Kildress’ second trip to the Loughshore in a week turned out to be another happy one as they came away from the wonderful setting that is the Washing Bay with a 1-12 to 1-12 draw against Derrylaughan in a highly entertaining game. Unperturbed by conceding an early goal, the Tones soon notched one themselves, Philip Lennon driving home a penalty won by Eoin Brannigan after a searing 40-yard run. A very even first half ended 1-7 apiece, two of Kildress’ best scores coming from Brannigan and Johnny Connolly. The nip-and-tuck pattern continued in the second half with the Kevin Barrys’ Kennedy, Carney and McAliskey putting Kildress under serious pressure at times, but being very well resisted by Mark Tracey, Dean McNally, Enda McAleer, Stephen McGurk, Johnny Connolly, Peter Daly and Marty Loughran whilst Caolan McNamee was a strong presence up front. Once again the outstanding Philip Lennon provided the Tones’ cutting edge, finishing with a tally of 1-6. A draw was a very fair result to a game that never faltered, and which delivered much fine football and many fine scores, thanks in no small way to fine refereeing from Drumquin’s Gary Gormley.
Meanwhile Colm Loughran’s eight points were central to Kildress’ 2-12 to 1-14 win in the Reserves, a result that leaves the Tones unbeaten after seven matches.
