MATTOCK RANGERS 1-17

KILKERLEY EMMETS 0-12
 
Mattock Rangers ended their four-year exile from the Senior Championship when they defeated Kilkerley Emmets to claim the Intermediate title at Stabannon on Sunday afternoon.

The Collon side have come close in the past three years to getting their hands on the Seamus Flood Cup but their perseverance finally paid off when they turned in an impressive display to deservedly come out on top.

A blistering start to the game that saw Mattock build up a seven point lead before Kilkerley got off the mark proved decisive as despite the Emmets’ best efforts they were unable to bridge that gap.

After a cagey opening five minutes, it was no surprise that David Reid opened the scoring and within 60 seconds his side grabbed the only goal of the game when Ryan Leneghan got on the end of a fine move.

With Kilkerley still reeling from that score, the Collon men pressed home their advantage and efforts from David Reid (2) and Ben McKenna stretched the lead to 1-4 to no score.

Tadgh McEneaney finally got his side off the mark on 15 minutes but Mattock hit back to lead by 1-6 to 0-1 after efforts from Aaron O’Brien and Daire Englishby.

Kilkerley rallied in the closing stages and with Shane Lennon, Conor Quigley and Tadhg McEneaney on target they cut the gap to 1-8 to 0-6 at the break.

A Michael Begley point just after the restart raised hopes of a comeback but O’Brien and Reid responded to reassert Mattock’s authority. Despite McEneaney and Daniel McKeown raising white flags, Mattock kept their opponents at arm’s length.

Victory was rarely in doubt in the final quarter with scores from Adrian Reid, Man of the Match David Reid and Leneghan confirming a memorable win.

MATTOCK RANGERS: Mike Englishby; Alan Caraher, Shane Maguire, Daire Englishby 0-1; Brendan Leacy, Niall McKeown Sean Gilsenan; Adrian Reid 0-1, Daniel Bannon; Terry Donegan, Ryan Lenaghan 1-1, Ben McKenna 0-2; Brian Corcoran 0-1, Aaron O’Brien 0-2, David Reid 0-9. Subs: Shane Hickey for B McKenna, James Caraher for S Gilsenan, Cathal Fleming for A O’Brien, Hugh Donnelly for T Donegan, Oisín McKenna for R Lenaghan.

KILKERLEY EMMETS: Ultan McElroy; Ciaran Clarke, Neil Mulholland, Cormac Bellew; Sean Hand Cathal Bellew, Fintan Brady; Rian Hand, Conor Quigley 0-2; Ciaran McGlynn; Tadhg McEneaney 0-7, Shaun McElroy; Daniel McKeown 0-1, Shane Lennon 0-1, Micheal Begley 0-1. Subs: Ciaran Bellew for M Begley, K Murtagh for C Clarke, Andrew McGuill for R Hand, James Bellew for C Quigley, Ewan McEnteggart for S McElroy.

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