Connollys of Moy Tyrone Senior Football Championship final: St Macartan’s Trillick v Errigal Ciaran (Friday, O’Neills Healy Park, 7.30pm)
THERE are no dynasties in Tyrone. Every club starts the championship at the bottom of the slippery ladder and has to work their way to the top.
The knockout format means that 10 bad minutes in a game can be enough to end a season so only the best, most disciplined and consistent will survive.
It’s 19 seasons now (2005) since Carrickmore became the last club to retain the O’Neill Cup and since then Errigal Ciaran (3), Clonoe (2), Dromore (3), Coalisland (2), Omagh (2), Trillick (3) and Killyclogher and Dungannon (one each) have taken turns to become champions.
This year’s finalists have been top dogs in the last two seasons and this is the first repeat final pairing since 2002 and 2003 when Killyclogher and Errigal took turns to win the title.
Trillick were underdogs going into last year’s decider but after Ciaran Daly’s goal, Jody Gormley’s side seemed to be on the road to victory. However, defending champions Errigal saved their skins and came from four down with 10 minutes to go to force extra-time.
They had the momentum to go on and win but Trillick dug in and came out with a three-point win at the final whistle. When you factor in that the St Macartan’s team was without it’s talisman Mattie Donnelly as well as the also injured Niall Kelly and Michael Gallagher, that was a mighty impressive result.
All three are fit and firing now and they have played their parts in another excellent campaign for Trillick who have rallied behind their clubman Gormley who has recovered so well after the shock of suffering a stroke during the summer.
Their form has been impressive throughout this campaign. It began with an eight-point win against Eglish and since then Trillick, with Rory Brennan and Peter McCaughey marshalling their defence, have held Ardboe and Dungannon to single-figure scores.
Their performance against Dungannon was particularly impressive. They barely put a foot wrong that night and laid down a marker with a dozen points in the second half to win by 10.
Last year’s result and this year’s league draw shows how little there is between the teams. While they may not have the fluent form of Trillick behind them, Errigal have shown the character to dig in and scrap it out when they’ve had to.
Pomeroy gave them a game of it in the first round and then Clonoe forced a replay in round two. Enda McGinley’s side came through it with a three-point win and for periods of their semi-final against Killyclogher it seemed they would ease into their third final in as many years with few alarms.
But this is Tyrone. There are always alarms.
Killyclogher’s physical threat caused the Errigal defence problems and a penalty from Mark Bradley (he also missed one) and a goal from Oisin McCann levelled the game in injury-time.
But Errigal showcased their quality and strength-in-depth when Peter Harte, who’d got on the end of a brilliant flowing move to score their first half goal, popped up on the left to stroke home the winner.
Darragh Canavan was forced off with a shoulder injury in that game but is expected to play a part. His creativity and scores will be crucial, as will those of his brother Ruairi who was well marked by Daniel Donnelly in last year’s decider.
Trillick have their firepower too in the likes of James Garrity and Lee Brennan and both sides are coming down with current or former Tyrone senior and underage All-Ireland winners.
This is a game that will ebb and flow. Trillick start favourites, but in Tyrone nothing comes easy.
Paths to the final
Errigal Ciaran
Semi-final: Errigal Ciaran 1-12 Killyclogher 2-8
Quarter-final replay: Errigal Ciaran 0-14 Clonoe 0-11
Quarter-final: Errigal Ciaran 2-9 Clonoe 2-9
Round one: Errigal Ciaran 0-13 Pomeroy 2-4
Trillick
Semi-final: Trillick 0-17 Dungannon 0-7
Quarter-final: Trillick 1-8 Ardboe 0-9
Round one: Trillick 1-17 Eglish 1-9
