Meenagh involvement offers “strange dynamic” says Rooney

By Shaun Casey

ROAMING Kilcoo defender Micéal Rooney says Ciarán Meenagh’s involvement with Loughmacrory offers “a strange dynamic” after the Tyrone native spent two seasons as Down coach under Conor Laverty.

Meenagh has been appointed as Derry manager for the upcoming season but has a good insight into the Kilcoo changing room having coached Rooney and a number of his teammates at county level.

Meenagh helped lead his home club Loughmacrory to a first ever Tyrone SFC title and their prize is a first-round showdown with the Magpies this Saturday. “It’s a strange dynamic and you probably don’t expect it to happen,” Rooney said of coming up against Meenagh.

“We had a couple of good years with Ciarán when he was with Down. Thomas Mallon, Loughmacrory’s goalkeeping coach, and Aaron Bradley the S&C coach, were also involved last year.

“There’s not too many men you meet who love Gaelic Football as much as Ciarán and that’s probably why him and Lav (Laverty) struck it off so well in the last couple of years.

“He’s very meticulous in his planning and we saw that for ourselves, so that’s a dynamic that will be involved in the game, but we’ll be focusing on ourselves.

“I’m sure Ciarán will have things up his sleeve that he’ll want the Loughmacrory boys to do, but we can just bring what we can bring and hopefully that’s enough on the day.

“He knows us very, very well and we know him quite well so it’s a nice wee dynamic, but we’ll just be focusing on what we can improve on from the final. As good a performance as it was, there’s still areas we’d like to get that wee bit better.”

Kilcoo are much more experienced on the Ulster scene having reached three of the last four championship finals, although they haven’t got their hands on the Seamus McFerran Cup since 2021.

Asked the goal this season in the provincial series, Rooney insists Kilcoo, who lost last year’s decider to Errigal Ciaran by a single point, won’t look past the first round. “Win the first game,” he added.

“We’re lucky to have been in Ulster a few years now and I think if you look by the first game then you’re going to get caught. The Tyrone championship isn’t easy to get out of, and we learned that when we played Errigal last year.

“Then obviously watching Loughmacrory this year, they’re a good outfit so we’re under no illusions about the task that we have ahead of us. It’s about getting a result in that first game and putting your best foot forward.

“It’s a real interesting game and it’s one we’re really looking forward to. We went a few years without playing a a Tyrone representative, and this will be two in two years.

“We’re really looking forward to it, and we’re focused on what we can improve on from the final. Then we’ll look at Loughmacrory and their threats and they have a lot of them.”