The sharp turnaround is no issue says McCullagh

By Niall Gartland

ACE Loughmacrory forward Ruairi McCullagh has vowed that they’ll be ready for Sunday’s Senior Championship showdown against Trillick.

Not only is it their maiden final appearance with all the bells and whistles that entails, but they face a truncated lead-up after their semi-final win over Carrickmore necessitated a replay.

But speaking in the direct aftermath of Friday’s dramatic win over Carmen, McCullagh struck a confident note when assessing the turnaround factor.

“We obviously know all about Trillick and the experience in their team, they’re a great side, so we just have to get our heads down.

“There’s a nine-day turnaround, but it’s plenty of time for us to get ready. We showed that in the replay against Carrickmore, dealing with a five-day turnaround, so we’re definitely going to be ready.”

McCullagh has deservedly made a name for himself as one of the best attacking prospects in Tyrone. He played a leading role for the Omagh CBS team that clinched back-to-back MacRory Cup and Hogan Cup titles in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, swiftly followed by national honours for the Tyrone U20s in 2024 and 2025.

Loughmacrory is where it all began, and he was the hero of the hour last Friday night, setting aside a penalty miss to nail an injury-time two-pointer to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat – all in the space of a few minutes.

“I think I owed them it after missing that penalty!

“It’s a great feeling when you know you’re in the final, it’s a great sense of relief, but in that moment I was just focused on getting the ball over the bar.

“That’s my job at the end of the day, helping the team and now we’re in the final we can enjoy it together.”

Sunday is the biggest day in the club’s history and McCullagh says it’s the product of years of hard work at underage level in particular. He also praised the influence of the management team spearheaded by Marty Boyle.

“You could go back to the team of Aodhan Donaghy, Logey (Colm Logue), Cathaoir Gallagher, that was probably the first Grade One team we had on this journey. You can see now that they’re leaders in the pack.

“We’ve been getting through two or three lads a year and we’ve a great management team, Marty [Boyle] is at the wheel and all the backroom team, it’s an unbelievable set-up.”