Brennan immense as Trillick regain Tyrone title
TRILLICK, inspired by a towering defensive performance from Rory Brennan, lifted their eighth Tyrone SFC title with a hard-earned win over a determined and defensive Errigal Ciarán side at Healy Park yesterday.
This was a more comfortable success than the margin would suggest, with Errigal’s Peter Harte netting a stoppage-time penalty.
Having won a surprise O’Neill Cup title back in 2015 as a newly-promoted team, the St Macartan’s were expected to establish themselves as a force in the Red Hand county, but it has taken them another four years to get back to the pinnacle.
“The satisfying thing is that they weren’t satisfied with that 2015 championship, that they were willing to kick on and hope to win other championships,” said manager Nigel Seaney. “Even though we suffered disappointment this last two or three years which knocked that back, it’s pleasing to see that the group didn’t fracture or break up.”
Trillick’s early energy saw them fire over scores through Ryan Gray, Lee Brennan and wing-back Michael Gallagher, with a superb effort, to go three ahead after as many minutes.
It took some time for Errigal to get their match-ups sorted, and when they did, they settled into a defenceminded approach designed to frustrate their opponents.
And they struck it lucky in the sixth minute when Joe Maguire’s short kick-out was returned by Daire Gallagher, but the Trillick ’keeper was
dispossessed by teenager Odhran Robinson, who shot to an empty net.
Errigal failed to add another firsthalf score as they retreated into their defensive shell. Trillick struggled to find openings, but they did manage scores through James Garrity and Brennan to go in at the break with a 0-5 to 1-1 lead. After that, Mattie Donnelly pressed up to full-forward, picking off a couple of scores, while Rory Brennan inspired with a string of perfectly timed challenges.
Lee Brennan was on song from dead balls, with corner-back Damian Kelly also pushing up to score.
Errigal had gone 40 minutes without a score, and were still struggling until Harte fired in a penalty for a foul on Pauric McAnenly.
SCORERS – Trillick: L Brennan 0-5 (3f, 1 ’45); M Donnelly 0-2; J Garrity, R Donnelly, R Gray, M Gallagher, D Kelly 0-1 each. Errigal Ciarán: P Harte 1-3 (1-0 pen, 1f, 1 ’45); O Robinson 1-0; Cormac Quinn 0-1.
TRILLICK – J Maguire; S O’Donnell, R Kelly, D Kelly; M Gallagher, D Gallagher, R Brennan; R Donnelly, G McCarron; M Donnelly, N Donnelly, R Gray; L Gray, L Brennan, J Garrity. Subs: N Gormley for N Donnelly (58), D McQuaid for M Gallagher (64)
ERRIGAL CIARÁN – D McAnenly; Ciarán Quinn, A McCrory, Cormac Quinn; S Tierney, N Kelly, P O’Hanlon; B McDonnell, E Kelly; P McAnenly, P Harte, R McRory; O Robinson, Darren Canavan, M Kavanagh. Subs: J Oguz for Robinson (h-t), D McDermott for O’Hanlon (38), Darragh Canavan for Darren Canavan (40), T Canavan for E Kelly (45), S McRory for R McRory (52), T Colhoun for Tierney (57).
REF – E McHugh (Aghyaran)