By Niall Gartland
THE pain of last year’s Tyrone Junior Club Championship Final defeat to Drumragh may have turned out to have been a blessing in disguise for Sperrin Óg, according to their captain Leah McGuigan.
McGuigan has lifted three trophies in a matter of weeks – the Tyrone Junior title, the Division Three league and now the Ulster Junior Championship.
These things don’t happen by chance, and McGuigan says they have given absolutely everything in their efforts to achieve redemption for last year’s defeat on county final day. And they didn’t stop there, deservedly clinching victory over Ederney in Saturday’s provincial showdown at Dunmoyle.
“Last year we knew what went wrong in the final. We weren’t fit enough on the big pitch at Healy Park, and every girl has upped it.
“After we lost that final, we just wanted to be back out on the pitch, losing only served to drive us on more.
“We knew what we needed to do, so we got back to training in November or December and have been working hard ever since.”
McGuigan lines out alongside her sister on Aimee, but she says that in general, there is a real family feel on the Sperrin Óg team. There’s also a potent blend of youth and experience, and they’ve been able to call upon half-a-dozen members of the side that surged to All-Ireland honours back in 2011.
“Six of those girls are still on the team now, and they’re the ones driving us on. We have a lot of new girls as well, and we’ll all gelled well together and it’s all come together.
“It’s been a class experience, and having my sister alongside me is great, but everyone on the team is like a sister, we’re a family and it’s such a honour to be captain.”
The Greencastle side were full value for their 0-10 to 1-5 victory over Ederney, though the concession of a penalty with 10 minutes remaining made for a nervy ending. Sperrin Óg held firm in the closing stages, however, to take the provincial prize.
“We always knew we could do it, we’ve had such belief in ourselves all year. Ederney had a good comeback in the final few minutes.
“There was only a kick of the ball between the teams in injury time, so we were just counting down the seconds until the final whistle went. We managed to get over the line and it’s just unreal.”