Belcoo 2-10 Erne Gaels 4-07 Belcoo produced a strong finish as they came from six points down with five minutes to go to snatch a share of the spoils at home to Erne Gaels on Sunday.

The home side had led by a point at the break, 0-07 to 1-03, but the Belleek outfit looked to be on their way to the points as second half goals from Damian Lyons, Seamus Ryder and Tommy McCaffrey put them into a 4-07 to 1-10 advantage with 55 minutes on the clock.

However, the O’Rahillys came on strong in the final stages and three successive points were followed by a goal from Paul McGrath with virtually the last kick of the game to see them deservedly take something out of the game.

This was Belcoo’s third draw of the campaign as they still await their opening win while Erne Gaels remain hot on the heels of leaders Derrygonnelly, with one point dividing the top two after six games.

Erne Gaels manager Maurice McLaughlin felt that overall Belcoo were deserving of the point they earned and in terms of the league picture he stresses that it is still very early days.

“You be disappointed not to see it out when you are six points up at that stage of the game but all credit to Belcoo they kept working and they deserved the draw, there is no complaints with that.

“As far as the league is concerned, it’s still very early and really all you are looking at at this time is the team developing and progressing so we’ll take the positives and negatives out of Sunday’s game and look to improve for this week’s game against Devenish,” he said.

The character shown by his side was the thing that pleased Belcoo manager Peter Clarke the most from the game as they battled to the end to secure a point.

“That’s the big plus,” he said.

“We could have been deflated given the goals we conceded but the players showed character, courage and composure and we definitely deserved the draw for our performance over the whole game.”

The concession of four goals though does concern Clarke and he insists that they will continue to work at eradicating them from their game.

“Collectively and individually we would be disappointed with the goals that we conceded and it is something that we have to keep addressing until we get it out of our play.

“On the positive side though for the first time in a number of weeks we brought our scoring boots and 2-13 is a pleasing total to post,” he added.

Belcoo had started the quicker of the sides as they rattled over the opening four points of the contest through Paul McGrath (2), Johny Feeley and Ryan Leonard.

Erne Gaels did start to settle into the game although they were guilty of being wasteful, especially from frees, before they opened their account midway through the half through Oisin Kelm, who finished the half with 1-02.

Luke Ryder also chipped in with a point for Erne Gaels while Matthew McAloon added a point for Belcoo but the big score of the half arrived from Kelm as he fired to the net past Belcoo goalkeeper Jack O’Dolan to make it 1-03 to 0-05.

However, Belcoo registered the final two points of the half through Ryan Leonard and Paul McGrath to leave them one point to the good at the interval.

The Belleek side introduced Tommy McCaffrey and Seamus Ryder at half time and Ryder landed the first two points of the second half to nudge the visitors in front although McGrath levelled the contest from a free.

The first of five second half goals then arrived from Damian Lyons to put Erne Gaels three ahead but Belcoo responded to this with Dean McDermott scoring a point from close range before he then turned over possession to start a move that led to Feeley slotting to the net to make it 1-09 to 2-05 in Belcoo’s favour.

Back came Erne Gaels though and they had a fortuitous third goal as Tommy McCaffrey’s free dropped into the net before the same player then clipped over a free.

Belcoo kept going and McGrath notched a further point but it looked to be game over when Ryder cut in from the left and fired an unstoppable shot to the net to make it 4-07 to 1-10.

The O’Rahillys though refused to throw the towel in and James McGrath landed a ‘45 and Ryan Leonard tagged on another two points to leave three in it.

And at the death Belcoo came up with a crucial goal as Niall McGovern’s long ball in broke to Aaron Dolan and although his effort came back off the crossbar, McGrath was the quickest to react to fire to the net as it finished 2-10 to 4-07.

Next up for Erne Gaels is Devenish on Sunday while Belcoo face Irvinestown.