'Our spirit and our morale came to the fore' - 14-man Kildare battle to hold Tyrone to a draw
FEARLESS: Tyrone's Joe Oguz with Kildare's James Harris. Pic: ©INPHO/Lorcan Doherty.
Fearless Kildare refused to bow the knee to an Ulster giant that operated two divisions above them last season.
Even when reduced to 14-men ten minutes into the second half, the newly promoted Lilywhites found the courage to claw back a four points deficit and earn a heroic Division Two point at O’Neills Healy Park.
While Brian Flanagan’s men rolled out of Omagh wearing broad smiles, Tyrone’s furrowed brows of concern pointed up serious questions over their failure to close out a game that should have been taken under their control.
Malachy O’Rourke will take some positives from the evening, however, not least the performances of a raft of league debutants, particularly Ethan Jordan, who picked off 1-9.
“Yeah, Ethan, I don't know what he ended up with, maybe 1-9. He was excellent there.
“Joey Clarke, who I thought was a great game in the corner and the other lads did well too. In fairness we could have taken more than two lads off at half time, we just wanted to re-jig things around.
“There was plenty of debuts and younger lads coming in and getting a taste of that level of football. Overall, better getting one point than none, but we have a lot of work to do at the same time.”
But it was Kildare’s Brian McLoughlin who made the game’s greatest impact, hitting nine points, including a glorious late two-pointer to bring his side level.
Jordan had raised a couple of orange flags by the end of the opening quarter, helping the home side to a 0-7 to 0-3 lead, with Kildare newcomer Eoin Cully using his pace to clip over a couple of scores.
But it was the Lilywhites who finished the half strongest, reeling off 1-5 in the closing 12 minutes, including a Darragh Swords goal, to lead by 1-8 to 0-8 at the break.
Midfielder Brendan Gibbons picked up a second booking ten minutes into the second half, and O’Rourke didn’t hide his frustration at his side’s failure to capitalise on the extra man they had for almost half an hour.
“The game is so fluid now and it's not as easy to make use of an extra man as it maybe was at one stage.
“They were able to get their full quota back into defensive positions and we did have chances obviously and didn't take all our chances,” he said.
“I suppose the position we were in at half time, at least we got a point out of it, but there's a lot of areas now that we wouldn't be happy with.”
The Red Hands were well placed midway through the second half, buoyed by a Joe Oguz goal and another two-pointerf rom Jordan as they eased into a three points lead.
Even when Jordan netted a second goal, Tyrone were unable to hold on, McLoughlin rising to the challenge with a late 0-5 rush, including a levelling two-pointer right at the death.
Kildare boss Brian Flanagan hailed the courage of his depleted side in clawing back a four points deficit to take a point from what they will expect to be one of their toughest assignments of the league campaign.
“You talk about character, you talk about resilience. You really have to deliver when things are against you,” he said.
“And with ten of fifteen minutes go, you’re a man down, you’re a couple of points down, and you’re playing a team like Tyrone, with Darragh Canavan, Eoin McElholm, all these boys on the field, and I thought our lads just stood up and showed an unbelievable grit, an unbelievable attitude to dig that out and get a point, so that we can head back down the road and prepare for next week.
“I think our spirit and our morale came to the fore there, if I’m being honest, because it’s very, very hard to defend in a normal situation in the new rules, it’s even harder when you’re a man down in that defensive structure.”
E Jordan 1-9 (2 tpf, 1f, 1tp), J Oguz 1-0, D Canavan 0-2, M Conroy (f), C Bogue, R Cassidy, E McElholm 0-1 each.
D Swords 1-0, B McLoughlin 0-9 (3f, 2 tp), A Beirne 0-5 (1f, 1 tpf) C Bolton (tp), E Cully 0-2 each, K Feely 0-1.
N Morgan; C Quinn, A Clarke, J Clarke; B Cullen, M McKernan, R Cassidy; J Oguz, C Kilpatrick; C Donaghy, C Bogue, C Daly; M Conroy, M Donnelly, E Jordan.
B Kennedy for Bogue (h-t), E McElholm for Conroy (h-t), D Canavan for Donaghy (51), F Burns for Cassidy (67).
C Burke; L Kelly, P Spillane, R Burke; J Harris, E Lawlor, B Byrne; C Bolton, B Gibbons; B McLoughlin, A Beirne, D Swords; B Loakman, K Feely, E Cully.
Subs: R Sinkey for Swords (h-t), C Moran for Harris (65), S Doran for Cully (68).
Referee: N Cullen (Fermanagh).
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