Greenlough crowned champions as Steelstown lose out in final again

Greenlough 1-12, Steelstown Brian Ogs 1-08

There really is no substitute for experience. Indeed, when it's paired with talents like Niall Loughlin, Enda Lynn and Brian McCallion you win championships. The Intermediate champion to be precise.

Experience was the only difference between two very well matched sides. It can't be taught, bought or coerced. It has to be earned and when this game was in the balance it's what got St. Oliver Plunkett's over the line amid the torrential rain in Sunday's Intermediate final at Bellaghy.

For Steelstown there was the increasingly familiar feeling of final disappointment and this one will be hard to take because they had the game right where they wanted. Cahir McMonaghle's brilliant goal was the catalyst for a scoring burst of 1-02 at the start of the second half which left them 1-07 to 0-6 up and they deserved to be, albeit with never too much between the sides. That lead should have been the platform for a first ever championship at senior level but Mark Foley's beautiful 34th minute point would be his side's last score until a Ryan Devine injury time '45' set-up a grandstand finish.

In between, Loughlin and Lynn dragged their team back into contention and a lead that lost Steelstown their composure exactly when they needed it. Following Foley's point, Loughlin hit three of the next four scores as Greenlough went from four down to one up in the space of 10 minutes and once ahead, that big game experience came to the fore.

Steelstown ran their bench but if anything the second half changes interrupted the Brian Ogs flow as the final ended in unsavoury scenes following a late, late goal from Greenlough substitute, Michael McDonnell as Steelstown tried to force an equaliser.

Joe Cassidy's men deserved their victory, managing the closing stages in a manner you would associate with a side that has been down the championship winning road before with Lynn and Loughlin key. Those two will rightly grab the headlines but the performance of former county man, Brian McCallion, was instrumental, knitting play together time and again and frustrating a talented Steelstown forward.

Both teams employed similar systems and in terrible conditions, the game became dogfight which suited Greenlough more than the Brian Ogs who didn't get enough from some of their big game players.

It started quite well for the Brian Ogs who hit the front early thanks to points from Gareth Logue and a Ben McCarron free but neither side was ever more than two points ahead in the opening half.

Lynn announced his arrival with an audacious point off the outside of the boot to reduce the deficit to one only to see Foley leave it 0-3 to 0-1 at the first water break and with the Brian Ogs quite happy with their start.

Greenlough had already hit four wides by that point but upon the resumption Loughlin grabbed his first with an equally impressive effort. Steelstown's Eoghan Bradley added to the catalogue of excellent scores with Brian Ogs' fourth point but the final five minutes of the half belonged to Greenlough who finally found their shooting boots, hitting four successive scores.

First Lynn elected to fist a point when a goal may have been on before Stephen Bradley and Loughlin both scored from a mark either side of another Loughlin free. Ben McCarron rounded off the first half scoring with a free but at 0-6 to 0-5, there was very little between two very evenly matched sides.

That changed within seconds of the restart. A long ball into the Greenlough danger area was broken down but skipped off the greasy surface. In a flash, McMonagle showed just why he's so highly thought off in soccer circles as well as GAA, teeing himself up with his left foot before flashing a superb right footed shot into the corner of the net.

When McKinney and Foley tagged on points for 1-07 to 0-6 two minutes into the half, it looked ominous for Greenlough. Yet Steelstown, not exactly retreated, but rather decided to hold what they had and it handed the initiative to the Clady men.

Ryan McCloskey's superb clearance off the line from Greenlough substitute Caolan Diamond should have been warning enough but it wasn't heeded.

A Loughlin free and a lovely Enda McNally point halved the deficit. Loughlin again and then Ryan Tohill from the left then scoring to edge Greenlough back in front with Steelstown suddenly looking leggy and unsure of themselves. The pressure was telling on the city side whose decision making suddenly deserted them, a number of pot shots not helping their cause.

Lynn grabbed his third point of the day from a free but it was back to a one point game right on 60 minutes when a superb Ryan Devine ball picked out Darren McDaid in space in front of the Greenlough goal. Unfortunately the Steelstown sub couldn't gather first time and a good goal chance was lost at the expense of a '45' from which Devine pointed for 1-08 to 0-12.

Steelstown piled forward in search of the equaliser but were caught on the break. Kevin Lindsay did brilliantly to dispossess Lynn who should have been black carded for hauling him down but referee Declan O'connor missed it and in Steelstown's rush to get back up the other end of the pitch, the ball ran loose and perfectly into the path of Michael McDonnell who had the easy task of rolling the ball into an empty net to clinch the title.

A few unsavoury scenes after the goal didn't do a great contest justice but Greenlough had held their nerve. They were champions and Steelstown left to think, once again, of what might have been.

Steelstown scorers: Cahir McMonagle (1-0), Gareth Logue (0-1), Ben McCarron (0-2, 2f), Mark Foley (0-2), Eoghan Bradley (0-1), Mickey McKinney (0-1), Ryan Devine (0-1, 1 '45')

Greenlough scorers: Michael McDonnell (1-0), Niall Loughlin (0-6, 3f, 1m), Enda Lynn (0-3, 1f),Stephen Bradley (0-1, 1m), Enda McNally (0-1), Ryan Tohill (0-1),

Steelstown Brian Ogs: Martin Dunne, Jason McAleer, Kevin Lindsay, Ryan McCloskey, Eoghan Concannon, Neil Forester, Diarmuid Baker, Ryan Devine, Mickey McKinney, Gareth Logue, Eoghan Braldey, Rory Maguire, Ben McCarron, Cahir McMonagle, Mark Foley. (Subs) Oran McMenamin for R Maguire (inj), 15mins; Darren McDaid for G Logue, 34mins; Stephen Cleary for M Foley, 39mins; Emmett Deane for J McAleer, 51mins; Jacob Duffy for E Bradley, 52mins;

Greenlough: Kevin Mullan, Brian McCallion, Jack McCann, Paul Quinn Christopher Kearney, Zach Lynn, Conor Mullan, Enda McNally, Niall Bradley, Conal McErlean, Ryan Tohill, Enda Lynn, Christopher Lagan, Niall Loughlin, Stephen Bradley. (Subs). Caolan Diamond for S Bradley, 36mins; Michael McDonnell for C Lagan, 46mins; Kevin McCann for C Diamond, 60mins;

Referee: Declan O'Connor