Kinawley withstood a strong rally from Belnaleck before pulling away at the end to seal an eight point victory on Friday night.

The Brian Borus had looked to be in control of the game as they hit a purple patch midway through the first half to move into a 1-10 to 0-02 lead and although Belnaleck landed the last four scores of the half, there was still seven points between the sides at the interval.

The Art McMurroughs revival though continued into the second half and they brought their tally to eight points in a row after hitting the first four of the second half.

However, a second Kinawley goal by Paul Breen halted the visitors surge and the home side reasserted themselves in the closing stages to run out 2-15 to 0-13 winners.

Belnaleck manager Colm Bradley felt that his side were made to pay for mistakes by a strong Kinawley outfit.

“We started the game quite well and had shared four points with Kinawley before we had a very poor 20 minute spell.

“We gifted Kinawley a number of scores and they took full advantage and showed their quality.

“We did rally well and brought the deficit down to three points having been 11 behind but another gift gave Kinawley another goal and that was the game up really,” he said.

Division One football has been a learning curve for the newly promoted Belnaleck but Bradley is urging his side to show more consistency as they prepare for a meeting with Ederney in the quarter-final of the championship in just over a week’s time.

“Lots of lessons to be learned from the game and indeed from the five games we have played at this level we have learned a lot. Division One is a step up and this team will only improve from playing at this level.

“Having said that we know that we must start showing more consistency and cut out our poor mistakes.

“If we don’t Ederney will beat us and beat us well,” commented the Belnaleck manager.

The opening period of the game was evenly contested with the sides sharing the first four points, Garvan Quigley and Che Cullen on target for Belnaleck while Tomás Corrigan and Paul Breen registered for the home team.

However, Kinawley were to gain a stranglehold on matters over the next spell as they hit 1-08 without reply to build up a sizeable cushion.

Conor Murphy, Corrigan, Paddy McGovern, Paul Breen and Tom Keenan all hit points for the Brian Borus as they pulled clear.

And they looked to be out of sight when Keenan slotted the ball to the net to put 11 between the sides.

The loss of Corrigan before the interval was a blow for Kinawley and Belnaleck finally regained a footing in the contest as the half drew to a close with Darragh McGurn, Conor McCauley, Bryan Owens and Quigley knocking over points to leave it 1-10 to 0-06 at the break.

And the comeback looked to be on as Quigley, McGurn and McCauley rattled off points in the opening stanza of the second half to make it 1-10 to 0-10.

However, a Belnaleck mistake allowed Breen in for Kinawley’s second goal which dealt a big blow to Belnaleck’s hopes.

The away side did hit three of the next four points from McGurn and Peter Monaghan to cut the deficit back to four but Kinawley finished the contest strongly as they knocked over the final four points of the game.

McGovern, Breen and Aichlinn O’Cathain all hit points as the home side finally shook off the Art McMurroughs.