Trillick St Macartans 0-12

Errigal Ciaran 2-4

Lee Brennan scored 0-5 as Trillick overcame Errigal Ciaran in a dour struggle to be crowned Tyrone senior football champions for an eighth time at Healy Park.

Defensive football was the order of the day, but this won't bother Trillick in the slightest as they regained the O'Neill Cup after a five-year lapse. The winners raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead inside four minutes thanks to points from Ryan Gray, Brennan and Michael Gallagher. But Errigal were soon in front. Peter Harte opened their account before St Macartans goalkeeper Joe Maguire lost possession and Odhran Robinson rolled the ball into an empty net for a sixth-minute goal.

It was end-to-end at this stage as James Garrity equalised for Trillick, but the remainder of the half produced just one more score from a long-range Brennan free in the 21st minute as the winners took a 0-5 to 1-1 lead into the break.

Trillick players celebrate. ©INPHO/Evan Logan.

Points after the restart from Mattie Donnelly and Brennan (free) extended Trillick's advantage before Cormac Quinn landed Errigal's first score in 34 minutes. They had Darragh Canavan - who was unable to start due to injury - on the field by then, but Trillick remained in control through further points from Donnelly, Brennan, Liam Gray and Richard Donnelly.

Peter Harte netted an injury-time penalty for Errigal, but it was a case of too little, too late as Trillick secured a deserved victory.

Trillick St Macartans - J Maguire; S O'Donnell, R Kelly, D Kelly (0-1); M Gallagher (0-1), D Gallagher, R Brennan; R Donnelly (0-1), G McCarron; M Donnelly (0-2), N Donnelly, R Gray (0-1); L Gray, L Brennan (0-5, 3f, 1'45), J Garrity (0-1). Subs: N Gormley for N Donnelly, D McQuaid for M Gallagher.

Errigal Ciaran - D McAnenly; Ciaran Quinn, A McCrory, Cormac Quinn (0-1); S Tierney, N Kelly, P O'Hanlon; B McDonnell, E Kelly; P McAnenly, P Harte (1-3, 1-0pen, 0-1f, 0-1'45), R McRory; O Robinson (1-0), Darren Canavan, M Kavanagh. Subs: J Oguz for O Robinson, D McDermott for P O'Hanlon, Darragh Canavan for Darren Canavan, T Canavan for E Kelly, S McRory for R McRory, T Colhoun for S Tierney.

Referee - E McHugh.

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