Kinawley 0-12 Enniskillen Gaels 0-09
Kinawley took this year’s honours in the Reserve Championship Grade One final with a three-point win over league champions Enniskillen Gaels in Teemore on Saturday.
The Borus ended a 25-year wait for the A championship as they finished the stronger of the two sides at St Mary’s Park hitting four late points through Tiarnan McKenna (2), Dylan Boyle and Aaron O’Reilly.
Joint manager Cathal Murphy was pleased to see his side come out on the right side after a close affair.
“Yeah look it, they dug in,” he said. “They dug in deep in both halves and stayed in the game.
"Then we hit a purple patch towards the beginning of the second half and then they also had a purple patch too, but we finished stronger in the end.
"We got the breaks in the last ten minutes and scored four successive points in a row.”
Kinawley, who field two junior sides, made use of their entire squad with all five of their substitutes having an impact.
"We had a very mixed league campaign with injuries and senior team taking preference, and whatnot,” added Murphy.
“But we always knew come championship that if we had a full squad, we could give it a good rattle and that’s exactly what happened.”
Enniskillen’s Jamie Steele hit the first score of Saturday’s game in the first few moments and it took until the 12th minute for the next score as Kinawley eventually opened their account through Colman Corrigan with both sides seeing chances wasted.
After the same two men pointed again, Ethan Beresford and Conor Watson would push the Gaels into a two-point lead.
Daire Cleary would hit point either side of halftime to level the game at 0-04 apiece.
Kinawley then broke into their stride with Paidi Drumm landing successive scores along with efforts from Dylan Boyle and Corrigan to make it 0-08 to 0-04.
However, there was still plenty of fight left in the Gaels and they drew themselves level as Beresford, Watson, Steele and James O’Donnell sent over scores.
Enniskillen had a big chance for a goal as a high ball led to two shots being blocked on the line before being cleared by a Kinawley defender.
Kinawley hit four points in the final ten minutes to take them to victory with McKenna pointing twice as Boyle and O’Reilly followed to send the travelling Brous crowd into hysterics at the full-time whistle.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here