A disastrous middle to the game when they conceded 1-7 without reply either side of half-time totally undermined Kildress’ visit to Strabane tonight as they fell to a first defeat of the season, losing to The Sigersons by 1-14 to 1-10. Another important part of the mix was a masterful display from their opponents’ Ruairi Gormley, who turned in an outstanding performance.
The opening twenty minutes of the game were point-for-point, with Kildress not headed until Strabane edged 5-4 ahead at that stage. Then it all went wrong for The Tones, with a largely self-inflicted goal helping put them 1-7 to 0-4 behind at the break. It looked like all was done-and-dusted when Strabane got the first three points of the second half, but Matty McGuigan’s fine goal re-energised things and with Enda McAleer pushing forward to good effect, Kildress managed to bring it to just a three-point game. Mark Treacy’s penalty save added to the feeling that maybe Kildress might snatch something, but Strabane stepped up for another couple of fine points to close out a deserved win. Although they started and finished the game well, Kildress never seemed comfortable on the night, but were served best by Johnny Connolly, Enda McAleer, Conor Quinn, Matty McGuigan and Des Treacy.
Dermot Monaghan refereed an entertaining game very well.
Kildress: | Noel Treacy | Aaron Loughran, Dean McNally, Marty Loughran | Jonny Connolly, Stephen McGurk, Tiernan McNamee | Enda McAleer (0-2), Pauric Lagan (0-1) | Stephen Loughran (0-1), Paul Connolly, Conor Quinn | Shea Quinn (0-1), Matty McGuigan (1-5), Conor McAleer | Martin Grimes, Des Treacy, Shea Loughran
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In the Reserves, in contrast to their Seniors, Kildress showed best in the middle of the game but a good start and finish by Strabane were enough to close out a 3-8 to 0-12 victory. Despite good scoring from Odran O’Driscoll and Damian Kelly (0-3 each) and Adam Connolly and Shea Loughran (0-2 each), Kildress could just never get the goal they needed to really turn things in their favour.
