Football

Kildress have nothing to lose against Coalisland in Tyrone

Padraig Hampsey (left) has settled in well to his new midfield role with Coalisland  
Padraig Hampsey (left) has settled in well to his new midfield role with Coalisland   Padraig Hampsey (left) has settled in well to his new midfield role with Coalisland  

KILDRESS go into Friday's Donnelly Vauxhall Tyrone SFC quarter-final against Coalisland with nothing to lose.

They’re struggling to avoid relegation and while a big O’Neill Cup tie provides a welcome distraction from their league woes, they face one of the county’s top sides. The Fianna displayed class and confidence in their first round dismissal of Galbally, while Kildress showed grit and determination in carving out a one-point win over fellow strugglers Augher.

Former Tyrone attacker Paddy McNeice is currently abroad, but Coalisland still managed to rack up a hefty 2-13 scoreline as they comfortably cleared the initial hurdle. Cathaoir Quinn, Dermot Thornton and Plunkett Kane were the men who bagged the scores and will prove difficult to handle at Healy Park. Skipper Niall Kerr anchors a solid defence, while Tyrone panellist Padraig Hampsey has settled well into his new midfield role.

The Wolfe Tone's have some experienced men in their forward line, including Frank McGurk and Des Treacy and they are still reliable finishers. Defenders Dean McNally and Philip McKenna are set for a busy evening, but they will not be found wanting in terms of effort.

Kildress captain Dean McNally is hoping his side will benefit from the absence of pressure: “We have nothing to lose. We’ll be the underdogs in that game and hopefully that’s when you go out and play your best football,” he said.

“It’s a different type of challenge, a different ball game altogether and we know that.”

The Wolfe Tone's dug deep to carve out a narrow one-point win over Augher in the last round, but almost kicked themselves out of it with a high wides tally: “We always seem to kick ourselves out of it, we just can’t seem to be able to finish teams off. But hopefully this will change things from here on in," McNally added.

“We knew this year was going to be tough, our main goal this year was to survive in senior football and we’ll do whatever it takes. We had great spirit, it was like a lot of games we have played this year, we have been there or thereabouts. We have a lot of experience in there but, at the same time, we need to up our game a lot.”