omagh St Enda's......1-19
Armagh Harps...........3-9
BY BARRY O'DONNELL
OMAGH are through to the semi finals of Ulster club minor tournament at the St Pauls club in Belfast after winning a hugely entertaining encounter with Armagh Harps yesterday afternoon in a contest that required extra time to decide.
It was a cracking game from start to finish between two well matched teams who give it their all throughout the eighty odd minutes.
Omagh were the more composed side in the first half of normal time and after establishing a three point lead they stretched that advantage to four on the restart.
Armagh Harps though got back into the game courtesy of a Conor White penalty and after Omagh had went five in front again White made no mistake from the spot again to put the game back into the melting pot.
With five minutes to go a Padraig Rafferty goal put the Armagh champions in front and they looked like holding on until Conan Grugan held his nerve to convert a long range free deep into injury time to send the tie into extra time.
DOMINANT
During extra time Omagh were the better side and Damien McGloin's goal sent them into a semi final meeting with Derry champions Dungiven on Boxing Day.
This was a superb all round performance from the Tyrone double winners with Damon Teague, Kieran Brannigan, Stephen Mullan and Ciaran Canavan standing out in defence.
Barry Tierney and Turlough Gallagher working hard in midfield and Ronan O'Neill, Conan Grugan and Conor Clarke all outstanding in attack, that trio accounting for 0-15 of their side's tally.
O'Neill [2] and Clarke had Omagh's points in the opening quarter with Rafferty and half back Conn Stevenson on target for Armagh Harps.
Grugan was having a superb game for Omagh and his promptings led to another couple of O'Neill points with midfielder Tierney also on target as they led 0-8 to 0-5 at the break.
They could well have been leading by twice as much had Chris Gallagher's shot not have crashed off the crossbar after twenty minutes.
AHEAD
Clarke pushed the St.Endas four ahead on the restart but in the seventh minute Armagh Harps reduced the deficit to the minimum when White converted a penalty after Omagh full back Darryn Bradley had been penalised for touching the ball on the ground.
Omagh though responded in positive fashion with Grugan, Tierney and Turlough Gallagher all supplying points to put them four in front again going into the final quarter.
O'Neill then knocked over a free and there appeared no way back for Armagh Harps but with nine minutes to go a second White penalty conversion reignited their challenge.
A high ball in from Jack Wilson was fielded by Rafferty who shot low to the net and when the same player converted a free moments later the game had turned on its head.
Omagh refused to panic despite being two points adrift and after Tierney narrowed the gap Grugan was the coolest man in the ground to send over that 32nd minute free.
Within four minutes of the start of extra time Omagh had established a three point lead thanks to a brace apiece from O'Neill and Clarke and they turned around 0-19 to 3-7 in front.
REFUSED
To their credit though Armagh Harps refused to give in and efforts from Rafferty and Patrick McCoy left just the minimum between the sides with only three minutes left to play.
A replay was looking likely at this stage but then McGloin fired in the all important goal after good work from Grugan and O'Neill and that settled the issue.
The Tyrone champions will now be aiming to maintain the momentum of a memorable season when they continue their Ulster campaign.
