Happy Teemore manager Tony Collins was glad to come out the right side of a tough encounter with his old club-mate Daniel Kille who was in charge of Belnaleck.

But it was a close run thing and Collins and Co. will be glad that Belnaleck did not take their chances on the day.

“It was a real championship battle, a bit of a war of attrition between two teams who were looking to get into a championship quarter-final.

“It was real knockout stuff.

“We were lucky that we got those two goals especially the second one to give us a great platform.

“Rian McNally got our first goal and it was well worked with Colm McNally providing the pass and the McNally’s are tasty players.

“Belnaleck made us battle all the way and they are a big physical team with the Cullen’s and Darragh McGurn, imposing players, and Darragh put their penalty away well.”

Collins added that the fact the Shamrocks were able to stay in front for the duration was a big plus for his side.

But he said his side were now in “bonus territory".

“The first objective was to stay in senior championship football and the club has a proud record in that regard.

“But we are in bonus territory, but we are not going down to Belleek just for the trip in the quarter-final.

“But it is a tough trip to Belleek as like Derygonnelly they too are a seasoned side with some county players, and they have been in the last two county finals on the trot.

“They have been on top for many years and our lads are coming from Division Two and while winning it gives us some extra confidence it is a massive step up into the senior ranks.

“We would have taken this at the start but Teemore has a great championship tradition.

“You have to be in it to win it but we are under no illusions about the task confronting us.”

Meanwhile disappointed Belnaleck boss Daniel Kille said his side were always chasing the game.

He also bemoaned the fact that they had more than enough chances to win this tight affair.

But his side were unable to finish despite creating a number of good chances.

“From early on we were chasing the game and they got a great start but we hit around eight wides in the first 10 minutes and that was most frustrating as we had loads of possession.

“That was the killer for us and we started to panic a bit because we were not getting enough scores on the board.

“That nervous streak came into our play as we were not getting the scores we would liked to have got.”

Kille added that he was pleased with the efforts of his side but they just did not have the killer instinct.

“We had quite an amount of chances and this was totally a game we could have taken.”

Belnaleck may have been the Division One team, but they certainly were not going into this game with any degree of complacency.

“We were well capable of winning and yet again this was a big championship game which was there for the taking and we failed to deliver and what more can you say.”