NIALL Sludden won a Celtic Cross in September but winning the championship with his club Dromore would trump being part of Tyrone’s All-Ireland success.
Sludden set the standards on Saturday night as Dromore won a see-saw encounter with favourites Trillick by two points and now the St Dympna’s side return to the Tyrone final for the first time since 2012.
Coalisland Na Fianna, champions in 2018, will be their opponents in the decider and Sludden says winning on November 21 would mean more to him than being part of what the Red Hands achieved when they beat Mayo to capture the Sam Maguire.
“It definitely would,” he said.
“Of course winning the All-Ireland was amazing but the club is the club, that’s where I grew up. I was lucky to be part of a championship win with the club in 2011 and it’s a long time ago now so I want these boys to get over the line this year as well.”
Sludden’s experience has been vital throughout a championship run that saw Dromore dethrone reigning champions Dungannon as well as Ardboe and Eglish. He says he had a smooth transition from county back to club after being part of Tyrone’s unexpected success.
“It took me a wee bit of time just trying to get up to it but at the end of the day it’s the same key principles of hard work and integrating into group and everybody playing for each other,” he said.
“I love playing for my club and at my age now you can’t get too many more years and chances and county finals and semi-finals don’t come about too often and I’ll be reminding these players about that too.”
Saturday night’s semi-final was a breathless, end-to-end affair at Healy Park. Dromore raced into a seven-point lead but were two points behind at half-time. Trillick extended their lead to five but Colm McCullough’s men dominated the closing stages and won 0-17 to 2-9.
“It’s hard when a team gets momentum and in the second half they got ahead by five points but we just kept chipping over the points and we went into the water break three down and I thought near the end that there was only going to be one team that was going to win it,” said Sludden.
“We were jumping on the balls, we were hungry for everything, making blocks… That made the difference.
“I think we know how good we are as a team and we’re a very young team, we’re still building and progressing but there’s a lot of older heads like myself around trying to keep things right too. We’re getting there, we’re not the finished article just yet.”
Amid all the delight after the game, Sludden was quick to point out that the biggest test has yet to come for Dromore. Coalisland, champions in 2018, hit three goals in six second half minutes to stun favourites Errigal Ciaran on Sunday.
“It’s massive to beat Trillick but we need to remind ourselves that we’ve nothing won,” he said.
“But is important to enjoy these moments, especially coming into a game where we were written off a lot. Winning this will give the boys a lot of confidence, there are so many good teams in this county and I’m ready proud of the younger players who stepped up today, we had a few injuries and a lot of boys came off the bench.
“It has always been about the collective and it always will be and in the last couple of games it has taken everybody for us to get over the line. Trillick have been the mainstays and we want to get up to that level and I think we proved that we can do that.”
