By Barry O’Donnell

TRILLICK joint-manager Peter McGinnity believes that it was evident during courses of his side’s fiercely competitive league encounter with Carrickmore last Friday that the championship is just around the corner now.

The Reds went joint top of the Division One table by virtue of their 2-16 to 1-15 victory over Carmen at Donnelly Park, skipper Lee Brennan leading the scoring stakes with eight points to his name.

It was a hard earned success for the leaders, with the visitors pegging them back in the second period as they sought to pull off a come-from-behind triumph, but an audacious two-pointer from Brennan late on helped the Reds across the line.

McGinnity, who takes Trillick with Richard Thornton, was fulsome in his praise of that wonder strike and the quality on view as a whole from both teams across the hour.

“It was a game of spells, we had ours but Carrickmore had theirs too,” he said.

“It looked for a while coming down the straight that they would level it up and who knows even pull away but Lee’s two-pointer was something else. I didn’t even think it was over from where I was standing. Not many could pull that sort of score off. Lee is a bit special and Trillick are lucky to have him.

“It was a good contest and the sort of contest that you want at this time of year. You don’t get handed anything on a plate. If you make a mistake the opposition are going to punish you, and vice-versa.

“If you had dropped in out of the blue you could have been forgiven for thinking that was a championship match. There was times when it had that feel to it.”

Trillick have welcomed their healthy contingent of county men back into the fold over the past fortnight and McGinnity cautioned that a wide pool of resources will be required if teams are to successfully emerge from a busy period of matches.

“Liam (Gray) and Richie (Donnelly) aren’t back in yet but we will hope to bring those boys back in soon enough. It’s definitely a situation now where every club is looking towards the championship. So boys shouldn’t need much motivating at this stage of the season, they know that this is when things get serious.

“A line has now been drawn under the early stages of the league and that looked the case with the approach of both Trillick and Carrickmore in that game.

“There is seven matches altogether in August including a few midweek rounds. So that will be a test for everyone, including boys coming back from injury. But coming down this back straight now everybody will have managed their injuries to have the boys available. Every game will be competitive.”