TATTYREAGH ...............................1-11
URNEY.........................................0-6
By Barry O'Donnell
TATTYREAGH turned on the style in the closing quarter with seven unanswered points to add to Urney's miserable recent Championship track record at Newtownstewart last Friday night.
A typically cagey and fractious knockout tussle appeared destined to go right down to the wire with only two points seperating the sides approaching the midway stage of the second period. However the St Columba's were left flagging once the Tatts produced that super-charged burst for the finish line.
Urney enjoyed their fair share of possession, Fergal McNulty and Jonathan Lafferty working hard around centre field, but in stark contrast to their opponents they laboured to translate that territorial control into scores.
St Patrick's were mush more economical in the attacking sector and in Conor Taggart especially had the reliable marksmen to make the most of any opportunities that came their way. Further back Pearse Darcy and Ciaran Harkin provided a solid and imposing presence down the spine of the Tatts rearguard, while Barry Montgomery was athletic and enthusiastic in the midfield engine room.
Full-forward Kevin Gallagher slotted Tattyreagh into an early lead, only for Stephen Lafferty jnr to capitalise from good work by Liam Convey to float over the equaliser.
It was evident from an early stage that there was a lot more purpose and fluency to the Tatts approach play, Urney's work plagued by too much hesitation and fundamental errors when on the ball.
Tattyreagh were finding much more freedom up front and Sean Darcy and Paul Harley took advantage to slip over tidy scores to ease their side two in front. Chris McCarroll then rampaged through to punch over and while PJ McMenamin thumped a fine score for Urney, they were rocked back on their heels by a 21st minute Tattyreagh goal.Taggart provided the emphatic finish low to goalie Pete O'Connell's right after Gallagher had deftly touched McCarroll's booming delivery into his path.
A couple of frees drilled over by Jonathan Lafferty and Chris Bogle kept the north Tyrone men in contention at the break. Half-time (Tattyreagh 1-4 Urney 0-4)
St Columba's continued to hold the momentum in the early second half exchanges and points from McMenamin and Stephen Lafferty drew them to within one. Indeed things could have been worse for the Tatts only for Pearse Darcy producing a goal-line clearance to keep out Lafferty's scuffed shot.
As it was they were able to rally and rediscover some of their earlier fluency and direction in the last quarter to run away with the match.
Colin Harkin began the scoring spree, muscling his way through to fire over a quality effort and from there to the final whistle it was a procession of Tattyreagh points with the Urney backline becoming more and more stretched.
Taggart took advantage of oceans of space to coolly slot over four points, while Paul Harley and Chris McCarroll were the other forwards on target. Urney's resistance had dramatically wilted.
