Teague braced for tough Carmen task

By Barry O’Donnell

HAVING suffered agonising first round losses in the past two seasons, Dromore may feel they are due a reversal in fortunes in the Tyrone Senior Championship, though the team joint-captain and current Tyrone defender Peter Teague admits there is no guarantee trend will end this Friday night.

St Dympna’s tackle An Charraig Mhor in the opening round at O’Neill’s Healy Park and find themselves cast in the role of underdogs, not a tag they have carried too often over the past two decades.

It was Carmen (2024) and then Edendork (2025) who swooped late on to quash Dromore’s dreams after a couple of pulsating first round match-ups, and Teague and his team-mates are desperate to atone for those heartbreaking defeats and return to the quarter-final stages.

Not that the Tyrone star doesn’t expect another almighty battle with the St Colmcilles in Omagh.

“Carrickmore is going to be a tough draw. They have played seriously well all year at the top of the league and have been consistent which is really impressive. They haven’t had many injuries and the team that started in the first league game is nearly the exact same team that has featured all the way through.

“You add in Lorcan McGarrity and Danny Fullerton to that mix and you have two of the top forwards in Tyrone. They will be a serious task for us but we are looking forward to it. We will knuckle down and give it our best shot.

“We are going in as underdogs and I suppose that is nice. They will be going in as favourites but I would say they will relish that. They are a Championship team and have that pedigree within Tyrone football. So they won’t be fazed coming in against Dromore. It has the makings of a really good game.”

After an indifferent start to their league campaign, albeit fielding without a raft of key men, Dromore steadied the ship and finished up in a healthy enough mid-table berth. Teague said that their sole focus over this past month has been on this O’Neill Cup showdown with Carmen.

“We were probably disappointed with our performances in the early starred rounds. We were missing quite a few experienced players as well as the Tyrone seniors and U20s

“So we weren’t happy with where we were sitting after about eight games but we turned it around in the last three or four weeks and got enough points on the board to move up the table.

“It shows how competitive the Tyrone league is at the moment. One minute you think you are in trouble and potentially be relegated and the next you win a couple of games and are only three or four points behind the leaders.

“We were in a safe enough position going into the last few games. It removed the pressure and meant you didn’t have to play lads maybe nursing a few niggles. It meant we could turn our attentions early enough towards the Championship which is the priority.”

Dromore have suffered a few serious injuries this season forcing them to give youth its fling, though in the likes of Paudie Dillon, Adrian McGurren and Brian Gallagher they have some talented young guns to call upon. Peter is impressed with how they have helped fill the void created by a list of absentees.

“Those lads are very young and there is a lot of expectation being put upon them probably due to the amount of injuries we have had over the last few years. The McNabbs, Sean and Emmet, are serious losses for us and unfortunately won’t be playing again this year.

“So by default Paudie, Brian and Adrian and those other young lads have had to step in and in fairness they have really stepped up to the plate and are playing well for us. But you have to remember they are only young cubs.

“There will be a lot of expectation placed on them coming into this Championship though they are mature enough now and have played in big games already at schools level, in Hogan Cup winning teams and so on. They have that experience already and hopefully that will help them on the big stage.”