Coalisland ready for battle

Plunkett Kane captained Coalisland to their last O’Neill Cup success in 2010

IT’S been a long six years for Coalisland’s veteran midfielder Plunkett Kane and he’s determined not to let a second senior championship medal slip through his grasp in Sunday’s county showpiece against Killyclogher.

The 31-year-old captained Na Fianna to their last county title back in 2010 as they ended a 20-year wait against Carrickmore in the final, but their failure to make it back to the decider in the intervening period reached its climax in last year’s 0-13 to 0-5 defeat against newly-promoted Trillick in the semi-final.

The celebratory scenes that greeted their richly deserved seven-point victory over the O’Rahilly’s in Sunday’s last-four replay told a tale, but it’ll count for nothing if they fall flat against Killyclogher.

Kane said, “We won a championship in 2010, a lot of the same players that were there are still here. You don’t get back into the final of the Tyrone championship easily, and any one of seven of eight teams can win it.

“That’s why it’s so competitive and so hard to win back-to-back championships – we thought we’d be in a final before 2016 but we’re here now and we’ll hopefully take the opportunity with both hands.

“Our aim at the start of the year was to try to get through a championship semi-final into the final. We lost the semi-final last year and now we’ve the job done, but we’re just into a final.”

Kane believes they have what it takes to clinch a tenth senior title on Sunday– which would bring them second on the roll of honour list alongside Dungannon.

“We know the threat they [Killyclogher] pose, they reached the championship final last year and got beaten. They’ll be looking to go one better, they’ve got exceptional players.

“But we’ve got good players too and we think if we get the match ups right we can beat anyone.

“Our overall squad is very good, it’s not just from one to 15. Having a big squad keeps everybody fresh and ticking over.

“Competition is serious for the final and we’re in a good place.”

“It’s a big event for the club and the town, you do get people coming up to you, but you’re only in a final. Our manager says that if you go down in the championship final by a point the year will be a failure, you’re judged on results and we’ll give it a rattle.

Interviews from all four camps involved in Tyrone’s Senior and Intermediate finals are available in store today or online here here.