Saturday 01 October 2005 LOUGHMACRORY 0 - 05 0 - 06 EDENDORK (AT DUNGANNON) Championship exit at first hurdle (1 of 2) PAGE 2 OF 2 CLICK HERE Edendork crushed the Seniors championship hopes for 2005 when they emerged one point victors from a dour struggle, played in atrocious conditions at O’Neill Park, Dungannon on Saturday evening. Having led from the first to the 54ú minute, and still on level terms with one minute of normal time remaining St Malachy’s got their noses in front in the last few strides with corner forward Daniel Grimley proving the hero for Edendork, slotting over the two late scores to turn a one-point deficit into a last gasp victory. Having to go into the championship without a match in nearly ten weeks was bad enough but then to lose Mickey McGee to a dubious red card with twelve minutes gone made it an even tougher task. Still, 14 battled manfully throughout and, even though they couldn’t muster a single score against the strong wind in the second half, they looked as if they would live to tell the tale until Grimley’s late intervention. Ultimately the match was won and lost in the opening half. Loughmacrory, with the wind behind them, dominated for almost the entire thirty minutes, even when they went a man down. But five points seemed an inadequate return for their endeavours in that half-hour and they were left to rue some of their missed opportunities later in the evening. They couldn’t have asked for a better start as Ronan Ward drilled over an excellent left-footed point with only seconds gone before converting a placed ball a minute later. And by the 8ú minute, Ward had split the posts from another free kick to tighten their grip further. The first real body blow was dealt by the referee minutes later when McGee was ordered off for what looked like a clumsy foul rather than anything more sinister. Even then the momentum remained, and the lead was four points by the 15ú minute when the neutral umpires signalled that another effort from Ronan Ward had sailed between the posts. The referee thought otherwise however and over-ruled his umpires. Ronan did notch his fourth point a minute later following good approach work by Stephen Conway and Damien McAleer, but Edendork were then given a boost in the 22ú minute when Brian McGuckin struck a free kick into the wind to open their account. As it later transpired, that point, the only one recorded against the strong breeze during the entire game was to prove the difference at the final whistle, with both teams managing five at the opposite end on the evening. Loughmacrory had further opportunities to increase their lead before half-time but they had to be content with just one more point from their free-taker Ward, after some good build-up play by Niall Kelly and John Gallagher. [CONTINUED HERE]
