IT’S not the final that any keen student of Tyrone club football would have predicted at the start of the season.
A team that wasn’t even playing senior football this time last year will battle it out for the O’Neill Cup against another which cannot claim to be one of the county’s big guns, despite its status as Division One champions.
Former greats Trillick have endured lean times over the past three decades, but they are on the verge of a fairytale return to Red Hand supremacy.
Killyclogher’s involvement in tomorrow’s Donnelly Vauxhall SFC decider is less surprising. They have been knocking on the door for a few seasons now, and last year’s league success took them another step along the path they have chosen.
Neither side can be accused of reaching the Healy Park showpiece on anything other than merit.
Killyclogher scored a semi-final win over Dromore side that had knocked out reigning champions Omagh, while newly-promoted Trillick scored a resounding victory over a strongly fancied Coalisland outfit.
Killyclogher will build their offensive game around the energy and drive of the McCann brothers, Tiernan and Conall, with the aim of feeding exciting attacker Mark Bradley in the scoring zone.
They have a vastly experienced defence, with former Tyrone players Dermot Carlin and Martin Swift combining on a solid unit with Eoghan Bradley and Gary Wallace.
Trillick’s defence has been improving with every game, with All-Ireland U21 winner Rory Brennan at its heart, and along with Ruairi Kelly and Niall Donnelly, he will set up to counter the additional scoring threat posed by Leo Meenan and James Carlin.
With the Donnelly brothers, Mattie and Richie, providing a strong and mobile presence around midfield, the St Macartan’s will look to establish a platform in the middle third.
And given a sufficient supply of quality ball, front men Niall Gormley, Dara Gallagher and the championship’s top scorer, teenager Lee Brennan, can punish the St Mary’s.
Trillick manager Nigel Seaney feels that while the club is in bonus territory, he has a group of players capable of going all the way.
“From our point of view, we’re just glad to be there. We’ve decided to take small steps, looking to improve, and this is where it has got us so far,” he said. “Marquee names, because of the quality of them, will always stand out, but this is a good side, they’re good players.
“The future of the club is bright, right up from the grass roots, and you see the way those boys are applying themselves at the minute. It’s very positive at the minute, certainly.”
And he feels his players can deal with the pressure of the occasion against a highly rated Killyclogher team.
“They’re a good side, a good club, and we know we’re up against it.
“Pressure is pressure. Performance is more important than pressure. If the performance comes, generally the pressure doesn’t come into it.”
Meanwhile, All-Ireland U21 winning attacker Mark Bradley was a nine-year-old Killyclogher fan, perched on the concrete steps where the Healy Park stand now sits, when the club won its one and only SFC title in 2003.
“Club is what it’s all about at the end of the day. That’s where you grew up. Memories of ’03, doing the parade around the pitch will be a mighty buzz. The bunting is up, and for the whole community, it’s great,” he said.
Now a Tyrone senior star, he is the man Trillick need to curtail, but Bradley insists that there are many other attacking strings to the Killyclogher bow.
“We have numerous good forwards in the team, and they all get the same attention. It doesn’t matter who you play, you just have to try and get the better of your opponent.
“That’s the way the whole team sets out, to win the wee battles.
“To get past Dromore was the main goal, and to get into the final is something different.”
Bradley has been impressed with the way Trillick have steered a confident and fearless course to the decider.
“We were up seeing Trillick, and they were flying, and they got past a really solid Coalisland team, who are pushing for league positions now.
“The likes of Mattie, Richie, wee Lee, Rory, the whole lot of them are just peaking at the right time, so it’s going to be very tough.
“We have a lot to improve on. In the second half of the Dromore game, we completely faded away, and were very luck to get through in the end-up. Dromore could have snatched it at the end.”
