Errigal Ciaran build towards championship

By Alan Rodgers

STRONG form in the Tyrone All-County Leagues at this time of year is usually viewed as a positive pointer for clubs as the countdown really gets underway to the business end of the season with the start of the club championships.

Aside from the promotion and relegation battles, the key aim in these later rounds is probably to set in place building blocks for what it is hoped will be a prolonged knock-out run.

Last weekend marked the end of the inter-county season with the camogie finals. Now the full focus is on the domestic scenes, especially with the county players returning to their clubs anxious to make as big an impact as possible after Tyrone’s run to the All-Ireland semi-final.

It’s a point that will be highlighted regularly in the coming weeks, and one of those to acknowledge the return to nearly full-strength is joint-Errigal Ciaran manager, Stephen Quinn. They defeated Killyclogher to move into second place in the Division One table, behind one of their rivals for this year’s O’Neill Cup, Trillick, who are top with two points to spare.

“These league games are a perfect build-up to the championship. With the county boys all back now for everyone, and holidays coming to an end, teams are now focusing in on the championship,” he said.

“The league games over the next four or five weeks are going to be intense. You’ve seen the results this week – Carrickmore and Loughmacrory seemed to be a cracker – and teams are going to be building and the pace is going to be rising.

“It’s good to be involved because these tests are good. We have Dromore, Dungannon, Galbally, Moortown and Gortin coming up, so there are plenty of important tests.

“Killyclogher have been winning championships and being in the reckoning these last 10 or 12 years. They are always a team that you’d be wary off and looking out for. They’re one of a number of teams in Division One with the credentials to win.

“But it’s the league which matters now and there’s a few injuries to be sorted out. We have both tough matches in the first round, so there’ll be big, big tasks.”

Their clash on Friday night was a real clinker. A rip-roaring contest decided by Peter Harte’s winning two-point score with the very last kick.

Both will look for improvements as they complete their respective league campaigns. Errigal are still in the hunt for the title, while Killyclogher are building, safe in a mid-table position.

“We had a finish to this game which was a bit mad alright what with the Killyclogher goal and then Peter Harte’s two-pointer,” he said.

“Killyclogher looked to have won it with the goal that they got near the end. The way that they had played in the second half meant we couldn’t have argued. But our boys got the ball up the field, won possession and then Peter got a wonder-score to win it really.

“Killyclogher played very well in the second half. They pushed up well on the kick-outs, they made it hard for us to get out of midfield and our lads were struggling to get out with the ball and get scores. I think we only got a point in 20 minutes or half an hour.

“But we dug in, got a few scores towards the end to get us through. We were probably fortunate in two of the goals that we got in the first half as well.”