CLONOE are the favourites for next Thursday’s Tyrone Senior Football Championship winner-takes-all showdown, insists Coalisland manager Damian O’Hagan.
The dog-eat-dog Red Hand championship has retained its knockout edge and, as the seconds tick away to a derby meeting of these near-neighbours that has all the ingredients of a classic, the unwanted ‘favourites’ tag is being passed around like a hot potato.
Before the start of the season, Clonoe manager Stevie McDonnell described the match as “a baptism of fire in the championship” and added: “It’s never easy when you’re playing one of the favourites in the championship but it makes it more difficult when you’re playing your nearest rivals.”
O’Hagan was having none of that however.
“The league is about preparing for the championship,” said the Coalisland clubman after watching his side beat Omagh St Enda’s by a dozen points last Sunday.
“Whenever you have the underdog tag you can leave no stone unturned. Clonoe seem to be going fantastic under Stevie and they are hitting all the right headlines at this stage so we have to be prepared for the onslaught.”
When it was suggested to him that Clonoe might not see it that way, O’Hagan insisted: “They would be favourites. They have the professional trainers and manager and hopefully we can go there and stand up to it on the day. We are looking forward to it.”
Both sides lost out to eventual champions Trillick in last year’s championship. Clonoe dropped out at the quarter-final stage after a 2-11 to 1-9 loss and Coalisland (the 2018 champions) succumbed in the last four after a 0-12 to 0-11 defeat. It still hurts, says O’Hagan.
“There are four or five teams who realistically could win the Tyrone championship,” he said.
“On any given day any one of them, if they fire up, could win it.
“But it’s getting fired up on the right day. We go back to last year when we lost by a point to Trillick and we’re still hurting and we’re hurting badly.”
Clonoe like to kick the ball up to their potent full-forward line while Coalisland prefer a running game but the management of both sides have the personnel to change and adapt. Thursday’s rivals include inter-county stars Padraig Hampsey and Michael McKernan (Coalisland) and Connor McAliskey (Clonoe) who played together for Tyrone in the 2018 All-Ireland final against Dublin.
But it could well be the supporting cast on either side that will decide the outcome of the game and there are talented players on both teams including PJ Lavery for Clonoe and Tiarnan Quinn (Coalisland). Quinn top-scored for the club in last Sunday’s win, while Oisin McHugh (making his senior debut) scored his side’s first goal.
Young players are making their mark, the team has experience too. Veteran midfielder Plunkett Kane chipped in with two fine points against Omagh and remains a valuable player for the Na Fianna outfit.
“He’s 36 or 27 and his workrate in the second half was exceptional,” said O’Hagan.
“He is an enigma, he’s a great player and I hope he can keep injury-free. He’s a hard trainer and he’s very, very committed to the game, he loves the game and that’s what he lives for, he’s a wonderful player.”
