Errigal Ciaran 0-12 Trillick 1-8 Errigal Ciaran squeezed home to lift their second Tyrone SFC title in three years as they got the better of holders Trillick in a tight, tense decider at O’Neills Healy Park on Friday evening. Ruairi Canavan, the championship’s top scorer, led the way with six points as the men from Dunmoyle made it a total of nine O’Neill Cup crowns. In doing so, they smashed Trillick’s bid to become the first team to retain the O’Neill Cup in almost two decades.
And so the saga continues in one of the toughest championships in the country, where no club has managed back-to-back titles since Carrickmore’s successful 2005 defence. But the postponement forced by Storm Ashley five days earlier means the newly crowned Red Hand champions have only a week to prepare for their Ulster Club SFC opener against a St Eunan’s Letterkenny side basking in the luxury of a three-week lead-in to the preliminary round tie. With the wind in their backs, Trillick made the early running, easing into a two points lead through Lee Brennan and Mattie Donnelly, while their well organised defence frustrated an Errigal side that took some time to settle into the contest.
The Canavan brothers got them going with a couple of scores, Darragh dispelling all doubts over a damaged shoulder that had threatened to keep hm out of the game. Brennan regained the lead for the champions from a 45-metre free, but a long-range effort from Petr Og McCartan had the sides level at the end o.
