Being four points down after 20 minutes against Kilrea wasn’t part of the gameplan for Magherafelt managers Brian McGuckin and Damian Barton.
The 2019 Derry champions were strongly fancied to get the better of Pearse’s in their first round clash at Swatragh and they prevailed 1-13 to 0-10.
The full-time score didn’t tell the whole tale though as Rossa were pushed all the way and a late goal from substitute Niall Higgins gave them a slightly flattering winning margin of six points.
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“Kilrea deserve an awful lot of credit for that performance,” reflected McGuckin.
“We played them earlier in the year in the League and beat them by about 20 points. They really had their homework done on us.
“We knew at half-time we hadn’t played anywhere near our capability in the first half. We addressed a few things at half-time.
“We came out in the second half and we showed a bit more of what we are about.”
Kilrea had a spell in each half when they squandered a handful of decent scoring chances and, ultimately, they’d rue those misses.
However, they were also indebted to goalkeeper Eoghan Rogers for making a remarkable point-blank save to deny Magherafelt captain Shane Heavron a goal before half-time.
Despite the miss, Heavron was the game’s leading scorer with six frees and McGuckin hailed the influence of the Rossa skipper.
“Shane is our captain and our leader. We need Shane at his very best if we are going to progress in the Championship,” added McGuckin.
“There was a period in the first half when we needed Shane to keep us in the game.
"At 0-5 to 0-1 down, we were starting to worry a bit, but I thought we showed a lot of composure to get ourselves back into the game and be level at the break.”
While Heavron’s goal chance was saved in the first half, Rogers could do little to prevent Higgins from finding the net in the closing minutes after Patrick McLarnon played the ball across the face of the goal for Higgins to finish at the back post.
Wing-backs Conor McCluskey and Michael McEvoy tagged on injury-time points as Kilrea’s resistance was finally broken.
Speaking before Magherafelt’s quarter-final opponents were known, McGuckin feels his side will need to improve if they are to progress in the Championship and they’ll face holders Glen at Owenbeg on Sunday, October 2 (6.45pm).
“A goal either way was making a huge difference. I felt, if we hadn't scored that goal, the game would have been nip-and-tuck the whole way to the end,” added McGuckin.
“The fact that we didn’t play anywhere near our potential and we still got the victory. . . that’s probably the best way to win.
“It was the first round and we know we’ve a lot to work on for the next day.”
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