DARRAGH Canavan ghosted through one tackle and then, as his marker Ceilum Doherty came across to close him down, he instinctively spun, lost him and then turned to stroke the ball over the bar.
“No-one else could score a point like that,” observed someone in the press box and he was spot on.
That was Canavan’s only score of the Ulster final but he was the creator of several more including Joe Oguz’s early goal. However, Errigal showed that they have many attacking options and, with Ruairi Canavan held scoreless, it was up to others like Oguz and wing-back Peter Og McCartan, the hero in injury-time, to see them over the line.
“It’s special,” said Errigal skipper Canavan after a helter-skelter, breathless Ulster final that Errigal won by a point.
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“It’s a special feeling. Kilcoo are one hell of a side. They’ve been standard-bearers in Ulster championship football for the last 10 years so to be able to compete with them and eventually get over the line… We’re delighted.”
There was never an inch given on Sunday. There was an edge to every tackle and a purpose to every run and the result was an absolutely engrossing game for the spectators.
“It was a real dogfight,” said Canavan.
“It probably lacked a bit of quality at times and we probably didn’t make it easy on ourselves but just to get over the line and get the win… We’re happy.
“It makes winning all the sweeter coming through a battle like that and we’ve come through a few of those games. Clann Eireann made it tough for us and so did Letterkenny and Cargin so we’ve made a habit out of winning these games. You don’t mind how tough it is if you come out on the right side.”
Darryl Branagan’s red card midway through the second half had a considerable impact on the game but did it decide it? You could argue that either way because the game was in the melting-pot then and a close, exciting finish looked certain.
“It made a big difference because he’s a quality player and a real leader for them,” said Canavan.
“Whenever any team loses a player of his quality it’s going to make a difference but to be fair to Kilcoo, you wouldn’t have noticed that they were a man down a lot of the time. They were still driving forward and making it tough for us – they’re some side and I’ve nothing but respect for them.”
Wing-back McCartan grabbed a game that could have gone either way by the scruff of the neck in the final quarter. His first point, an audacious outside-of-the-boot effort, got his club motoring and he kicked a superb winner in the final minute of injury-time.
“He’s the man!” said Canavan with a smile.
“He deserves to celebrate and thank God for him because he got us over the line and he showed unbelievable leadership. We’re delighted to have him in our team.”
This year’s Ulster title is the Tyrone club’s third since it’s formation in 1990 and of course Darragh’s father Peter and uncle Pascal were pivotal to the first two (1993 and 2002).
“He (Peter) tends to let us figure things out for ourselves,” said Darragh.
“He told us it was going to be a dogfight and there was going to be no easy balls but I suppose we knew that anyway.
“It’s 31 years since the first Ulster and 22 since the second so it’s been a long time. There’s a lot of men from those teams on the pitch and you could see how emotional they were. It’s special and it shows how much it means to the club.”
