Kildress and Strabane may both be struggling for form, but they still produced an entertaining 1-12 each draw at Gortacladdy tonight in a game well refereed by Brian McGinn. Kildress, despite playing into the breeze, led by 1-4 to 0-5 at half-time, the returning Philip Lennon their goal-scorer. The wonder however was how Strabane hadn’t scored at least a couple of goals as the Kildress ‘square’ led a charmed existence at times and the Sigerson’s Warner Mullan strolled about as the most effective player on the field.
Early Kildress second-half points opened a four-point lead for The Tones but a Strabane burst, inspired by the very impressive Rory Gormley, saw them score 1-3 without reply to lead by two. Kildress, with Adam and Johnny Connolly (0-1 each over the hour), Des Treacy (0-2), Shane Donnelly (0-1) and Conor McAleer central to their efforts, got back level and both teams then went for it in a rip-roaring last quarter. With a very influential Danny McBride now on board, Strabane went ahead but two inspirational scores from Matty McGuigan (0-5 overall) saw Kildress regain the lead. The game see-sawed back and forwards and Kildress were delighted with the two late Des Treacy and Johnny Connolly points which gained the draw from what had been a perilous position. A good game in good conditions from two honest teams.
