SFL Div 2: Clonmore 1-9 Palatine 1-9

Clonmore dominated most of the possession in this SFL Div 2 game played at Woodside on Friday evening and led by five points midway through the second half but they could not put away the experienced Palatine team, inspired by the evergreen James Reid who finished with a personal tally of 0-6 and set up the vital late goal that earned his team an unlikely draw.

Palatine started brightly with a couple of points from the accurate left boot of Paddy Carroll and a long range effort from Michael Bolger. But from there to half-time it was all Clonmore with Niall Humphries finishing a great pass from Ronan Doyle to the net and points from Doyle, Owen Coleman, Gavin Byrne (2), Con Murphy, Enda McGrath giving the home team a deserved 1-6 to 0-4 lead.

Clonmore continued to look the better team but Pal kept coming back at them, led by James Reid who repeatedly won his own ball, drew fouls and converted frees from all angles. Reid’s most telling contribution came in the 50^th minute when he set up the lively Paddy Carroll for a goal that levelled the scores and proved to be the last score of the game.

Clonmore threw everything at Pal in the last ten minutes in an effort to retrieve a game that they should have won comfortably. Their best chance fell to Enda McGrath who went for a goal when a point would have done and Damien McMahon produced a great save to earn his team a share of the points.

Clonmore: Colin McGrath, Paul Byrne, Wesley Byrne, John Kelly, Pauric Lawlor, Shane Murphy, Willie Byrne,  Ronan Doyle (0-1), Gavin Byrne (0-4, 2f), Jamie Walsh, Con Murphy (0-1), Niall Humphries (1-0), Enda McGrath (0-1), Owen Coleman (0-1), PJ Byrne (0-1). Subs: James Doyle, Bobby Rooney, John McGrath.

Palatine: Damien McMahon, Alan Cullen, Jeff Deering, Tommy Murphy, Lorcan Carroll, Paud O’Dwyer, Chris O’Brien, Alan Hosey, Michael Bolger (0-1), Mark Cullen, Eddie McGarry, Chris Parle, Paddy Carroll (1-1), James Reid (0-6, 5f), Jamie Kenny (0-1).

Ref: Brian Deering (Rathvilly).