By Barry O’Donnell

GALBALLY manager Paddy Crozier praised the battling qualities of his side after they clinched their second Tyrone Intermediate Championship title in four seasons with a thrilling victory over fancied Edendork on Sunday afternoon in Omagh.

The Pearses came out on top of a sea-saw encounter 2-11 to 3-7, all the goals coming in a riveting second half.

The match appeared to be slipping out of Galbally’s grasp when Harry Óg Conlan and Niall Morgan each found the net in the space of two minutes to ease Edendork three ahead, before Galbally stunned them with a devestating late scoring blitz.

Liam Rafferty’s superb goal paved the way for that late surge from the Pearses, with full-forward Conor Donaghy weighing in on the day with an impressive goal and eight points.

Crozier, in his first year at the management helm with the Pearses, stressed that he never felt his side were sliding to defeat at any juncture.

“I didn’t think it was slipping away because these fellas have great character. We were six points to two down at one stage there in the first half and we came back to 0-6 to 0-5 at half-time.

“We drew level and then we got the goal. You can’t lay down against quality players like Edendork have. By God they came back at us again. Maybe when we were three points down it looked bleak but we kept fighting.”

While Edendork’s line up is laced with high profile names, Crozier lauded the team ethic at the heart of Galbally’s success.

“Everyone of them had a job to do. They were given that at the start of the year from the reserve players on through. If it wasn’t for the reserve players we wouldn’t have a senior team and I have to give them credit. From day one they kept with us right up until the last training session this week.”

And while Conor Donaghy again grabbed the headlines with his individual scoring exploits, Crozier stressed the impact of players right across the field.

“Conor has brought us through many’s a game but Liam Rafferty also stepped up, Daniel Kerr stepped up. There was loads of men who stepped up and shared the load. They fully deserved this but commiserations to Edendork. We knew they were coming in here as firm favourites, even though I don’t know who said we were underdogs. We proved that wrong anyway.

“When you look at the top six teams in Division Two and bottom six in Division One there is very little between them as Moortown and Greencastle have proved this year. But we are back up there now and we will worry about that another day. We will celebrate this and then we will get back down to work again.”