The senior team secured their second Intermediate championship in three years with a hard fought two-point victory over St Josephs on Sunday evening in Brewster Park. Kinawley 0-08 St Josephs 1-03. YouTube Video.

REPORT FROM THE FERMANAGH HERALD  

To use the old cliché, this was a game of two halves.

St Josephs were the side who more or less controlled the opening half though this authority was not to be translated into anything that could be regarded as a convincing scoreline.

The Ederney side were to reach the turnover leading on a tally of 1-2 to 0-1. Still, with opposing Kinawley not suggesting that they could pick up the pace of their performance, St Josephs didn't appear to be unduly threatened.

A limp first half would presumably trundle through a closing 30 minutes and the first division outfit would collect the silverware.

But there was to be a remarkable turnaround over that second period and it ended with the silverware heading for South Fermanagh for the second time in two seasons.

All thanks to a rejuvenated Kinawley second half showing, that left a bedraggled St Josephs trailing in their wake. A haul of seven points combined with the abject failure of the St Josephs attack, the Ederney side were to manage just a solitary score after the break, was enough to swing the game in Kinwley's favour.

Still Kinawley had to wait until the final quarter was underway before they hit the front for the first time. That it took them so long to do so was primarily due to the fact that they squandered no less than three gilt edged goal chances in the space of a few minutes shortly after the restart.

The first half of this decider played in rain sodden conditions, had in truth been a laboured affair, the quality of play indifferent, the atmosphere subdued.

There was to be more incident and spark in the 10 minutes after the resumption than there had been in the drab opening 30 minutes.

Leading by four points, St Josephs were to restart with momentary early pressure but were wide of target on two occasions. From there onwards the game inexorably slid away from them though they hung on for sometime simply because Kinawley failed to convert the golden chances that fell their way.

Astonishingly it was the normally clinical Tomás Corrigan who was culprit in chief.

Opening opportunity came on thirty three minutes, Shaun Doherty offloading neatly to his corner forward.

Nine times from ten, the prolific Corrigan would hit the target in this one on one situation, instead he skidded his low shot wide of the base of the upright.

From the kick out Kinawley won midfield possession, the ball thumped back in, Doherty flicked on overhead to the in-running Corrigan.

Nine times from ten. No, make that eight times from ten, Corrigan would coolly make no mistake. But perhaps unsettled by his first miss, Corrigan saw his shot rise over the bar for a point.

Very poor return for two clearcut goaling chances and there was squadering to come, as Mark Monaghan a few minutes later, blazed another excellent chance wide of the upright.

St Josephs were in shreds, very fortunate indeed not to find themselves far adrift.

But the rot had set in for the Ederney team and for the remainder of the half they were essentially a beaten docket. It took them all of twenty five minutes before they hit what was to be their solitary score of what had been a catastrophic closing half for them.

For Kinawley on the other hand it had been an invigorating revival and they were in command virtually in every sector of the park towards the finish of the game.

For a team who had been so much out of touch earlier on this was, in the end, a fully merited victory. Only two points in it at the end but obviously could have been so much more.

For St Josephs it couldn't have been a more encouraging opening as they romped into a four point lead with two scores from their initial attacks.

Corner forward Paul McCusker was the hitman with a pointed free duly followed up by a goal after the opportunity had been set up by full forward Peter Gormley.

The foundation had apparently been laid for the Ederney side but they had flattered to deceive. For the remaining fifty five minutes plus they were to add a miserly two further points.

The absence of their pivotal scoretaker Enda Ferris was clearly a massive handicap to them and they had no one to step into the frame.

Kinawley were however not offering a lot at this stage, two long distance frees from Corrigan just dropping short and it was not until the second quarter got underway that Kinawley finally opened their tally.

Doherty and Corrigan combined for the former to pop over what was to be the team's sole score prior to the break. On this performance, Kinawley were going nowhere but happily for them St Josephs were playing only marginally better.

One more score before the interval, a good shot from Peter Gormley nudging Ederney that shade further in front but from there on it was a downward spiral for them as their game more or less fell asunder.

Two points from Corrigan amid the swathe of goal misses edged Kinawley back into contention and Corrigan, now making amends for his earlier misses, was beginning to be more than a handful for a hard pressed St Josephs defence.

He drew a foul and substitute Sean Crudden slotted the free and on the three quarter mark, Sean Doherty drilled over a placed kick close to fifty metres out .

Doherty's score tied the sides and the impetus was now firmly with an increasingly assured Kinawley. No surprise then that they soon claimed the lead with Mark Monaghan advancing forward to shoot a long range point.

The policy of thumping long ball into Corrigan was now paying dividends for Kinawley, once again the corner forward drew a foul and Doherty tapped the routine shot.

St Josephs were now in dire straits, their game shot to pieces and they slipped three adrift when Corrigan, his past misfortune now forgotten, clipped over a coolly taken point with eight minutes left.

Game not quite secure yet however and St Josephs came back with a point from wing half Aaron Dennison but this was only a flicker. They did have the bulk of the closing attacking play but never looked like punching their way in for the match saving scores, a couple of partially blocked shots, which were easily dealt with by Kinawley keeper Darren Boyle the closest the chasing side came to salvaging a draw.

Kinawley well worth their victory, St Josephs left to ponder on how they could crumble so calamitously once the second half got underway.

TEAMS

KINAWLEY

Darren Boyle; Barry McManus; Mark Monaghan; Conor McBarron; Mark Cornyn; Niall Bogue; Brendan McHugh; Sean Leonard (rua) Sean Leonard (dubh); Matthew Drumm; Kevin Martin; Ciaran Melanophy; Tomás Corrigan, Sean Hussey; Sean Doherty; Subs; Patrick McGovern; Gareth Owens; Sean Crudden;

ST JOSEPHS;

Stephen McGrath; Finbarr Gillen; Manus Maguire; Damian Cassidy; Aaron Dennison; John Irvine; Dwayne McAlynn; Chris Snow; Declan Deazley; Ciaran Aiken; Declan McKeever; Michael McAleer; Paul McCusker; Peter Gormley; Declan McCusker; Subs; Conor McGrath; Niall Monaghan;

REFEREE Harry Traynor, Maguiresbridge.