Football

TYRONE SFC: Ardboe boss Paul Rouse returns to face former charges Dromore

Dromore defender Niall Sludden 
Dromore defender Niall Sludden  Dromore defender Niall Sludden 

PAUL Rouse should have all the angles covered.

Last season he was a member of the Dromore management team, but now he’s in charge of Ardboe.

The two clubs meet in Sunday’s Donnelly Vauxhall Tyrone SFC quarter-final, and the Rossa boss will carry some valuable insights on to the sideline.

Despite his in-depth knowledge of the opposition, his Ardboe team goes into the Plunkett Park tie as underdogs, but Dromore boss Ciaran Meenagh feels Rouse gives the lough shore men a distinct advantage, thanks to his time spent at Gardrum Park.

“You have the Paul Rouse factor, with Paul taking Dromore last year, so he will know them inside-out,” said Meenagh.

“It’s a very interesting fixture, and one that we will need to be at our very best for if we want to get through it.”

Meenagh has been aware for several months of the likelihood his side would be facing Ardboe in the last eight, due to the structure of the draw. So he has been carrying out as much research as possible in preparation for the tactical battle that will unfold at Pomeroy this weekend.

“We have watched them a lot, and we feel we’re in for a real battle, but we’re looking forward to it," he said.

“They’re very consistent and they’re greater than the sum of their parts. They have been behind in a lot of games this year, and they have snatched draws and snatched wins.

“That doesn’t happen by accident. They’re a team with a lot of good character. We beat them by two points in the league, and we were lucky to beat them that day.”

Ardboe scored a nine-point victory over Edendork in the first round, while Dromore eclipsed Strabane by 19 points.

In keeping a clean sheet, the St Dympna’s maintained an impressive defensive record, their system built around Tyrone stars Cathal McCarron, Ronan McNabb, Niall Sludden and treble All-Ireland winner Ryan McMenamin.

“That’s the most important thing, the fact that we conceded no goals and that we only conceded six points,” he said.

“We have three of Tyrone’s defenders there, so we would like to keep the back door shut and keep it nice and tight at the back, and we have good enough players at the other end of the field to hopefully score for us.”

Meenagh is somewhat concerned that his side has yet to be tested in championship football this year, and had Strabane beaten long before the interval in the opening round.

He added; “It was a lose-lose scenario, we were expected to win, and it’s never a nice way to go into a game.

“It was a good professional job, the game was more or less over at half-time, it was just a matter of getting through it with no injuries, and blooding another couple of young lads there that hopefully we’ll be using as we move in to the next game.

“So we were a wee bit worried.We watched them against Clonoe, and we knew they played very defensively. Clonoe scored a late goal and Clonoe are a very good team. We were aware that they were going to play a lot of men behind the ball, and when they did get their hands on the ball, they were good at keeping the ball.

“We intended to go for the jugular, we intended to push up on kick-outs, we intended not to leave men sitting back, because the longer Strabane would stay in the game, the more dangerous they would be, they would be confident, they would get their tails up."