Kildress put in a good effort in this Intermediate Championship match in the fine surroundings of a well-attended O’Neill Park, Dungannon on Saturday against an Eglish side which provided plenty of evidence as to why they have already won this year’s Division II League crown. The Tones’ young team started well and enjoyed a deserved 0-6 to 0-4 lead at the twenty-minute mark before an unfortunate rebound own-goal gave Eglish a lead they would never lose. It also marked a dip in Kildress’ scoring fortunes as for the next half-hour all they could manage on the score-board was a Philip Lennon penalty which saw them go in at the break 1-11 to 1-6 behind.
Eglish maintained their superiority in the second half but Kildress eventually did start to find the scores that their approach play had been deserving, driving over some fine late points. Kildress had good performances from Gerard Grimes, Dean McNally, the McAleer brothers, Mattie McGuigan (0-1), Corey Holland (0-1) and Philip Lennon (1-3) but largely lacked the power and experience to trouble a very good Eglish side who ended with a merited 1-18 to 1-10 win.
