The Donnelly Vauxhall Tyrone club championship got underway on Sunday evening at the superbly appointed home of St. Eugene’s Club in Newtownstewart.
Click here for photos from the Match
The Junior Championship preliminary round fixture between Beragh Red Knights and Castlederg turned out to be a very competitive and enthralling game between two very well matched and well drilled teams.
Beragh began well and early points from Martin Rodgers and Jack Campbell helped edge the Red Knights three points to two ahead twelve minutes in but they were rocked back on their heels less than a minute later.
Castlederg’s wing half forward Brian Coyle capitalised on a mistake in the Beragh defence for a goal which was followed almost immediately by a point from Ronan Devine to put his team three clear.
However Castlederg only managed two further scores in the half as Beragh added six points to go in at the break one in front on a score-line of 0-9 to 1-5. Cathal Owens, Rodgers, Oisin Donnelly and Niall Owens did the scoring for Beragh while Steafain Gallen and Mark Corry were on target for the Derg.
Points from Oisin Donnelly and Chrissy Devlin extended the Beragh lead early in the second half to three points and as the momentum swung in their favour the men in red looked set to push on. However Castlederg showed great heart and scores from Corry, Gallen and Sean Harper drew them level midway through the second half.
A well converted free from Rodgers had Beragh in front again but back came the Derg. A fine score from Bradley Devine levelled matters once more before Padraig Keyes put the North Tyrone men in front for the first time in the second half. Martin Rodgers then converted a well struck free to tie it up for the seventh time as the game entered the final ten minutes. Both sides swapped points and Castlederg had a great chance right at the death to nick it but the shot from an under pressure Niall Catterson sailed wide on the right.
The full time whistle sounded almost immediately with the game finishing Castlederg 1-11, Beragh 0-14.
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