Termon edge out MacCumhaills in brilliant Burn Road encounter 

Termon and MacCumhaills shot the lights out at the Burn Road on Sunday but it was the hosts that deservingly took the opening two league points on offer. 

Caolan McDaid’s side had found themselves seven down at the outset of the second-half but managed to slingshot themselves seven clear going into the last ten. 

Gary Wilson’s visitors reled that back into just two points at 1-20 to 1-18 with two minutes to go before a closing Oisin Harkin three-pointer finally sealed a real ding-dong encounter. 

The Twin Towns outfit had the better of things in the first period and exited 0-9 to 0-6 clear. 

Jamie Keegan - who had a fine hour - grabbed an early brace while Matthew McGeehan was also on the mark for an early three-point lead. 

Daire McDaid got the home side off the mark from a free while Harkin then made it a one-point contest. 

Marty O’Reilly, from a free, and Harkin then traded points while the game was squared up on 17 minutes at four apiece as John James Sweeney converted. 

McGeehan was then denied by Emmett Gallagher at one end while Eoin Gallen also thwarted McDaid down the other side. McDaid clipped another free before Harkin floated over his second as Termon moved to six.

However, a five-point blitz at the end of the opening period where Keegan twice, as well as McGeehan and an O’Reilly two-pointer, left three in it at the break. 

Kevin McGettigan got the second period off the mark in encouraging fashion for Termn but with McGeehan and O’Reilly, after intercepting a stray kick-out, both adding overs, 0-11 now led 0-7. 

Things got even better for MacCumhaills when Keegan was toppled over inside the area by McGettigan and with the same player dispatching the spot kick, seven now split the teams. 

A fine Jack Alcorn two-pointer made up some concentrated ground while a McDaid free, also dispatched outside the arc, meant that previous three-pointer now separated matters. 

Termon had eight different scorers on the day and with threats all over the park, Ricky Gallagher landed a third three-pointer on the bounce for his side before Sweeney squared it at 1-11 to 0-14. 

With the momentum now with the home side, McDaid (free) nudged Termon to the fore but back bounced MacCumhaills through Chad McSorley. 

Going into the fourth and last quarter, McDaid clipped another free as Termon again crept ahead. 

On 47 minutes, Termon turned the screw as Steve McDaid, just in from the substitutes bench, rattled the first of his side’s two maximums. 

McSorley replied for MacCumhaills but back-to-back points off the boots of McFadden and Harkin left it 1-20 to 1-13 as an absorbing contest went into its last ten minutes. 

MacCumhaills and, in particular, Keegan - to their credit - didn’t lie down, and he rattled off five points on the trot, one from play, two from frees and one two-pointer and, in the space of four minutes, the visitors were right back on the leaders’ coattails at 1-20 to 1-18.

But in the dying seconds, and with MacCumhaills throwing caution to the wind, they were hit on the counter as Harkin rolled home from close range to round off a hard-earned opening day league victory. 

Termon scorers: Oisin Harkin 1-5, 1 tp; Daire McDaid 0-6, 4f, 1 2pt; Steve McDaid 1-0; Ricky Gallagher 0-3, 1 2tp; John James Sweeney 0-2; Jack Alcorn 0-2, 1tp; Kevin McGettigan 0-1; Ryan McFadden 0-1; 

MacCumhaills scorers: Jamie Keegan 1-9, 1P 1 2tp; Marty O’Reilly 0-4, 1 tp; Chad McSorley 0-2; Matthew McGeehan 0-3.  

Termon: Emmett Gallagher; Conor Cassidy, Emmett Maguire, Cormac Brady; Ricky Gallagher, Kevin McGettigan, Pat Fegan; Oisin Harkin, Aaron Reid; John James Sweeney, Ryan McFadden, Anthony Grant; Daire McDid, Enda McCormick, Jack Alcorn.

Subs: Evan Coleman for E McCormick (28, inj), Steve McDaid for Reid (40), Gary McGettigan for Grant (51), Oisin Cassidy for Fegan (55).

MacCumhaills: Eoin Gallen; Cian Mulligan, Aaron Gillooley, Conor Griffin; Fintan Griffin, Luke Gavigan, Fionn McGinty; Joe Boyle, Andrew Murray; Jack Duffy, Jamie Keegan, Darragh Byrne; Marty O’Reilly, Chad McSorley, Matthew McGeehan. 

Subs: Adam Lynch for D Boyle (51), Dylsan Doherty for Duffy (55).

Referee: Robbie O’Donnell (Naomh Muire)