Augher bidding for derby victory

By Niall Gartland

AUGHER defied expectations by pushing Cookstown right to the pin of their collar in last season’s Tyrone Junior Championship quarter-final, and they’ll no doubt draw on that experience after an underwhelming league campaign. The Clogher Valley side finished second-from-bottom in Division Three and will face a promotion/relegation play-off match later in the season unless they embark on a memorable championship run and get their hands on the Pat Darcy Cup.

Captaining the team is Odhran McGinn, who is back in the fold this season after spending 2025 in Liverpool. He acknowledges it wasn’t easy playing a supporter role in last season’s quarter-final against Cookstown, a game that was only settled in the closing stages.

“I remember watching it, it was a great game and it did give me a bit of bite to come back this year. That game did show what we were capable of, we put it up to a highly rated team and hopefully we can produce the same type of performances this year. It’s great to be back playing for the lads, it’s a good set-up and very enjoyable to be a part of.

First in the pipeline for the second year running is Eskra, whom they face in Saturday’s Junior Championship preliminary round in Clogher. Augher emerged victorious this time last season, but on paper there isn’t much between the two teams. It’s also their second match in a week – they met in the final round of the league last weekend with Augher prevailing on that occasion on a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-12.

“It’s good to be pitted against the neighbours, it always adds a bit of spice. We actually met them on Friday past in our last game of the league, even though some lads were saved for championship, it was still an intense game with both teams getting stuck in. I’m sure there’ll be no love lost when we meet again on Friday.”

Reflecting on the overall picture at Augher ahead of the championship he said: “There are some good young lads coming through.

“We had a representative on the Tyrone minors this year with Conall Shevlin. Any youth coming through at a small club like ourselves is a massive help. You do need it and it’s very encouraging to see.”