IT'S one of the fiercest rivalries in Tyrone club football, and another meeting of Errigal Ciaran and Carrickmore is set to bring some extra drama to this year’s championship.
These famous clubs meet in a quarter-final tie at Pomeroy on Sunday evening, the highlight of a weekend of sudden death action in the race for the O’Neill Cup.
Neither has won the title since 2012, and Carrickmore must look back as far as 2005 for their last triumph, but they still top the roll of honour.
There have been many epic championship battles between them over the past quarter of a century, during which they have met in five finals, with Errigal winning three, one of them after a replay.
There was a certain inevitability about their latest confrontation once the draw for the opening two rounds of the Donnelly Vauxhall SFC was made several months ago.
Errigal duly cruised to a first round win over Urney, and while Carmen were tested by Edendork, they called on all their guile and experience to get over the line.
“It’s a game with a lot of history behind it. It’s two teams that know each other really well,” said Joe Canavan, a member of the Errigal Ciaran management team.
“We probably haven’t had the success that we’ve had in years gone by, and I’m sure Carrickmore, after watching us, will be really looking forward to it.
“But we’ll look forward to it too, and I’m sure the whole of Tyrone will enjoy it.”
Canavan was not surprised by the manner of Carrickmore’s victory over Edendork in the first round, when they came from six points behind to carve out a two-point success.
“Everybody knows Carrickmore, and Carrickmore are never beaten until the referee blows the final whistle and you’re heading off the pitch.
“A few of their younger players showed well. They will be very happy with how they came through it, some of the performances they got. And a few of the older heads chipped in, and they got the goal from Penrose.
“So we know what’s ahead of us, it’s a huge task, a huge challenge for us, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Errigal came through their opening round tie against Urney without picking up any injuries, and approach this weekend’s derby encounter with a fully fit squad.
“Touch wood, we have everybody fit. Nearly everybody is a hundred per cent. This time last year, we were decimated, we nearly had a team on the bench that weren’t fit to play. But everything seems to be going a bit better this year, and there’s a few men that should be fit that didn’t play against Urney, so we have plenty of options.”
But Canavan was less than happy with the manner in which Errigal struggled to break down the Urney defence in the first half.
“It was typical Tyrone football and we have had a lot of so-called shocks, and the first round of the Tyrone championship is all about winning and getting over it.’’
