St Malachy’s men avoid league relegation play-off with breakthrough Championship triumph

“We’ll probably have to win the Championship now…”

The Edendork players must have thought mentor Malachy McGlinchey was living up to his ‘Mad Dog’ nickname when he came out with that comment.

The St Malachy’s men were slumped in the away changing room at Healy Park, having lost their last league game to Omagh.

The St Enda’s were already relegated and had won only one of their previous 14 league matches, but they still pipped their visitors by a point, 1-9 to 0-11.

The only way to avoid that play-off fate would be to be crowned Tyrone senior football champions – and Edendork had never even reached a final.

Yet scroll forward less than nine weeks and the impossible dream had come true.

Edendork’s delight was such that no one even mentioned the added bonus – their win had sent neighbours Dungannon Clarke’s into that play-off against Moortown instead.

The men in green and yellow will meet Down champions Clonduff in Newry this Saturday night, but that barely got talked about either.

The biggest topic of debate was when they would return to training.

Bad news, lads: manager Brian McGuckin reckoned it would probably be Monday night.

The beaming smile spread across his face might just have faded – a little – by then.

Plenty of other topics will have been talked about over the most wonderful weekend for Edendork.

Niall Morgan’s winning two-point free, of course, which will have moved closer and closer to the Gortin Road end with every recounting.

Conn Kilpatrick’s audacious kick-up flick-up pick-up to bring the ball off the ground into his hands and draw the foul which led the Championship winning score.

Ben Cullen’s brilliance. Still only 21, he scored two points from centre half-back and was a driving force again, as he had been in the drawn game.

John McLernon scoring in a senior final as an 18-year-old.

Many, many magical moments for the St Malachy’s. A hand in here, a tackle and turnover there, blocks, interceptions, catches.

All adding up to an unforgettable victory.

Some words too for their opponents. Errigal Ciaran, even without star forward Darragh Canavan again, almost took the trophy.

Their captain Petey Harte again proved why he is an all-time Tyrone great, with 0-5, four of those points from play in the second half, including the last two to put his side in front in added time.

His Edendork counterpart Conor Mallon is an inspirational leader too, of course, and concluded his speech with a classic line:

“People kept asking me how I’d lift this team for the play-off if we lost the final…I guess we’ll never know!”

Edendork, at long last, after 94 years of existence, do know the joy of being Tyrone senior football champions.

The wee club on the outskirts of Dungannon, with Coalisland Fianna on their eastern flank, are drinking at the top table now.

They’ll not worry too much about their first senior cut at ‘the Ulster club’.

Training this week, whenever it does come, will be a feast of craic and camaraderie.

Casting his mind back to when McGlinchey made that tongue-in-cheek comment on the evening of August 23, Edendork attacker Darren McCurry recalled: “I threw my boots down, laughing.”

‘The Dazzler’ picked himself and his boots up again, not only scoring a dramatic late two-pointer to force the final replay but delivering 1-6 on Friday night, all in the first half.

That won him the Forbes Furniture Top Scorer award and obviously went a long way to winning the O’Neill Cup for Edendork.

When Errigal, notably his Tyrone colleague Cormac Quinn, closed him down in the second period, others in green and yellow stepped up.

The aforementioned Cullen, and his half-back colleague Correy Bell, scored 0-3 between them, then Morgan converted a ’45’, forced by a tricky cross-shot from McCurry.

Bell, incidentally, has now won both the Tyrone senior football and hurling championships this season, along with Edendork full-back Fionn Devlin.

That duo are due to be in action for Dungannon Eoghan Ruadh against Fermanagh kingpins Lisbellaw at Brewster Park next Sunday afternoon.

If they need inspiration, they could listen to the words of McCurry on Friday night, who described his feelings as follows:

“Relief, after years of hard work.

“This year just felt different. It felt like destiny, like everything would fall into place.”

That place is Edendork.