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Tyrone U21 Football Knockout Quarter-final

St. Enda's 3-13

Eglish 0-5

St. Enda's cruised to the semi-finals of the Tyrone U21 Knockout competition after scoring an emphatic win over title holders Eglish at Healy Park today.

With six senior players in the starting line-up, the St. Enda's men had plenty of experience in the ranks and apart for a shaky opening five minutes, they totally dominated this game with Eglish offering little resistance throughout.

The St. Enda's management team would have been encouraged by the great all round team display, but probably one of the highlights of the match was the return to competitive duty of Aaron Grugan who has been out of action for 26 months through injury. Indeed Aaron certainly left his mark on the game by the end, notching up 1-1 in the second half with his goal coming right on the stroke of full time.

Eglish took the lead twice in the first five minutes but thereafter they struggled to make any inroads against a solid St. Enda's defence. And once Shane O'Neill fired home a terrific goal in the ninth minute, there was no looking back for the home team.

The O'Neill and Grugan brothers were regularly at the heart of the action in the first half scoring 1-5 between them with Shane unlucky not to have notched up a second goal when he attempted to chip the Eglish keeper in the 11th minute. Omagh's other first half scores came from Ryan McBride and Chris Gallagher.

Leading 1-9 to 0-4 at the break, St. Enda's kept up the pressure in the second half with Damon Teague and Ronan O'Neill stretching their lead in the opening two minutes. The biggest cheer was reserved for Aaron Grugan however when he combined with Ciaran Brannigan to score his first point in the 35th minute.

After that it was a case of cruise control, with Barry Tierney surging upfield to pick off a neat point before Ronan O'Neill calmly dispatched a penalty to the Eglish net to make it 2-13 to 0-4 on 48 minutes.

The Omagh management took the opportunity to give five subs a run out in the second half and the boys finished the game off in style with Aaron Grugan palming the ball to the Eglish net on the stroke of full time when the visitors defence struggled to clear a Rory McBride free.

St. Enda's scorers - Ronan O'Neill (1-4), Shane O'Neill (1-1), Aaron Grugan (1-1), Ryan McBride (0-2), Chris Gallagher, Barry Tierney, Conan Grugan, Damien McGloin, Damon Teague (0-1) each.

St. Enda's - Ryan Clarke, Nigel Brannigan, Darryn Bradley, Stephen Mullan, Ciaran McLaughlin, Barry Tierney, Ciaran Brannigan, Conan Grugan, Ryan McBride, Damien McGloin, Shane O'Neill, Damon Teague, Aaron Grugan, Chris Gallagher, Ronan O'Neill.

Subs - Piaras McElduff for D. McGloin; Cormac O'Neill for C. Gallagher; Kieran McCullagh for C. McLaughlin, Michael Gallagher for C. O'Neill; Rory McBride for R. O'Neill. Other panelists - Caolan McCrossan, Conor Meyler, Conor Clarke, Cormac Hannigan, Eamon McMahon, Gregory Murray, Niall McGinn, Ruairi Bradley, James Gallagher, James Mullan, Johnny Brown, Turlough Gallagher, Thomas Hannigan..