at Ballinamullin.
The hosts raced into an early lead, 0-6 to 0-0, and by two at the break 0-6 to 0-4, but by the 43rd minute had been pegged back to 0-8 each. That though was as good as it was to get for the Loughshore men, as Killyclogher, with Leo Meenan to the fore, again edged out a two point lead.
The St Mary’s men certainly made all the early running, a foul on Conal McCann in the very first minute offering Meenan an early chance to open his account. The deadly marksman, the leading scorer in the top flight, added a point from play soon after as he shrugged off a series of challenges to score.
Mark Bradley made it three points when he turned sharply and landed a score from distance. And with seven minutes on the clock defender Marty Swift got in on the scoring act with a fine point.
A foul on Conor Meenan led to another Leo Meenan pointed free, while Niall Bradley squeezed over a fine score off his right side to make it 0-6 to 0-0 after eleven minutes.
Ardboe had been spurning chances and eventually opened their account on 15 minutes when Nishy O’Neill successfully landed a free kick. From the resulting kick-out, midfielder Ronan Campbell got himself on the end of a flowing attack to point.
A great turn and score from full-forward Tommy McGuigan cut further into Killyclogher’s lead and by the halftime whistle the gap was just two points with Nishy O’Neill again pointing from a free following a foul on Simon Teague. That made it 0-6 to 0-4, Killyclogher having failed to make an impression on the scoreboard for the final 19 minutes of the half.
They brought that run to an end within two minutes of the resumption, Swift again on target to finish off a fine run. Hagan responded with a pointed free after Oisin Devlin had been upended but Leo Meenan was again on hand to fire over from the dead ball after Niall McFadden had been fouled.That made it 0-8 to 0-6 six minutes into the half.
Two quick-fire points from Michael Lynn cut the gap back to just a point and O’Neill tied things up at 0-8 each with a neatly taken free. However their prospects of kicking on were dealt a blow when they lost experienced playmaker Brian McGuigan to a hamstring strain.
There was a quarter of an hour left on the clock when Leo Meenan again pointed from play and Killyclogher’s lead was stretched out to two thanks to a fine score from play from Conor Meenan.
A great run from Kevin Coney was brought to an abrupt end and Hagan slotted over to reduce the gap to one once more with five minutes to play Killyclogher responded with a point from Bradley to keep their visitors at arms length but Ardboe were not willing to give up the ghost just yet. A fine flowing move upfield was finished off by Hagan and with big John McConville having been introduced to the edge of the square, the momentum appeared to be with Ardboe.
However recent results have brought a calmness and assuredness to how Killyclogher go about their business and they responded with a point from a Conal McCann free and a sweeping move upfield which ended with Leo Meenan fisting over the bar to make it 0-12 to 0-10.
With time running out Ardboe built an attack from a well-worked sideline kick, with Hagan again on hand to finish.
They continued to press for an equaliser but Killyclogher held firm to take a hard-earned one point win away for their efforts.
THE SCORERS
Killyclogher
Leo Meenan 0-6 (3f), Martin Swift 0-2, Conor Meenan, Mark Bradley, Niall Bradley 0-1 each, Conal McCann 0-1 (f).
Ardboe
Mick Hagan 0-5 (3f), Michael Lynn 0-2, Nishy O’Neill 0-2 (2f), Ronan Campbell and Tommy McGuigan 0-1 each.
THE TEAMS
Killyclogher
Sean Fox; Martin Swift, Danny Gorman, Gavin Sludden; Carl Donnelly, Niall Bradley, Gary Wallace; Conal McCann, Nathan Donnelly; Aidan Kelly, Niall Mc-
Fadden, Emmet McFadden; Mark Bradley, Conor Meenan, Leo Meenan. Subs used: Declan Leonard for Wallace (15, inj).
Ardboe
Conor McGrath; Shea Forbes, Eugene Devlin, Ciaran Coney; Simon Teague, Paul Coney, Oisin Devlin; Ronan Campbell, Martin McKeown; Michael O’Neill, Brian
McGuigan, Nishy O’Neill; Michael Lynn, Tommy McGuigan, Mick Hagan. Subs used: Kevin Coney for Brian McGuigan (39, inj), Matty Bell for Ciaran Coney
(52), Thomas Wylie for Simon Teague (56, inj), John McConville for Tommy McGuigan (59).
Referee
Fabian McGlone
