OMAGH u-21 captain Shane O’Neill has revealed that losing the 2010 Ulster Club u-21 final left a bitter taste in the collective mouths of the St Enda’s players, and they have used that as motivation to get back to the provincial competition.
Omagh met Burren in the first ever final of the Creggan-organised competition but lost 1-14 to 1-11, in a game which one of their key players Ronan O’Neill had to be carried off on a stretcher due to a head injury.
“We haven’t addressed it as a team, but it would have been at the back of our minds," the captain said.
“I would say that those who were involved that that day left the game with a bitter taste in their mouths, particularly after what happened to Ronan, and we also felt that we were a bit hard done by.
“Last year, a lot of us were focused on getting back to the final so we could get another go at Burren. But we missed out, we felt we could, and perhaps should have won,” O’Neill said. “So last year was a big disappointment.”
Now they are back, the new disappointment is that Burren have not reached the Ulster series, as Mayobridge are the Down representatives. The opportunity to exact revenge will have to wait for another day.
Notwithstanding Burren’s absence, O’Neill says that they are eager to win, and despite the defeat to Burren in 2010, they can draw some positives from that experience.
“I wouldn’t say that we have an advantage, but we are going into the competition having been there before. We know what it is going to be like.”
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