GERARD McGranaghan feels a dramatic title race is brewing in the Donegal League Premier Division.
A 1-1 draw for McGranaghan’s Kilmacrennan Celtic at home to Kildrum Tigers on Sunday brings the Lurgy men to within two points of leaders Cappry – who lost at Castlefin – and Kilmac have a game in hand.
The titanic tussle is seen by many as a four-way joust between Cappry, Kilmacrennan, Castlefin and Kildrum.
“No-one will get it easy now,” McGranaghan told Donegal Daily/Donegal Sport Hub.
“I think there’ll be twists and turns. Other teams in the League will take points and other teams will play a part in who gets what.
“I wouldn’t say it’s three points dropped, but we could have edged it. A win might have made a marginal difference, but it’s still early days.”
Kilmac hit the front after just four minutes when Enda McCormick’s free kick came off the underside of the bar and in.
Kildrum had a glorious chance to draw level on 27 minutes when Ryan Shields was penalised for a handball and Mick Lagan, the referee, awarded a penalty. Matthew Crossan’s spot-kick, was well over Shane Graham’s crossbar.
Kildrum levelled 11 minutes into the second half when a long kick out by Rory Carr, the goalkeeper, was headed into his own goal by Kieran Gorman.
McGranaghan said: “We shouldn’t have been that deep. That was the first cause of it of it. I blame all of them. It was a soft goal to give away. One point is better than no points, but we’ll keep going.”
Chris Dillon and Odhrán McMacken had chances at either end, but the game finished in stalemate.
McGranaghan said: “It’s not a bad result. Both teams battled it out. I think we edged it. Kildrum are dangerous and we couldn’t take our feet off the gas.
“The wind didn’t help. We finished the stronger team, but Kildrum missed a penalty so 1-1 was probably a fair enough result.”
Kilmac have been boosted with the return from injury of Seamus ‘Nanny’ Friel, who was back in the starting XI yesterday having been out injured since August.
McGranaghan said: “He’s like a new signing. We’ve missed him from the start of the season. H’s been on the bench a couple of times, but it’s a big plus. He’ll take a couple of games to get up to it, but he gives us a wee bit extra.”
Listen to the full interview below …
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