THE usual message from players or management is that the past doesn’t matter, only the next game. Errigal Ciaran skipper Darragh Canavan largely stuck to that script – but he did accept that there were a couple of moments late in their quarter-final replay against Clonoe which bode well for his club’s chances.
Not the late, late scores from himself and his younger brother Ruairi which took them to a 0-14 to 0-11 victory after the O’Rahilly’s had made it a one-point game in added time.
Rather, he was pleased to see the return from injuries of Tyrone defender Cormac Quinn and his own cousin Tommy Canavan, a former club captain.
Errigal now face another testing challenge in the form of Killyclogher in this Sunday’s second Tyrone SFC semi-final as they aim to reach a third consecutive county final, so greater squad depth is a definite boost.
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“It’s great to have those boys back,” acknowledged Darragh. “I think everybody in the county and outside the county knows what sort of calibre of players they are, so to have any boys like that able to come in is only going to help. We’re delighted to have them back.”
With Mark Kavanagh also coming off the bench to play the second half, Errigal have more attacking options to add to Darragh and his younger brother Ruairi, who scored 11 points between them second time around against Clonoe.
Praised for taking their chances, Canavan smiled and modestly replied: “It was a change from last week, whenever we couldn’t stick the ball over the bar.”
That certainly wasn’t the case on Sunday night in O’Neill Park, Dungannon, when Darragh scored five points, all from play, while Ruairi registered 0-6, including four frees.
Yet even so it was still another close contest for the Ballygawley men, who had been expected to be too strong for Clonoe: “I know a lot of people were saying that, but we knew we were in for a tough battle the first day, and again.
“They’re a big physical side, it was a tough game, both games, and we’re just happy to get over the line.”
Canavan is as used to the ‘favourites’ mantle as he is to the attentions of markers – and he can shrug it off with similarly practised ease.
Errigal Ciaran will be expected to progress past Killyclogher but their star forward knows not to take anything for granted. Pomeroy posed more problems in the first round than most pundits had anticipated, then Clonoe pushed Errigal hard twice.
“They stuck about, to be fair to them, but we knew that was coming, we knew how tough and dogged they were, and fair play to them. I’m sure they’ll give that [league relegation] play-off a good rattle, whenever it is, too.”
The feeling is that those games have set them up well for the challenge to come from Killyclogher, but Canavan isn’t sure:
“Hopefully, but we’ll see about that next weekend. You can’t beat good tough championship battles. This is the time of the year you want to be playing, and it’s thoroughly enjoyable, it was a great game.”
Killyclogher should provide the same sort of stiff challenge, having scored a last-gasp goal to knock out Omagh, then netted late on again to force a replay with Carrickmore, before edging them out in the re-match last Thursday night.
“Every game is a tough battle, no matter what,” insisted Canavan. “We’ll rest up and get stuck in this week. No championship games in Tyrone are going to be handy.”
Errigal did hammer Killyclogher when they last met, by 4-11 to 0-2 in late August in the league, but Darragh readily explained away that result: “It was a bit of a dead rubber, it was the last league game, so I wouldn’t read into that at all.”
To be fair to him, he was consistent in dismissing the influence of even the very recent past. Killyclogher will have had an extra two days of rest/ preparation, but Canavan did not grasp at that as any excuse or complaint for Errigal:
“Look, we’ll not read too much into that. They had a tough battle, we had a tough battle, I don’t think it matters, the two days. It’s about how you prepare. I’m sure they’ll prepare for us and we’re going to prepare for them.”
