Loughinisland warriors crowned Ulster champs

Loughinisland warriors crowned Ulster champs

2 December 2015

LOUGHINISLAND are the new Intermediate Club Champions of Ulster.

Jerome Johnston’s side showed a ‘goalden’ touch when they netted three times in the last 10 minutes to beat a shellshocked Bundoran outfit 4-1 to 0-7 at a wet and windy Owenbeg on Sunday afternoon.

The Blues started in a hurry and had the ball in the net after only four minutes when Seamus O’Hare applied the finishing touches to a move engineered by the enigmatic Rory Mason.

Mason was at the heart of all things positive about Loughinisland and the son of former county star Brendan Mason had a hand in all his side’s goals, as well as scoring their only point of the game in the eighth minute.

“I am simply delighted to get through here today and I know my father is a very proud man as he lost a final back in 1989,” he said minutes after the final whistle.

“Bundoran are a very good side and really put it up to us. I suppose they will be disappointed with some of the goals and the amount of wides they kicked, but I thought our boys stayed very calm.

“They put us under a lot of pressure, but our defence held pretty firm throughout and we did not concede any goals. I thought our boys showed great character and commitment out there and never buckled, even though we did not score for quite a long period,” he added.

“We went for the long ball and thankfully it worked. We have some pretty handy inside forwards who are capable of getting goals as they showed all through this Ulster campaign. This is a great victory for the club as we lost two Down senior county finals in 2007 and 2008.” 

Bundoran recovered from their slow start and went in level at 1-1 to 0-4. They even had the temerity to take the lead in the 40th minute with a point from Jamie Brennan, but Loughinisland pounced with electrifying precision to score their second goal through Paddy McKenny.

The sides were level again at 2-1 to 0-7 as Bundoran found their range, but this was to be the last time they moved the 

scoreboard as Loughinisland went for broke.

Two goals inside a magical last few minutes from Rory Mason and Sean Cochrane killed Bundoran off and sealed a dramatic victory for Jerome Johnston’s champions.

The Loughinisland manager, who likes to let his players do the talking on the pitch, accepted that Lady Luck was smiling on his charges, but you take it when you get it.

“That wasn’t pretty at all, but it’s all about winning and we got over the line,” Johnston said. “It was like something that you’d see in an under-10 match, but you take wins whatever they come.”Luck sometimes plays a part and we certainly had it today.”