Garrity glad to end season on high note

By Barry O’Donnell

TRILLICK attacker James Garrity stated that the team couldn’t wait to get back out onto the field quickly enough to banish the painful memories of their Tyrone Senior Championship final loss as they claimed Division One honours.

The 25-year-old scored a screamer of a goal as the Reds put Dungannon to the sword at Carrickmore last Sunday, storming to a 1-7 to 0-7 victory in the league decider to seal a third league crown in four seasons.

The St Macartan’s were afforded little time to lick their wounds after losing narrowly to Loughmacrory in the championship showdown seven days earlier, but Garrity insisted that nobody in the camp viewed the league fixture with the Clarkes as a chore.

“Instead of having to wait six months and having that bad taste in the mouth after losing the championship final, at least we have taken a positive step in the right direction again by rounding off the year with some silverware.

“We were lucky to have this week turnaround and to have the opportunity to get another competitive game so quickly with another trophy on the line.

“I’d say we would have heard a few choice words if we got to two finals in a week and lost both of them. But if you were given the chance to play in two finals at the start of the year you’d take it every time. We were happy in that regard and obviously happy to get the win.”

Garrity put the issue beyond doubt with that superb individual goal in the 53rd minute but on the day 11 different players got on the scoresheet for the victors. The player felt that breadth of scorers spoke volumes for the hard work they put in on the training pitch.

“Scores came from all over the pitch so everyone weighed in, which was great. You have to give credit for that to our management, we do put in a lot of practice at long-range shooting and going for goal when we get a chance so that all doesn’t happen by luck. It’s down to hard work at training.”

Garrity maintained that there was never any likelihood of Trillick going into the final feeling sorry for themselves after seeing their O’Neill Cup dreams dashed at the last hurdle two years running.

“There is a big difference after the final whistle today compared to last week. It’s not the same obviously as the championship, it’s the big one, but it’s the next competition and is there to be won.

“You could ask anyone over the years how it feels to lose a championship final and they would give you the same answer.

“You just don’t like that feeling to be on the wrong end of it but unfortunately somebody has to be and that has been us over the last couple of seasons.

“Fair dues to the lads we had the hunger and motivation to go back out there in the league final and put in the effort and performance to come out on the right end of it. We felt we righted a lot of wrongs from last week.

“When we heard the fixture was being put in for this weekend we just were happy to grab the chance with both hands and get back out there. I don’t think waiting around an extra week would have done us any good. We were back at training during the week and banged our heads together again.”