CLONOE manager Kevin Madden sees Sunday’s quarter-final clash with Errigal Ciaran as a free shot for a side with nothing to lose.
Errigal, favourites in the eyes of many observers to win the title, will be expected to see off the challenge of a team that has endured a difficult season and just scraped past fellow strugglers Coalisland in the first round.
“It’s a free shot for us, nobody is expecting Clonoe to do anything, and we’ll be preparing really diligently for it, and we’ll certainly be backing ourselves in the quarter-final,” said Madden.
“Errigal are probably most people’s favourites, them and Trillick, for the championship. They’re an unbelievable team.”
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Former Antrim star Madden insisted that his players will front up and take on the challenge with no fear at Dungannon.
He’s confident they will draw on the strong championship tradition that the O’Rahilly club has built, and which has inspired many famous victories.
“We have a massive task ahead of us against Errigal, but it’s one we’ll be looking forward to.
“There’s a lot of experience in this team, there’s a lot of men in the starting team and in the subs who have championship medals.
“There’s a championship pedigree there. Maybe they haven’t been at the end of the hunt in recent years
“It’s a game we’ll be looking forward to, it’s a game that Errigal will probably be expected to win comfortably, but it’s not a game that we’ll be going in fearing.”
Clonoe put their league troubles behind them to get the better of neighbours Coalisland in the opening round.
They finished with just a point to spare over a Fianna side decimated by injuries and suspensions, with all three of their Tyrone defenders missing from the starting line-up.
But derby passions can prove to be a great leveller, and so it proved in a tense battle at O’Neill Park in Dungannon.
“Any local derby is massive. I spent four years in Creggan, and Cargin-Creggan was a massive derby. I managed the Loup at one point, and it was Loup-Ballinderry.
“There’s something really special about Clonoe and Coalisland, two close-knit communities who have a close rivalry going back for 30, 40, 50 years.
“Those derbies bring on a life of their own, and there’s very rarely very much between the two teams, and this one proved that.
“You can get caught up in the narrative that Coalisland are missing players, and all of a sudden you get into a false sense of security that maybe you should be wining a game by x number of points, but we learned from the league game in Coalisland, where Coalisland were missing players, that if we’re not in the right frame of mind, it doesn’t matter.
“In a local derby, the team who wants it the most, who decides to play to win for 60 minutes will come out on top.”
Clonoe and Coalisland are due to meet again in what is arguably a more important tie – a relegation play-off which will see one of these famous clubs lose their senior status.
But for now, championship is the sole focus for Clonoe as they figure out a way to shock Errigal Ciaran this weekend.
“We haven’t talked about the play-off, and we won’t be talking about the play-off until such time the championship campaign is over for us, and we hope that will not be for a while yet.
“And whenever the play-off comes, that will take on a life of its own, and our immediate focus will turn to that.”
