Ronan O’Neill scores his second goal against Eglish.
St. Enda’s 3-8 Eglish 0-8
THREE first-half goals from Ronan O’Neill paved the way for an emphatic quarter-final win over Eglish at Fintona today.
Full-forward Ronan finished with a brilliant personal tally of 3-3 as the St. Enda’s men did enough to secure a place in the last four of the Tyrone senior championship.
It was Eglish who got off to the better start in the game with the St. Enda’s men taking quite a while to settle before Conan Grugan opened Omagh’s account from a free after ten minutes. Within seconds of that score, Ronan O’Neill jigged his way through the Eglish defence to side-foot the ball to the net for the first of his goals and suddenly the St. Enda’s men began to look a bit more confident.
Ryan Clarke was forced to pull off a great save as Eglish threatened to score a goal in response and while Conan Grugan was unlucky with a shot from the sideline he then set Ronan O’Neill up for point to to make it 1-2 to 0-1 after 25 minutes.
The first half never really took off as a spectacle and any hope Eglish had of striking back was completely killed off in a brilliant five minute spell before the break with O’Neill picking up on a great through ball from Connor O’Donnell to score his second goal on the 27th minute. O’Donnell, who was tightly marked throughout, then showed a brilliant turn of speed to leave his marker behind and fist over a score on the 30th minute and then O’Neill hit a third goal on the 32nd minute to set up a commanding 3-3 to 0-2 interval lead.
The second half was a much more evenly contested affair but with Justin McMahon commanding at full-back, the Omagh defence always did enough to prevent Eglish from making any serious impact.
A high ball from Connor O’Donnell shortly after the restart saw the ball deflect over the bar from Jason McAnulla before Eglish struck back with a pair of points.
Conan Grugan (free), Ronan O’Neill and Connor O’Donnell tacked over points between the 40th and 45th minute to keep the gap wide enough (3-7 to 0-4) but Eglish hit back with a trio of scores of their own to leave three clear goals between the teams as the match headed in to the final eight minutes..
Eglish needed goals to make any serious impact but Justin McMahon, substitute Dairmaid Kerr, Hugh Gallagher, Conor McMahon and Barry Tierney kept the defence tight.
O’Neill added his third point and Omagh’s final score in the 54th minute by which stage the game was all but over and a place in the semi-finals was secured.
Omagh scorers – Ronan O’Neill 3-3, Conan Grugan 0-2 (frees), Conor O’Donnell 0-2, Jason McAnulla 0-1
Omagh – Ryan Clarke, Hugh Gallagher, Justin McMahon, Stephen Mullan, Ciaran McLaughlin, Barry Tierney, Conor McMahon, Conan Grugan, Michael Gallagher, Cormac O’Neill, Jason McAnulla, Joe McMahon, Connor O’Donnell, Ronan O’Neill, Conor Meyler.
Subs – Dairmaid Kerr for C. McLaughlin (HT), Michael Flanagan for C. Meyler (45mins), Conor Starrs for S. Mullan (53 mins), Rory McBride for Joe McMahon (57mins)
Full selection of photos on our gallery.
