Errigal Ciaran just about got over the line against a plucky Killyclogher side as Peter Harte kicked a sensational winner right at the buzzer to send his side to the Tyrone championship final.
In a game that had everything, including two penalties, one missed, a last minute goal to equalise, and a last second point to win it, one of the biggest talking points is the right arm of Darragh Canavan.
Undoubtedly one of the most dangerous forwards in the country right now, Canavan is currently the captain of Errigal Ciaran despite only being 24 years old, but he has carried that responsibility with incredible ease as he continued to shoot the lights out throughout the Tyrone championship.
Young Michael Rafferty captained Tyrone to the u20 All-Ireland title earlier this year, and he was tasked with marking the eldest Canavan brother, but due to an unfortunate incident early in the match, it maybe wasn't the battle he was expecting.
In the opening minutes, the Tyrone forward was attempting to keep a ball from going out of play when he was hit with a shoulder from Killyclogher's Emmett McFadden.
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The collision and the way that he fell, clearly injured Canavan's shoulder, and the next time he was in possession and driving at the defence, he fell to the ground as he offloaded the ball to his brother Ruairi, and damaged the shoulder further.
From that point, the sharp shooter was visibly struggling as he kept his right arm by his side, and didn't even bend it when he was sprinting.
With Rafferty still man-marking him, the 2021 All-Ireland winner resorted to making lots of off-the-ball runs, to try and create space for the likes of Harte, Joe Oguz and his brother to exploit, a selfless tactic that worked a treat.
As Errigal Ciaran went five points clear and there was less than 10 minutes on the clock, Canavan was finally subbed off, but in the short time that remained, Killyclogher scored two goals and looked to have stolen a equaliser before Harte's heroics.
Manager and former Tyrone hero Enda McGinley, who is a physiotherapist himself, will be trying every trick in the book to get his star man right for their upcoming final against Trillick, although he tried to play down the injury when talking to The Irish News after the game.
There were a lot of heavy hits out there. We have two or three lads we’re concerned about but we have two weeks.
"It was week-on-week through the league campaign with games so a two-week break between matches feels like a luxury.
“I hope most of them will have cleared up and if there is one or two we’re going to lose – I’ll not say who now - then there’s a really good panel there and I’ve no doubt there’ll be others ready to step up.”
Trillick are the defending county champions, and this final will be a repeat of last year's final, however, no team has won the Tyrone championship two years in a row since 2005, and Errigal Ciaran will be hoping that that omen continues.
