Frank Burns is looking forward to the freedom of exploring unknown territory in the Ulster Club IFC, but a few familiar faces will greet the Tyrone star when his Pomeroy side faces Cullyhanna in Saturday’s quarter-final.
Armagh aces Aidan Nugent, Jason Duffy and Ross McQuillan have been central to their club’s march the county title, and while the Plunkett’s have their own big-name players in former Footballer of the Year Kieran McGeary and his brother Hugh Pat, Burns sees the Orchard side as the team to beat in this year’s title race.
“Cullyhanna are a very strong side, a senior side in Armagh who went down last year and have come straight back up. Look, they're a very strong team but we're no bad side either, so it'll make for a good game,” he said.
“We're not thinking any further than Cullyhanna because they're arguably the best team in this club championship by the sounds of it.”
All-Ireland triumph in 2021 was a career highlight, but closer to the heart was the club’s championship success a couple of weeks ago.
Burns glowed with pride and captured the special community spirit in a rousing victory speech as he took delivery of the Paddy Cullen Cup as captain of his home town team.
“It was unbelievable, it still hasn't sunk in to be honest.
“You can't beat winning with the club, the boys you grew up with, that you have played with for years, going back to the community and there's not one person not smiling, the lift it gives everyone. Anything to give everybody a lift is unbelievable.”
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Now Pomeroy are back in the provincial mix, having won the Ulster IFC title twice previously, in 2004 and more recently in 2016, with a team featuring many members of the current squad.
“We'd a good run through Ulster in 2016 and got beaten in an All-Ireland semi-final. We've played in it before and there's no easy teams in an Ulster Club Championship and this is going to be no different.
“I'm a bit older now and have been made captain this year so that was different too, lifting the cup was special.
“It would've of course be nice to go further, that would be a fairytale ending but again we never look past any game.”
The Plunkett’s will return to senior football in Tyrone in 2024, following a two-year absence, with a plan in place to re-establish the club as a force at the top level and secure its future in the long term.
“Absolutely, that's the plan, we've been up before and back down and it's happened too much. The target is to establish yourself as a proper senior side.
“We went up and probably had a bit of momentum with us, the confidence you get out of winning an Intermediate title is massive, gives players such a boost and such confidence and you carry that into the next year.
“As you see that Tyrone Senior Championship, anybody can win it, there's 10 teams in Division One that can win it any year.”
