Derrygonnelly 0-14 Kinawley 2-09

Kinawley inflicted a first defeat of the season on Derrygonnelly Harps on Sunday, rounding off a good week for the Brian Borus.

On Wednesday night they were comfortable victors over Enniskillen and they followed that up with a hard earned one point win away to Derrygonnelly on Sunday.

County star Tomás Corrigan was a key figure for Kinawley over the hour, chipping in with 1-06 of his side’s tally while Tom Keenan followed up a lively performance against Enniskillen by also finding the net against the Harps.

Kinawley had looked to be in control of affairs when they led by six shortly after the water break in the second half but Derrygonnelly rallied and the five in a row championship winners clawed their way back to within a point and missed a couple of chances after that to level up the contest.

A Kinawley break though resulted in a fine point from Corrigan to push them two ahead once more and although Derrygonnelly clipped over a point from Micheal Glynn the Brian Borus were able to hold on to claim the points.

Harps manager Sean Flanagan had no qualms about the result and indeed feels that they may learn more from this defeat than games they have won.

“Overall we would have no complaints, there was a chance to get a point or maybe even two from the game but we were a wee bit of it and against a team as well developed as Kinawley are it is going to be difficult to reel them in as they are very organised and committed.

“In a funny way, however, you can learn more from a game when you lose than a game you win comfortably,” he said.

Derrygonnelly had also been comfortable winners on Wednesday night when they saw off Ederney but they found things much tougher against Kinawley with Corrigan grabbing the first three-pointer of the contest when he palmed home after Jack Kelly had made a good initial save.

That put Kinawley into a 1-01 to 0-02 lead although Garvan Jones and Gary McKenna registered points to tie things up.

The away side though were getting their hands on a fair share of possession in the middle third and with their inside forwards looking sharp they carried a threat in attack.

Keenan went close to bagging a second goal for Kinawley when he got through but fired wide. However, he was to make no mistake when presented with another chance soon after, twisting and turning before slotting to the net to make it 2-01 to 0-04.

Derrygonnelly answered with two points from Garvan Jones but Kinawley were to account for four of the last five points of the half to give them a four point cushion at the break.

Corrigan lofted over a point from a free and another from play before McKenna replied for Derrygonnelly but a foul on Keenan gave Corrigan the chance to add to his tally and Sean McManus then converted a mark to leave it 2-05 to 0-07 at the interval.

And the gap was stretched to six points early in the second half with Paul Breen and Donal Owens notching points before Glynn clipped over a free.

Another Corrigan free restored the six point gap after the water break but Derrygonnelly, who enjoyed plenty of possession throughout but were not as clinical in front of the posts as they have been, then started to build momentum as they rattled over five points in a row.

Gary McKenna, Glynn, Declan Cassidy, Kevin Cassidy and Ryan Jones all tagged on points as the Harps moved to within one point but Kinawley weren’t to be caught and Corrigan hit a crucial point to make it a two point game and while Glynn brought it back to the minimum, Kinawley were to see it out for the win.