Ruairi Keenan’s joy as Gortin finally end the wait

A SERIES of strong challenges for promotion during recent seasons finally yielded the perfect dividend for Gortin who are now looking forward to the prospect of senior football again for the first time in nearly two decades.

Rarely has a Tyrone All-County League campaign finished as strongly as the St Patrick’s finished up last weekend.

At shortly after 4.30pm, Tyrone CCC official John Devlin was parked up in Coalisland receiving updates from both Gortin’s clash against Moy and the meeting of Rock and Moortown.

The St Malachy’s won their match by four points, leaving them top of the table and potential champions as Gortin sought to pull back a three-point deficit against the wind.

Then, deep in added time, a foul on Liam Og Mossey resulted in a penalty which was confidently dispatched to the net to give them the lead.

A late equaliser from Moy made no difference as the draw ensured the one point that Gortin needed to clinch the title and promotion. Moments later the final whistle sounded and the players, management and supporters from Gortin could hardly believe what they had just witnessed.

Among them was long-serving campaigner Ruairi Keenan. As an up and coming teenager, he was on the last Gortin team to play in senior football. Now, some 17 years later, he’s looking forward to once again lining out against the top teams in the county.

“I never saw a finished like it on Sunday. Moy were ahead, and we had scuppered a few attacks.

“You maybe felt the air going out of it a wee bit and the game just coming to a natural end. I suppose they maybe tried to keep the ball and we got in and Liam Og (Mossey) went down and Sean (Hurson) gave the penalty which was the correct decision,” he said.

“This year maybe sums it up with them younger boys carrying the likes of me. They have given us a great injection of enthusiasm and attitude and obviously they bring a lot of quality as well.

“I knew OB (Odhran Brolly) stepping up and taking that penalty that he would score. I was glad to see him stepping up and cracking that one into the net.

“This win means so much for us. Chances like this don’t come around too often and it’s just absolutely amazing that we were able to take advantage of it. It just means everything.”

Gortin’s fluctuating fortunes have highlighted their determination to succeed. After coming close to promotion in 2022, the one-point games went against them in 2023. Then, all that changed again in 2024 and a series of narrow victories made a huge difference for them.

Team captain Ciaran Brolly received the Arthur Mallon Cup afterwards, and the celebrations in Gortin could start in earnest as they returned to the village on Sunday evening.

“Every club’s history is the culmination of what has gone before. We haven’t won anything since 2003 and, yes there have been notable results here and there and we have maybe punched above our weight,” Keenan added.

“I have to mention our management team and the club people who have worked so hard with this team.

“After last year, it would have been very easy to think we weren’t going anywhere. But they saw what we saw and we did a serious body of work, got a good start in the week and kept going.”