James Doherty and Kilmacrennan content to grind it out

Although they’ve made something of a habit out of grinding out results this season, James Doherty says that Kilmacrennan were pining for the final whistle on Sunday.

Leading 3-1 against Castlefin, another of the title hopefuls, Kilmac’ allowed their opponents pull a goal back in the 88th minute.

They had to endure ten minutes of added on time before the 3-2 win was confirmed.

“You just can’t switch off in the Premier Division,” Doherty said.

“We fell asleep at 3-1 and let them back again. We’ve been grinding out results all year.”

Ronan Tourish’s early goal put Castlefin in front but Michael McLaughlin’s goal and an Aaron O’Hagan OG gave Kilmac’ a cushion after Doherty levelled things up on 51 minutes.

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He said: “I came up late and was free. I made a dart to the front post and it just fell to my feet. We did push on for about 20 minutes after that.

“We were able to press and our fitness is a lot better than it was before Christmas. We got the rub of the green.”

It was by no means pretty, but that won’t worry Kilmac’ who have a three-point lead at the summit.

Doherty said:  “They’re always on your case. There is rarely more than a goal in it against them. We played them up in Castlefin, we were 3-0 up and needed a penalty to win 4-3.

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“Only for Liam (McBride), they would have been 2-0 up at half-time and that would’ve really changed it.”

Kilmacrennan face another of their title rivals on Wednesday night, although their meeting with Kildrum Tigers is a quarter-final of the Knockalla Caravans Senior Cup. With the teams still having to meet twice in the Premier Division, it could be a tasty affair.

Doherty said; “Kildrum are a strong side. They’ll be there or thereabouts when it comes to it. In this League, any team can beat any of the others so we know there is a long way to go.”