Missed penalty regret for Slaughtmanus, but Faughanvale earn deserved Play-Off victory

Faughanvale 0-11

Slaughtmanus 0-03

Six points from Paddy O’Kane was more than enough for Faughanvale to retain their Senior Championship status with victory over Slaughtmanus.

The Greysteel side were more than good value for their win against an opponent who failed to score even a single point from play over the hour at Doire Trasna on Saturday.

Slaughtmanus battled throughout, but it was Faughanvale’s ability to finish which ultimately separated the teams. That, and a missed penalty early on. Slaughtmanus goalkeeper Kevin Duddy stepped up with his team three points behind after 12 minutes, and although his effort was well struck, it came back of the upright and a big moment in the game was gone. When they reflect on their relegation to junior football, they will undoubtedly look back on that as a major turning point in the game.

While Slaughtmanus weren’t happy with some decisions from referee Paddy Devlin, Faughanvale manager Kevin Jude-Bryson can be content with a deserved win, even if it was not the perfect performance.

While only four points were scored from open play overall, it was the clinical nature of O’Kane and Kevin Martin who made the difference in this game. While the Slaughtmanus attack struggled, the ‘Vale forwards thrived, scoring nine of their team’s 11 points overall on a day when the only thing that mattered was the result.

The damage was done for Slaughtmanus in the opening 15 minutes with two frees each from O’Kane and Martin helping them to a 0-4, 0-0 lead. Caolan Hargan was isolated up against the ‘Vale defence but he did his best with scraps throughout.

Slaughtmanus could have levelled after Hargan got them off the mark but the penalty incident passed them by. David Quigg raced through on goal and was fouled when he was shaping to shoot. Duddy cam forward, but missed the kick.

The let-off galvanised 'Vale further and by half-time they had built a 0-7 to 0-2 lead thanks to scores from Martin, Eoin McElhinney and another O'Kane free.

Faughanvale started the second half the stronger and, entering the last 10 minutes of the game, it was clear that Slaughtmanus needed to find something significant to have any chance. They certainly battled hard, but it never looked likely.

No matter what Slaughtmanus tried, the more they left themselves vulnerable at the other end and furher scores from O'Kane and substitute Jordan Curran was enough to secure Vale's club's Intermediate status for another season.

Referee Paddy Devlin was kept bust late on as tensions spilled over - a melee resulted in red cards for 'Vale's Caolan Cooper and Slaughtmanus' Meehaul Brolly, and Brolly's team-mate and fellow substitute Christopher Deery following him in injury time for dissent.