Murtagh hoping Naomh Eoghan can push on

By Tommy Nethery

SEAN Murtagh is hoping that his Naomh Eoghan players can kick on in the second half of the league campaign after recording back-to-back victories in the space of just three days.

On Friday evening they defeated basement boys Drumragh 0-13 to 2-5 at Newtownstewart. That victory came hot on the heels of a 1-17 to 2-13 win at Beragh Red Knights the previous Tuesday.

Those victories have propelled Naomh Eoghan into the relative safety of mid table, and, having already played most of the top teams, boss Murtagh is hoping that his players can climb further up the table in the coming weeks.

“We have a tough week this week with Moortown and Derrylaughan. But the reality is that after this week we will have played seven of the top eight teams in the league,” he said.

“There are a lot of games there. I think our biggest loss has been by four points. In pretty much every game there have been two or three points in it going into injury time. We have been pushing and going for a goal or points; it’s maybe not come off and the opposition has countered to score another point.

“We have been super competitive in all our games. The Rock game we didn’t bring our shooting boots, we missed too many chances. The Gortin game we got back level with 15 to go and we didn’t push on. Those are form teams that were at the top of the table for a reason.

“After this week we’ll have played seven of the top eight teams so we would be looking to try and push on for the rest of the league, to get the results, keep climbing the ladder and get away from the bottom teams.

“The amount of fixtures coming up it’s not going to be about getting a lot of training done. It’s going to be about managing things in terms of injuries, keeping players on the field, going through things in the match situation and gaining that momentum.

“Although it’s crazy the amount of games to be played, playing football is better than training. You can fine tune things and hopefully build that momentum for the championship as well.”

Against Drumragh, Noamh Eoghan always appeared to hold the upper hand although goals by Daniel O’Neill and Ronan Maguire kept the visitors firmly in the hunt until a late free kick by Eoin Devine killed off their challenge in the final moments.

A third win of the season means that Naomh Eoghan have now leapfrogged Clogher, Owen Roes and Fintona into 11th place in the Division Two rankings.

Reflecting on his side’s latest victory, Murtagh added, “I suppose the only disappointing thing was the goals we conceded which allowed Drumragh to stay in the game.

“But we hit 13 points, had a couple of goal chances as well, which had we taken would have massively helped.

“We probably left behind five or six points but this week was all about getting wins and that’s what the boys were able to deliver.”