AS THE son of two defenders, perhaps it’s no surprise that man-marking seems to have come naturally to Errigal Ciaran’s Cormac Quinn.
His dad Conor played full-back for Errigal, his mum Sharon played wing-back for Tyrone and the family genes must have come in handy when, after months out with injury, former Tyrone U20 skipper Cormac was thrown back into the championship fray against Killyclogher earlier this month.
He had to play virtually from memory and coming through a feisty semi-final that his club won by a single point at Healy Park proved he had forgotten nothing. Now the 23-year-old Tyrone defender is looking forward to locking horns with Trillick in the county showpiece for the third time in his career.
After the injury setbacks he’s come through, he’s relieved to be involved in Friday night’s clash, a repeat of last year’s thriller which Trillick won after extra-time.
“It’s been a nightmare year for me to be completely honest,” says Quinn who works for J&K Coaches in Moneymore.
“Going back to last year during the inter-county season I had a good run of it and I thought I was playing decent football. Then we played Kerry in an All-Ireland quarter-final and I pulled my hamstring – a real bad tear – and I was out for 10 or 11 weeks.
“I got back and played the club season with Errigal last year and then I had a good pre-season with Tyrone. I was going well again and then, after a couple of League games, I started to feel a bit of pain in round the groin area.
“I had to deal with that all year but it just escalated and I probably didn’t manage it well. In June I made a decision that I had to go and get hernia surgery over in London so that basically wiped out all of my summer and I didn’t play any football for Tyrone from April on.
“I went nearly five months without playing any football and the surgery didn’t really go how I had hoped it would. I had to go back over for injections and things and they seemed to have helped and I’m definitely moving a wee bit better now.
“Fingers crossed, the hernia issue is over – I don’t want to jinx it – but hopefully it’s behind me. I still get wee gentle reminders of it here and there but if I keep it managed it should be in the past. It’s something I’m going to have to keep in top of all the time.
“I made the return against Clonoe. I came on at the very end of the game and got about five minutes and then made the full return against Killyclogher. I was thrown right in at the deep end but there’s no better place to sharpen the iron.”
And there was no better opponent to test himself against than Mark Bradley who showed the form and confidence that got him a call up to Ulster’s Inter-Provincial squad that night. Bradley beat him to the first ball in that semi-final but Quinn quickly got up to speed and held his own in a competitive battle.
“I’d always be willing to mark anybody if I thought I was capable,” says Quinn.
“I’d give anybody a go and I told the manager (Enda McGinley) I was all for doing it. Mark Bradley is one of the most in-form forwards in the country so it was always going to be a good test to see where I was at.”
The challenges keep coming of course. Like Quinn’s Errigal, Trillick have lots of firepower in the likes of Mattie Donnelly, James McGarrity, Seanie O’Donnell, Lee Brennan…
“They’re all good,” says Quinn.
“If you go through their forward line there’s plenty of names and plenty of boys who could put you to the sword very quickly. I’d say whoever I’ll come up against will give me a run for my money but they’re the players you want to be playing against.
“At the end of the day, you’re a competitor.”
AS well as that defensive pedigree, Quinn has attacking genes in his make-up. His grandfather, Errigal stalwart Mickey Mullin, was a corner-forward in his day and Quinn has shown he has scoring instincts too.
He got forward to split the posts twice in last year’s final against Trillick but his brace wasn’t enough to get Errigal over the line.
“I don’t kick two points in many games,” he says with a smile.
“It was probably a good a game for the neutrals but we were disappointed with our performance as a team and I was disappointed with my performance too with the defensive side of things. It didn’t click for us at all last year and we felt we did underperform but in fairness to Trillick, they were the better team on the day and there’s no taking that away from them. They deserved to win it.”
Friday night will be Quinn’s third stab at Trillick in a county final. The rivals also clashed in 2019, his debut season at senior level for his club, and the St Macartan’s men came out on the right side of a two-point game back then as well.
