TYRONE SFC: All to play for as Killyclogher, Coalisland set for replay

A high kick from Mat Swift with Cathaoir Quinn trying to get a hold of the ball during Sunday's Tyrone Senior Football Final.

It’s back to Healy Park in Omagh this Sunday afternoon with all to play for again as Coalisland and Killyclogher meet in an eagerly awaited Tyrone Senior Championship final Replay.

Sunday’s game was an epic contest between two well drilled sides with absolutely nothing between them as the showpiece game in Tyrone GAA finished in a stalemate for the first time since 2006. The Fianna had an extra man for the last 20 minutes after Killyclogher had Gary Wallace sent off but while they planned to push on and make that count it didn’t materialise according to their manager, John McKeever.

“That was the plan but sometimes, and you seen this against Clonoe two weeks ago, when a team goes to 14 men, they do collectively lift the intensity and you are trying to counter against that,” explained McKeever.

“Now, if the game had gone on for another five, six minutes we would have been stronger again. Credit to Killyclogher, they held in. They are a mighty club and they deserve a lot of credit. They were beat in last year’s final and they weren’t going to give up this year.

“They fought to the bitter end, as we did too, and it was two teams that did not want to surrender a county title and both teams deserve a massive amount of credit. It is set up for a really exciting day when we meet again.”

Another titanic struggle is on the cards this weekend in what has been a fascinating club championship. The Fianna will have to plan without key player, Philip Toner, who suffered a suspected broken leg in the closing stages of the first half while Killyclogher are likely to be without midfielder Niall McFadden who had to go off after only two minutes with a knee injury.

The likes of captain Niall Kerr, Louis O’Neill, Peter Donnelly, Padraig Hampsey, Plunkett Kane and Stephen McNally will spearhead the Coalisland challenge while Killyclogher will look for big performances from county trio Tiernan McCann, Mark Bradley and Conall McCann as well as Danny Gorman, Martin Swift and Emmett McFadden.