THE supposedly impossible dream is a step closer, just one step away. Holders Errigal Ciaran are back in the Tyrone SFC Final, against Trillick, and aiming to become the first club to retain the O’Neill Cup since 2005.
When mention is made of that 18-year gap to Errigal Ciaran joint-manager Adrian O’Donnell he deals with it as he does all queries – coolly, calmly:
“I suppose it’s something that’s there. But it’s not something that we have discussed or focused in on.
“It’s training session by training session, game by game. We’re back out for our next collective training session on Tuesday, and we’ll be doing all that we can to prepare as best we possibly can for Trillick.”
Their preparations for their semi-final against Ardboe had clearly been superb. Errigal destroyed the loughshore men by that precise number of points, 18, running out
[ 2-19 to 0-7 victorsOpens in new window ]
after racking up a 14-point half-time advantage, 1-14 to 0-3.
That performance will obviously add to the expectation that the trophy will remain at the Ballygawley club for another year. However, O’Donnell insists that the ‘favourites’ tag doesn’t bother him or his players, pointing out that they’ve been carrying it all season:
“The tag of favourites, we may well be, but I think for the games that we have played to date in this Championship, that tag has come along with this.
“It’s not something that we discuss or get too weighted down by, we just try to be the best that we can be and play together in as strong a team unit as we possibly can any day that we put on a team jersey.
“When we get back on to the training ground, we’ll just prepare as best we can. We need to see how we are injuries-wise.”
On the plus side in that respect, Errigal were able to coast through that semi-final second half at Carrickmore on Saturday afternoon, even taking both Canavan brothers, Darragh and Ruairi, off before the end.
Yet they showed no signs of complacency despite their massive lead, and their approach pleased O’Donnell in what often can be tricky circumstances: “That’s one thing about our second half performance, that we continued as best we could to do the things that put us in that very position.
“We were respectful, we moved the ball, we tried to keep it out of contact as best we could, and we’re just glad to get through.”
Those two Canavans in particular were superb, with Darragh named ‘Man of the Match’ after scoring 0-5 while Ruairi was a creative spark throughout, giving an exhibition of kick-passing.
Still, O’Donnell focussed on the collective display, saying: “We had lots of good performances. Their work-rate comes first, their ability and their willingness to tackle, and the finishing is secondary to that.
“Darragh did put the ball between the posts a lot, and we’re delighted with that, but we’re delighted with the moves that led to giving him the best opportunity to finish.”
The only time the serious post-match mask slipped off O’Donnell’s face was when he was asked if he’d watched the first semi-final, on Friday night, when Trillick impressively disposed of 2020 champions Dungannon Clarke’s. A slight smile played across his lips and he said:
“The other semi-final was on before ours, and our only focus and our sole focus, as it has been this last two weeks, was on being the best version of ourselves, and one that could give us the best possible chance of beating Ardboe.
“That was all that our focus was. We didn’t take into account what happened [there] but…we’ll begin to do that.”
Errigal Ciaran will of course remember the Reds of Trillick defeating them in the 2019 decider… Yet if any team can end the long wait for back-to-back triumphs in Tyrone, the Ballygawley men look capable of doing so.
