Trillick boss Gormley relishing latest challenge

By Niall Gartland

A STACKED Scotstown side stand in Trillick’s way of a place in the Ulster Senior Championship final, but Jody Gormley says his players are relishing the prospect of having a crack at the Monaghan titans.

These two teams met back in the provincial arena back in 2015 with Scotstown prevailing in a highly entertaining contest on a scoreline of 2-9 to 2-7.

That particular match probably doesn’t court much relevance at this stage, but it’d certainly be no surprise if there’s little to separate the two teams again when they meet on Sunday afternoon at the Athletic Grounds.

Scotstown claimed a dramatic late win over Kilcoo in their quarter-final meeting a fortnight ago and they can call on players of the pedigree of Rory Beggan, the Hughes brothers (Darren and Kieran), Conor McCarthy, named as an All-Star at last Friday evening’s ceremony in Dublin, Ryan O’Toole, who shot down Tyrone with an audacious goal in their Ulster Championship meeting, and Jack McCarron, who controversially transferred into the club at the start of the season. All county players, by the way.

But while Gormley certainly respects what Scotstown bring to the party, Trillick are here on merit and have plenty of talented individual players in their own right.

“Scotstown have a lot of well-established county players, but another way of looking at it, is that maybe half of our team are county players in the making.

“When you look at the challenges our team have faced up to this point, they’ve come up against well-established, decorated county players, and they’ve managed it well.”

Elaborating on the Scotstown threat, Gormley said: “There’s no doubt that Scotstown have a very strong tradition.

“They’ve been the dominant force in Monaghan for a significant period of time. That’s the type of thing we aspire to. They’ll see themselves as strong contenders for Ulster off the back of their win over Kilcoo and there’s no doubt that we will treat them with total respect and prepare accordingly for the game.”

Trillick are bidding to reach the Ulster Senior Championship final for the second time in their history. They made the final in the relatively early days of the competition, back in 1974, where they fell narrowly short against a Clan na Gael (Armagh) team that clinched the three in-the-row in the process.

They booked their spot in this year’s semi-finals with a five-point win over Crossmaglen, a match that was broadcast live on RTÉ. Sunday’s game against Scotstown will be televised on TG4 and Gormley feels that club football at this level is sometimes too readily disparaged by those who should know better.

“It’s a good thing it’s on TV, but I’m not really sure whether all the people out there fully appreciate the quality on offer, and the skill and tactical ability of these players.

“By the end of the season I’d be hopeful a few more of these players will be well known outside Tyrone.”