“That season I played the last couple of league games and then Pascal Canavan (the manager then) put me in for the championship,” he recalls.
“We played Eglish in the first round and then Omagh in a real good game up in Loughmacrory. We beat Carrickmore in the semi-final and then Trillick in the final.
“It was a good year, we got close enough but it was probably a wee bit too early for us as a team, we were quite young.”
That experience came in handy three years later when Quinn and his young team-mates did get over the line against Carrickmore.
“It’s the highlight of my career so far,” he says.
“It was something I had looked forward to since I was a child. I remember watching Errigal teams win championships and it was something I always wanted to do myself. It’s a great memory to look back on and it’s something I’d like to repeat as many times as I can.
“These are the games you want to be involved in.
“This is what you train for. We’ve had a few good battles over the years with Trillick. We lost both finals but they were still good occasions and games you’d want to play in. There’s always a good buzz about the week before the final and I enjoy it.”
EVERYTHING was poised for last Sunday afternoon, but then Storm Ashley stepped in and the final was put back until Friday night. The postponement means Errigal have an extra five days to wait before they get their chance to revenge that defeat last year. The time may help Darragh Canavan shake off his shoulder injury, it may help ease some bumps and bruises in the Trillick camp but there’s no discernible advantage for either side.
“What can you do?” says Quinn.
“It (the postponement) was out of our control and, with the whole weather situation, it was something we were half-expecting.
“We got the message three hours before the game. The kitbag and all was packed and it was gutting nearly for it to be called off when you’d got yourself so psyched up for it. We had to reset and start the whole process again – back to work on Monday, then train this week and all the same carry on.
“It was tough but it’s the same for both teams – there’s no real advantage.”
Both teams will show changes from last year’s duel. Niall Kelly has returned from injury for Errigal and Ciaran McGinley, who had stepped away from the panel last year, has returned and the likes of Odhran Robinson has broken into the side and making an impact.
For Trillick, Mattie Donnelly, Damien Kelly and Michael Gallagher – all injured last season – have returned and are competing for places in Jody Gormley’s starting line-up.
“Mattie needs no introduction,” says Quinn.
“You know the impact he’ll have and Mickey Gallagher as well. I played Tyrone U20s with him and he’s a class player too.
“Anybody can beat anybody on any day in the Tyrone championship.
“It could go right down to the finishing line so if we’re in it with a couple of minutes to go we’ll always fancy ourselves. But we’re under no illusions about the opposition we’re up against. I’m just excited to be involved in it.”
IT’S now 10 years since Omagh St Enda’s were the last Tyrone champions to make it to the final of the Ulster Club Senior Championship and 22 years since Errigal were the last Red Hand representatives to win it.
It’s half-a-century since Trillick made their only appearance in the provincial decider but both of this year’s finalists have the personnel to make an impact in this year’s Ulster series.
After that their players can turn their attention to the county scene and, after the appointment of new manager Malachy O’Rourke – a man who knows all about success at club level - Quinn says these are exciting times in Tyrone football.
“I haven’t had the pleasure of speaking to Malachy yet,” he said.
“Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll start getting the ball rolling. When you look at his track record it speaks for itself and I know there’s a lot of excitement in Tyrone since he took over as manager.
“With all the rule changes everything is a wee bit up in the air but it’s definitely an exciting time to be involved with Tyrone football and I’m excited to get stuck into it.
“Hopefully I’ll get better luck with the injuries and get back into the team. That’s the plan anyway.”
As for the Football Review Committee’s proposals. They would certainly impact an attacking man-marker like Quinn and, after watching the inter-provincials games trial them last weekend, he admits he has some reservations.
“It is a change-up,” he says.
“I like to get forward a bit and now I might feel like I’m a bit hand-cuffed. It’s hard to know unless you’ve played in it and, even after the inter-pro games last weekend, it’s hard to know what it’s really going to be like.
“Personally I wasn’t just 100 per cent sure but we’ll see what happens.”
He’ll get Friday night under his belt before he worries about that.
